Playing tourist for a change.
06 May 2011 | Nuku Hiva
Bill Hudson
Since we got here Friday AM, we have tried to play the game of Tourist with the help of Rolande and Angus off Periclees. We met them last year in the Sea of Cortez. They brought us a loaf of French bread as we were dropping the anchor and whisked us to shore right after lunch to see the sights and take a tour. Up and down the hills we went once we left the shoreline road. We toured both Friday afternoon and most of Saturday with a trip up into the mountains to visit one of the archeological sights where they used to do human sacrifices. Heaven for bid they put signs us as to where to go and how to get there. We wandered up and up into the hills coming upon several homes along the way. Rolande kept asking for direction using her French language skills. We just stood there and looked dumb. Worked just fine. Once we found the sight, we headed back to town for a lunch of a cheese burger, bacon burger, fries and two cokes for over $20.00. It isn't cheap here but everything has to be brought in for elsewhere and there are the necessary tariffs and duties attached to everything. A coke at your local mini mart is over $2.25. It's the most expensive place on earth so they say.
Today is a day of rest, at least from walking. I've got the generator on recharging the batteries and allowing us to run the water maker. We hold lots of water but I'd rather have the tanks just about full incase something happens than low to conserve weight. You can never have too much water in your tanks. The water that is available in this harbor is non potable--you can't drink it with out boiling it. After our hike yesterday I can understand why. As we went up the road along side the main stream that leads into town, there were lots of pigs and hogs tethered to steel cables over the stream. It is the perfect place to keep them as they lots of food and plenty of water to drink. There were cows down there also as well as horses. It's no wander that the water was undrinkable. Tracy is doing double duty today having washed some clothes this morning and is now defrosting the freezer as the clothes are strung all over the inside of the cabin. We've had rain off and on here since about 0900. It's not bad now so most of the port lights and hatches are now open letting some air in.
Tonight, we've been invited to Periclees for dinner. We'll launch Puff and get Dragon back in the water for the trip over to their boat. We launched Puff yesterday to scrape the hull where barnacles had begun to grow during our journey. Lots and lots of them all along the waterline and maybe 8 inches above it all along the side of the hull. During our trip over, these things just grab a hold and make a mess of your water line not to mention slowing down your speed due to the drag they make while going through the water. They are now gone at least for a week or so till they come back. It's a never ending process out here.
Since Tracy is so busy, you'll just have to wait for the next post for here insight.