Some observations about Tahiti. First, it's EXPENSIVE!!! We stopped in at the local McDonalds(2 on the island). It was packed with customers. A Big Mac combo--not the super size one--runs over $9.00US. Now that might seem outrageous but that is on the cheap side for food here in the islands. The "Snack"(what they call restaurants here)at the marina charges 1400 francs for a decent meal. At 80 francs per dollar, that puts it at $17.50 for a meal. Now that included six small ribs and some French fries. Drinks(Pepsi) at 280 francs comes in at $3.50. Lest you think that because it is near the marina that it is expensive, yesterday, we ate at one of the "Snacks" that is no where near the main roads of Papeete and it was 1300 francs($16.25US) for two chicken wings and a part of a thigh plus a good bit of stir fry rice. Tracy had a beef stew sort of thing with mashed potatoes(same price). With two cokes, the bill came to just under $40.00US and that was just for lunch. Books say that to save money, eat where the locals eat. Well, this place was full of locals. Hardly a table was empty.

Grocery shopping here is sort of a hit or miss expedition. They have two Cost & CO's here. Put it together and it works out to Costco. Well, sort of. They are quite small but carry lots of things from Costco so it's like being home--sort of. The selection isn't that good and the prices are higher but it's all things we are used to from home. The local Carrifor markets are just like being home but again, we're on an island and everything has to get shipped in so not only is freight involved, but the government tacks on a healthy chunk of taxes to help support the local infrastructure.

The bus system is again, sort of hit or miss. Most are smaller style trucks that are all independently owned and operated. They start when they want--normally about 0630 and quit when they feel like it. There is no schedule. If you see one and it seems to be going where you want to go, get on. It's 100 francs($1.25)for a non air conditioned ride. If you wait for the bigger buses, they run 130 francs($1.62). The drivers are great and will normally ask you where you are going since they figure you are a tourist and they don't want you getting lost. Our driver yesterday stopped right beside the Yacht Club on the trip out from town since we told her where we were headed. Some of the other cruisers just hang out a thumb and hitch rides.

Boat parts are tough to find especially if you know what you need or want. When we pulled into the Tahiti Yacht Club(where we are currently moored) the alternator that charges the house bank of batteries decided to up and die. It would only put out 13 volts and about 8 amps. No where near what we need to keep our system up and running smoothly. Now the great folks here at the club had told us that when we hooked up to the mooring ball, we were good till Saturday. We'd come in on Thursday so we were set for two days. Then we found out that the alternator was dead. With that being the case, we were dead in the water. We talked to Dave on SV Soggy Paws about our problem. He fixes everything on his boat--even alternators. He offered to fix ours!!! We met at 1600 at the local hangout and started taking it apart to see if we could find out what the problem was. Tracy was the first to see that the stater wires(help make the power) was charred in one spot. It is supposed to be nice and shiny like it's covered in lacquer. Ours was not. We checked the diodes and they were fine so we knew there was no way we could fix that kind of a problem. We stopped in on Friday morning to let the office know our problem and that there was no way we could leave our mooring. They were very understanding and had to make allowances because of that. They had numerous reservations from other boats that were coming in but things happen. Friday morning, we had an appointment(at 0900) with our agent that is to get us "officially" checked into Tahiti. There was a breakdown in communications so it had to be put off till Monday(yesterday). We'd taken off the old alternator and headed into town to get it rebuilt. We read in one of the local guides that there was a shop in town called Dieselec that specializes in alternators. Now the busses only take you to the center of town. Their shop was way out on the North side of town so with the alternator in my backpack, we started hiking. Please keep in mind that it's about 85 degrees, sunny and the humidity was at about 85 percent. I sweat like a pig as it is so I was dripping during our hike. When we got to Dieselec, he said that he couldn't fix it as he didn't have any of the stater wires BUT, I could hike over to their retail outlet where they did have boat alternators. Off we went, getting there only to be told(he spoke some English and I some French) that they don't carry boat alternators. Say what, the last guy I talked to even checked with one of the people that works there that they did have boat alternators. Oh well, I got directions to another shop(Ocean 2000) that was just a few blocks down the road. We got there just as they closed for lunch. Here's the way shopping works in Tahiti as it does in most of the islands. The stores open at 0730 and close at 1130 till 1300 for lunch. There is no way to shop on your lunch hour and a half. Everywhere is closed, except the restaurants(Snacks). We walked down the street looking for a Snack since we had plenty of time to kill. We saw some smoke coming from under an awning and headed over to see what they had. We bought a half of a chicken along with fries plus two pieces of chocolate cake for 1440 francs. That works out to $18.00 for a great lunch. Add on two soft drinks from the local grocer at $2.12 each and this lunch came in at about $22.00. That makes it the cheapest meal since we arrived and one of the best tasting.

At 1300, we made it back to Ocean 2000 only to find out that while they did have alternators, they didn't have one that works on a 12 volt system with an external regulator. They recommended another place for us to try. Off we went, getting to pass the first store we had already stopped in at. I stopped in again to discuss their stores lack of boat alternators. He assured me that they did have boat alternators and couldn't understand what the confusion was. With that being said, we took off for the next recommended shop getting there just as they were locking their door. They were nice enough to let us in seeing us soaked through in sweat. While they don't fix alternators, he know a guy that knew a guy that he felt sure could fix it. With that being said, I handed him the alternator and we turned to leave. Seeing that we were walking, he offered us a lift back into town. Not a tough decision to make. He dropped us off right at the bus stop. A short time later, we were back at the Yacht Club and on board Zephyr. Unfortunately, I made one mistake. The pulley for our alternator was still attached to the alternator. I needed it. As a cruiser, you never leave home without a good supply of parts. One that we carry is a back up alternator. If I had the pulley, I could put in the replacement and we would be up and running. Rats!!!

Saturday morning, we took off for town again to get to the shop that had the alternator to get that pulley off. Tracy stayed at the big downtown market since she didn't need to make the long hike to the shop. When I got there, another gentleman that worked there got the alternator and I went at it. To get the wheel off, you have to stick an allen wrench into the end of the bolt and a big wrench then unscrews the nut. At least is a perfect world it does. Not this time. I pushed and pulled. Banged on it with a hammer. Put it in a vice and banged on it all with no success. I gave up after a while and thanked the man as he had tried to help me get it off also. Back to down town(another hike) to meet up with Tracy and have lunch. This time, we stopped in a one of the local food vendors in the market(there are dozens to choose from) and got our food. I had a sort of lamb stew(bones included) with rice and Tracy had a chicken dish with rice also. While the food was great(as was the price) it was one of the slowest meals I have ever eaten as I had to pick out the bones with each mouth full. Back to Zephyr we went.

Sunday, we did more chores aboard as the bus service stops for the sabbath. Monday, we took off again to the shop that had our alternator. He'd made his contacts and told us of a place that could rewind the stator wires for us and it wasn't too far away. We got the alternator and took off again. After some conversations with some locals at one of gates, we found the place. Three people were working on one really big alternator while a fourth was sitting at a table winding wire around someone else's stator. No one really spoke English so it was sort of point and try it with hand gestures as to what we wanted to do---get that darn pulley wheel off the alternator. He showed us to a big vice and we went at it. He would have helped but he was tied up with the other alternator. We banged on it again, even adding some lubricants to get it to come undone all with no success. We left them the stater and took off for the first place we had visited last Friday. They stuck it in a vice and used an impact driver and it came right off. Now we at least had the pulley wheel. We were making progress. We dropped off the rest of the alternator at the fix it shop and headed off again. We had other boat supply stores to visit. After an afternoon of more walking, we made it back to Zephyr late in the afternoon.

This morning, I started in at getting the replacement alternator installed. An hour or so later, it was all installed and up and running and making amps and volts like it is supposed to. It's blowing in the high teens again as I type this so the DuoGen is loving it making lots of good volts for the batteries. We'd run our Honda generator earlier since our batteries were low but now we are letting the wind give us power and get the batteries charged.

Time to stop. I've ranted long enough. We will pile into Puff and head to shore to make a run to Cost & CO for some supplies. We will probably get wet, but that's the cruisers life for you.

More to come.