Blog: Day 91 to Day 93 (The 18th of June)
The 16th I (Katy) flew from Tahiti to Rangiroa to join Taya; Alan had tied up the dinghy in the lagoon a 100 feet from the terminal, so we dragged my 50 lbs bag across the dirt road, loaded it onboard and motored back to Taya; our anchorage is just inside the lip of the western side of the Tiputa pass. We went ashore hoping to have some dinner, and shopped in a TMT store. No tomatoes (sadness for Alan) but lots of little green peppers. The one little restaurant that was open was having a birthday party for the 7 year old son of the owner Lili so we ate boat food and defrosted steaks; mmmm!
The next day Alan and I snorkeled at Motu Nuhu Nuhu ; read one of the Michener tale of the S. Pacific to A & N; We all played Wagon Wheel; me on ukele with N on guitar and A on flute. Daily life for island residents: school boat for kids; unloading at the wharf. We had lunch on a terrace over the little cement wharf at Tiputa pass (chez Oapuo Tiputa) Salade Poisson Tartare/ Mangue; brochette. Under our feet raies and an eel and colorful fish swirled in the water. The wharf was bustling: school age island residents took a boat taxi across the pass to return to afternoon school; dockmen on forklifts unloaded cargo from tiny freighters (150 ft) (A: "trashed rusty buckets" that replaced schooners of the earlier days). We talked to a dive shop guy about getting what is called "Baptism" or "Bapteme." Trying out scuba on a first dive. We also worked on installing the newly arrived insulated copper refrigerant tubing in Galley and rearranged our cabin. At night we watched. Madmen, the first 3 ep, and that made us start thinking about advertising culture in late 50s.
The next morning we discovered leaks in 2 of the weekly bags of canned food stored in fwd cabin. Cleaned them; discarded bad; relabeled and restowed. Called Mom, (it's June 18th, Happy birthday, momma!) When we went ashore, we considered excursions around Rangiroa; Blue Lagoon, Isles aux Recifs; Motu visiting where they are harvesting copra; touring Avoratu and a black pearl farm; scheduled Bapteme for 10am Friday. Back on board I restarted bloggings and finished Michener's Tales of the south pacific. (1946). I wanted to talk to Steve, re the last story, the cemetery at Hoga Point; cemeteries as equalizers, war as loss of a future. Worked on understanding Tahitian culture with Tahiti behind the postcards by Anthropologist Kahn. At night we watched Madmen 2nd 3 eps.