We're in California, now, visiting Conni's dad, LaVerne. We've left our home in Alaska for nine weeks and are moving, mentally and physically, toward our cruisers' lifestyle. We live a very schizophrenic life.

Now, the fly in the ointment. Fly? More like a pterodactyl! As those long-term followers might remember, the heat exchanger on our engine failed, causing no end of problems, all of which have been repaired (we hope). The heat exchanger itself is still sitting on the engine, awaiting the touch of a competent mechanic to replace it.

We had contracted with the Raiatea Carenage (the boat yard in which Wings sits) to replace the heat exchanger. The only source of the replacement on planet Earth is in England, so at great expense and difficulty, we bought a replacement and had it shipped to Raiatea. Unfortunately, the original unit is no longer available but a suitable replacement is, although it requires some extensive modifications of the engine cooling system hoses and attachment points.

A day prior to our Alaska departure, we were told that their mechanic couldn't do the work. Couldn't? Wouldn't? Emails and late-night phone calls (they're 8 hours ahead of us, so a midnight call reached them at the opening of business) with the English supplier revealed that although there are some complications, the basic process is very straightforward. So, what's the problem? Raiatea is an ocean and a language away, so illumination awaits.

Conni is mad as hell, as you can imagine, and doesn't want us to do any of the contracted work. I'm a bit more pragmatic and realize that I need to have all of the tools that I might need to accomplish the work. For a competent American mechanic, this is a 2-3 day project, but in Raiatea, who knows what it might take? Tools and parts that are readily available here are simply not available there.

We're drinking Peet's coffee today so that we can use their Wifi. We've got tickets from Papeete to Raiatea to purchase, and we're thinking that we'd like to rent a room somewhere near the boat yard for the first few nights so that we're not living in the squalor of boat preparation. The shower/restroom facilities at the yard are, shall we say, primitive and unclean. We don't expect hot water, but the general conditions were some of the worst that we've seen.

We need to arrange for a rental car and lodging in Raiatea via Internet and Peet's is our avenue to the Internet. At this point, I am unsure of how this heat exchanger problem will be resolved. One of my "signatures" on my email is, "Cruising: doing boat repair in exotic locations", and so it seems to be.

We have two blue boxes of parts, my big red duffle full of parts, and a new outboard motor lift, all of which needs to be carried as excess baggage. At US$75 each, it all adds up. Our crewman, Nathan, will bring a few other odds and ends, and he is very kind to do so. TSA, as they always do, rummaged through our bags and boxes, and they NEVER repack as the stuff was packed. I've got to re-pack and check that my electronics weren't damaged by their poor re-packing. Our bags are packed with unusual items, to be sure.

LaVerne Livsey, Conni's dad, is a retired mechanic and production line engineer, so his advice has been invaluable during my planning for the heat exchanger project. He's even given me some hard-to-find tools that I'll cart down to the island and that I would never have found there. Thanks, LaVerne! Jeez, I wish that I could get him to Raiatea to help.

We leave Oakland on 24 April and fly to Los Angeles, then hop the Air France jet to Papeete, Tahiti, arriving in early morning the next day. We plan on flying directly to Raiatea and assessing the situation.

More later.