After two days at anchor off Marina Taina, in Papeete, we were able to get a prized marina transient mooring. There are only 15 of these, available on a first-come, grab it when you can basis. The cost is $10 per day. Being on a mooring is greatly advantageous to anchoring because dragging anchor, bumping into another boat, or an anchor tackle failure is not a concern. Also, since we are paying marina customers, we have the right to get water from the marina, use the marina’s dinghy dock, and have access to the marina office staff for referrals and information.

Right next to McDonald’s, which is extremely popular with its basic burger priced at $8.40, is a small 24-hour grocery store, just 2 blocks from the marina. We buy our fresh baguettes and basic vegetables at the grocery and visit it often. We feel like paupers here because with the expensive local prices (almost everything is imported from France), the weak US dollar, and a 15% tax, a medium pizza is $21, a lunch plate is $20, a small glass of local beer is $5.50, and a lunch of 2 hamburgers, split order of fries and two beers cost $35. We usually eat on the boat or grab a cheap baguette sandwich ($2) from a snack bar if we are out and about.

We took care of many on shore chores this week. One of Portia’s crowns fell out which required the services of a dentist. Through a referral from the marina we were able to get this done within a day and right before the 4-day Easter holiday. Through other marina referrals to a computer repair service and a diesel engine mechanic, we determined that our netbook computer was not repairable and we had work done on our diesel engines. We made a trip to downtown Papeete where we bought a new USB serial converter to replace the broken one for our fixed on-board GPS. Plus, we took care of other business such as waiting in the Air Tahiti Nui office for an hour in order to get a refund on the one-way return ticket we were required to purchase before we left Los Angeles. French Polynesia requires either a bond in the amount of a return airline ticket or an actual airline ticket before a non-French or non-French Polynesian visitor will be allowed to come into the country. Because we will be exiting by boat, we had no return ticket and were required to buy one before Air Tahiti Nui allowed us to board the plane in Los Angeles. The government is very serious about this requirement and Air Tahiti Nui started the refund process but will not actually refund our tickets until we present them with exit papers from the government Yacht Office showing that we are leaving Tahiti.

Our next problem to solve is getting our two propane tanks filled before we start our 7-month trip to Australia. Last year, the procedure was to take the tanks directly to the propane gas provider in Papeete. This year, because of new security measures we can’t do this and must use a gas station which will take over a week to get the tanks filled. The Yacht Office suggested that we might be able to get a pass through the Port Authority to get access to the gas depot. We will try that on Tuesday, after the four-day holiday weekend. If it doesn’t work, we will deposit the tanks at the local gas station and wait until Friday to leave Papeete.