April 24 - 28, 2011

We finally took some time to do a little snorkeling this week. It was in nice clear water with coral outcroppings, all inside the reef area not far from Dream Caper's mooring. It was great getting back into the water again. During this 4-day Easter weekend, there were the big outrigger canoe races which lasted Friday and Saturday. Since we are on the mooring closest to the channel, the racers were very close. Outrigger canoeing is very popular here. We see singles, doubles, triples, quadruples and even some with 6 men on board. It seems to be the exercise of choice here, like seeing people jogging. Our normally tranquil mooring became very bumpy during the daytime hours during these holidays. Jet skiers, water skiers, boaters, fishermen and floating party huts with thatched roofs caused us to rock and roll on our mooring. We were glad when the holiday week finally ended.

Things were back to business on Tuesday. The marina informed us that we can get a permit to go directly to the propane dealer; however, we have to make the application 24 hours in advance at the Port of Papeete. We decided to not fight it and we took the propane tanks to the gas station on Tuesday; they will be returned to us on Friday morning. We made another trip to Papeete by bus where we officially checked out of French Polynesia at the immigration office. Our passports now show us having left Tahiti on April 27. We also checked Dream Caper out of the country with the Yacht Office. The immigration and Yacht Office records show us leaving Tahiti for Moorea, and all of the western French Polynesian islands with a final exit date from French Polynesia before July 8, 2011 (the expiration date of our 90-day visa). Apparently, there are no immigration or yacht control offices at these islands hence a boat can only check out in Papeete. We had a delicious Chinese lunch in Papeete while we waited for the hardware store to open. One shared dish of sauteed duck, chicken, pork, shrimp, and squid with vegetables, steamed rice, plus 2 beers: $42. In Costa Rica and Panama, the Chinese restaurants serve sliced bread with their food. Here in French Polynesia it is sliced baguettes with butter. Interesting.

On Thursday, we discovered that our starboard engine continues to leak diesel fuel. Steve went into the engine compartment where there is virtually no wind. We call it the "sauna" or "hole" It was 98 degrees in the sun today, probably well over 100 in the hole. He cleaned up the diesel, thinking that it was left over from when the mechanic worked on the engine last week. But, when we checked the engine an hour later, more diesel had leaked into the engine compartment. Steve went back in and found the leak in the fuel hose caused by a hose clamp. He repaired this, cleaned out the engine space of diesel again and we started up the engine. After 3 minutes it began to smoke. Back into the engine again, this time to replace the water pump belt and install an alternator that he actually rebuilt himself. Steve has special pairs of cheap tennis shoes with no shoelaces which he keeps in each engine compartment. He slips these on as he goes in to keep his feet clean. It is very grimy inside despite the number of times Steve has cleaned it up. Today, Steve had to use the green scrubber with dish soap to scrub the grease off his hands and skin. The engine compartment space is so cramped that he has to contort himself around the engine and invariably gets grime on his legs, arms, face and stomach. And then because the grime always spreads onto the deck area around the entrance to the engine compartment, he has to scrub that area too. He went through this scrubbing process 3 separate times today! It was a long day for poor Steve. In these situations, Portia is the happy gopher outside the engine compartment fetching parts, tools, towels, water and whatever else Steve might need while he works in the hole. 7 years ago when we first went cruising, we naively had no spare parts or a good understanding of our engines. Things have changed. Dream Caper is loaded with spare parts and Steve can now rebuild an alternator and do most necessary repairs. What a guy!