Here we are getting ready for the eclipse with our eclipse glasses. Believe me, they are so dark, we had no idea if we were looking at the camera or not, we just sort of smiled in it's general direction. They're very similar in construction to those 3-D glasses we're all familiar with, made of thin cardboard, but they're basically a very dark film that filters the light.

As a quick postscript to the eclipse, me met a guy yesterday here in Rarotonga who flies all over the world to see eclipses, which he says occur about once a year somewhere. He had some spectacular photos, which he took with obvious knowledge and excellent equipment, including a telescopic lens for his camera. He had joined about 300 others on the small island of Mangaia in the southern edge of the Southern Cooks, an island that we hear gets roughly 2 tourists a week, but for that one brief event was inundated with a throng of thrill-seekers, astronomy buffs, and those with enough money to fly to nowhere just purely out of solar curiosity. Apparently the townsfolk were very accommodating, turning the school gym into a bunkhouse and opening their homes to people. He said they didn't see "totality" due to the clouds, which made us feel so exceptionally blessed to have seen the entire thing.

We pulled into Avatui Harbor in Rarotonga at 8am Tuesday, met by Michael and Gloria, who helped us "Med moor" the boat to the concrete dock, stern first. It was a bit challenging but went well. We did a sort of modified Mediterranean moor in Tahiti at the downtown quay, the difference was they had mooring lines permanently attached to the dock and then out to a point attached to the harbor floor, and we just picked up those lines and tied them to the boat. In a Med moor, you drop the bow anchor, back in toward the dock, throw long lines attached to the stern to someone waiting there, and tie up with some space between the stern of the boat and the dock, in our case, about 12 feet. You then have the dilemma of getting off the boat and to the dock, which is reached by climbing a big metal ladder. So people rig these rather awkward but ingenious ways of making the dinghy a sort of permanently attached shuttle between boat and dock. The water here is very surgey, and getting out of the big boat and into the dinghy, then to the dock without being strangled by the dock lines as they slack and tighten, and then from the dinghy to the big ladder is challenging all around, quite messy and fraught with potential disaster. It requires impeccable timing, both hands free, sensible shoes, and a bit of courage.

After securing the boat and exchanging greetings with friends we set about washing Fly Aweigh with the luxury of city water and a faucet on the dock, although the water pressure was little more than a dribble. We managed to do a fairly spectacular job using our trusty orange Home Depot 5-gallon buckets and some big sponges, and the boat looks happy and salt-free after our super-splashy first night at sea. Then we set off on a short walk for lunch, money, scooter rental research and an Internet card. There's a very different feel here than in French Polynesia, and it's hard to figure out what it is. Of course, it could be that everyone speaks flawless English with a delightful Kiwi accent. Or it could be that prices are actually normal. The buildings are different, the food on the menus is more extensive, and the air is drier, maybe. It's got a nice feel.

Scooters are about $20 per day, and almost everyone rides them. We're planning to get one tomorrow and keep it for a few days to give us some island mobility which will be nice for a change. There are a lot of things to do on this island and we've realized that for this short visit, we'll be uncharacteristically land-based, since our only berthing opportunity is here in the tiny, noisy harbor, not conducive to water sports.

The money is a mix of NZ and Cook Islands coins and bills. They have some unusual coins here; most notable is the triangular shaped $2 coin which is hilarious. The $1 coin has the god Tangaroa pictured in a sideways pose, his male member prominently displayed as is common in the unabashed confident style of South Pacific tiki's, and on the other side is Queen Elizabeth, who, it is rumored, was not too happy to share a coin with such an exhibitionist.

We don't really know how long we'll be here, there's a trough of weather moving in that may keep us here until early next week, but we're also expecting winds from the north tonight, and that exposes this harbor to the wind and the sea swells. That's the beauty and the frustration of this life - we are completely dependent on the weather, and it doesn't really care if we wanted to ride scooters tomorrow, or go to the Cultural Center. We're going to be prepared to leave on a moments' notice if need be until the north winds subside, then we can relax for a few days.

I'll update regularly, since our Internet connection is fast and fabulous, a nice change from the torturous slow service we had throughout FP.