We have met many wonderful people at anchor here in Rikitea including Peter and Cheron on their incredible 72' motor catamaran "IETA". When Cheron suggested she'd like to host a girls only Chic Flick night we ladies were delighted. A couple of the German speaking ladies opted out as they didn't think they would understand enough of the English speaking movies. Boy did they miss out on a fun evening.

At 7:30pm Sandra (yes another Sandra) from "Kyory" collected me in her dinghy and we set off to collect Annie from "No Rehersal". IETA prefers to anchor further out from all of us, partially because 80 year old Peter likes to walk around nude but mostly because they want to stay further from the coral reefs. On our approach to IETA in the dark Annie got hit with a trumpet fish that somehow flew into our dinghy in the waves. She let out a squeal and then of course we were all squealing as we shone our headlight into the floor of the dinghy on this fish that was leaping about. I'm sure you have no difficulty picturing the three of us with our feet in the air squealing and wondering who was going to be the brave one to grab this long needle nosed fish and chuck it out of the dinghy. Annie talked herself into the dirty deed. There was no need to announce our arrival as Cheron and Samantha from "Sweet Chariot" heard us coming.

We started off with a tour of the impressive custom designed yacht which I will hold off describing until my next blog. We gathered around the aft open air dining table and enjoyed our drink of choice while we perused the 20 or so Chic Flick movies that Cheron had preselected from her DVD library. The final selections were "Tammy" and "The Ugly Truth". With drinks refreshed and popcorn popped the five of us moved to the lounge and made ourselves comfortable around the semicircular settee in front of the TV. The first movie started with the booming surround sound filling the room. (Another good reason to anchor further out). We chatted and laughed and sang and drank through both of the movies with intermissions for pee brakes, refreshment refills and of course chocolate. I have no idea what time the movies ended but that's when we really started chatting.

There was much discussion about boat life, relationships, dealing with power struggles and communication. There may have been a little venting. There was definitely lots of laughter. We have an age range of 30 years and varied backgrounds but all of us are missing our close girlfirends from home and we appreciated an opportunity to talk and hang out with other women. It wasn't until Cheron's husband Peter came upstairs from his estate room to turn on the generator that we realized it was 3:00am. Wow where did the time go? Our ride, Sandra was enjoying her tequilla and not in any hurry to go home. We discussed watching a third movie but decided against it and decided it was time to head back to our respective boats.

Headlamp shining we were wary of flying fish as we motored back. We giggled quietly as we dropped off Annie on the port hull of her catamaran so as not to wake up Daryl who slept in the starboard hull and who typically rises at 5:00am. He apparently wasn't even disturbed by the sound of the engine when Sandra accidentally gunned it leaving the boat. When we approached Mazu I stood up to grab hold of the rail. I turned just in time to see Sandra slowly rolling backward slightly off balance from my shifted weight. Fortunately she managed to catch herself and not roll off of the boat (I hope Franz isn't reading this) . I followed the light of her headlamp to confirm that she made it back to Kyory safely.

Peter was a little surprised to see me at 4:00am . "I figured you all fell asleep on that comfy boat and decided to stay over" he said. "No" said I, "there was no sleeping tonight".

This fun evening will be remembered for along time. Cheron, a clinical psychologist, has realized the importance of female bonding and decided to host a weekly girls night. I hope that one day we will be in the same anchored as she is again.