Now then, where was I? Oh yes, we'd just arrived at Papeete Marina - that was seven weeks ago; my, how time flies. We are now at Marina Taina, Phylis's home for cyclone season, however we have discovered a hole in the exhaust so we have some work to do before we head home.
One of our neighbours at Marina Taina
Enjoying a beer at the Dinghy Bar
Getting a new exhaust made was another saga involving lots of bus trips up and down the road to an industrial site. Eventually after much trial and error we made the thing fit. We fired up the engine to verify that everything was gas tight and it all seemed to be OK.
Finally fitting our new exhaust
Meanwhile on the domestic front Kym had been sewing up bits of canvass that had chafed and generally spring cleaning the boat. Below are some pics of the inside of Phylis devoid of cruising clutter. We cheated of course, emptying one room into another to photograph and then putting everything back again. She looks gorgeous - any takers??
Saloon looking forwards
Saloon looking aft towards galley and workbench
Nav desk
Aft cabin
Forward cabin
Phylis all stripped down ready to be left for a few months
Our marina is a short walk away from the largest supermarket in the whole of French Polynesia - the Carrefour. You can get almost any food stuffs you need and they even sell fresh hot pies!! Venturing another five miles down the road brings you to downtown Papeete with its port, ferry and cruise ship terminal and lots of shops selling all sorts of tack. There are a couple of reasonable chandleries about but everything is extremely expensive. We hired a car one day to check out the island. There's one main road that goes all the way round the island with the Pacific and its turquoise lagoons on one side and the dramatic slopes of massive volcanoes on the other. There's supposed to be good hiking in the mountains but we've been far too busy sorting the boat out for any real trekking; next year perhaps.
Papeete cruise ship terminal, this one seems to suffer from an identity crisis
Entertainment while shopping in Carrefour
So life in general has been pretty relaxing and as I write this on the eve of our departure back to the UK I can only feel lucky once again to be in a position to sample new places, new cultures and lots of new beer. So without further ado and on behalf of the crew of SV Phylis I'd like to wish all our friends and family a very merry Christmas and happy New Year!!