Rover

New Crew

02 July 2023 | Apooiti Marina, Uturoa, Raiatea, French Polynesia
Ashlee
Post time is 1330, 6/26/23

It has been a beautiful few days here in the Apooiti Marina on Raiatea.
Since our last blog much has happened. We had 3 crew members disembark
and 2 new ones arrive. Our location has been excellent for the crew
change over and to experience life on land for a few days. It has been
relatively low key but I will give you the order and dates of the events
since the last blog.

Rover started its week by receiving one of the new crew members, Clark,
who traveled from Ketchikan, Alaska. He arrived on 6/27 and got a chance
to visit with disembarking crew for a few days and got to explore the
area close to the marina with them.

On Wednesday 6/28 the crew went on a short guided tour of the island
while Captain Eric stayed behind to work on some necessary projects for
the Rover.

Rover received its first bath since Papeete while in port on Thursday
and it was a low-key day.

I (Ashlee) arrived on Friday 6/30 in the early morning local time. I had
about 24 hours of travel time to meet the boat but was very excited to
see familiar sailor friends. I arrived at the airport and Clark met me
there with a smile and a sign with my name on it. Eric had told me the
airport was not far from the marina and we had decided to walk back to
the boat, about 1.6 km. It was early morning but the heat of the day had
already begun so after saying hello and meeting the crew, we went for a
swim in order to cool down. The local swimming hole is right here close
by the boat and just outside the marina entrance. After a swim with the
crew, Diane, Mark and Jackie went on their way to the airport to start
their journey back home. We finished the evening with dinner aboard.

Saturday, 7/1, was an eventful day, We had breakfast aboard and planned
on renting a vehicle to do provisions in town. Once we finished
breakfast and tidied up the boat, Clark set off to find us
transportation for town. He came back shortly with a cute Panda Fiat and
we were off for our next adventure. The big town of Uturoa is not far
but to carry groceries back would not be feasible or practical for
keeping cold foods cold in the hot midday weather. We arrived in town
and had a nice lunch at a small eatery in a small shopping complex.
Besides the grocery store this was the only establishment open during
this time a day, all other shops close for a few hours during the middle
of the day. What I would call the “siesta” time of day, but not sure if
they have their own term here in French Polynesia. After lunch we went
to the largest grocery store on the island and got more provisions and
brought them back to the boat. We have an inventory list on board to be
able to keep track of what is available and what we no longer have, so
putting away groceries is an “all hands” operation. Snorkel time after
this, with the GOPRO I was able to capture some cool underwater shots.

The evening of Saturday was also eventful, after our outing and some
relaxing aboard the boat we heard of some festivities happening in town.
As night fell about 1830 we got ready to go into town to their fair
grounds. We had some amazing desserts and watched two groups of
performers dance and sing in their native language at the “Heiva I
Utoroa”. Eric could understand some of what they were saying in French
and said that the speaker was talking about the environment and their
life on the island. It was nice to see and be present for their
presentations.

Like many small remote places, Sunday is a day of relaxing, spending
time with family and going to religious ceremonies. The island today is
pretty well doing all of the above and most everything is shut down
except for the grocery stores. We took the time today since we had the
use of the car to do some island exploring. We drove around the whole
island leaving about 0830 and got back to the boat about 1400. We
stopped and took pictures and admired the beautiful views. A “must see”
in many of the guide books is Marae Taputapuatea, a religious temple
that sprawled in the 17^th century and is dedicated to “Oro’ the god of
war” who dominated 18^th century Polynesian religious beliefs. This site
is presumed to have great importance to ancient Polynesia and many
leaders from other Polynesian countries would gather at this site to
discuss politics and have important ceremonies. We finished our time at
that site with lunch under a tree and continued our journey around the
island, stopping a few times to admire the views and take some photos.
We got back to the boat and had some chores to finish up with and are
now getting ready for a snorkel.

We are having a great time getting to explore as we await our last crew
member for our journey sailing towards the Southern Cook Islands. Hope
all is well out in the world.

--
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Comments
Vessel Name: Rover
Vessel Make/Model: Valiant 42
Hailing Port: Seattle. WA
Crew: Eric and Linda
About:
We're making a big change to a cruising lifestyle. Eric retired in 2012 after 32 years in R&D (mostly) at HP. Previous passions included flying and bicycling. Linda will retire in 2013 from Oregon State University. She's been active in Zonta, was a Scoutmaster, and is a champion baker. [...]
Extra: Linda was barrel master and Eric participated in the Jackson Street Vintners; a group of friends that made wine from 2000 to 2013
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