We are now anchored at the eastern end of Manihi Lagoon, after motoring the 13 nm to here this morning. We are the only ones here, although we did see a couple of locals collecting coconuts when we arrived. Yesterday we took the dinghy into the main town and found a good little grocery shop and also the local baker, Fernand. As the supply ship was only in the day before the shop was stocked up with most things we needed, including Australian oranges and Arnotts biscuits, Tim Tams, Sao's and Iced Vovo's. The staff in the shop were great, and spoke English. We then went and found Fernand, who appears to be the local do it man. He was in the process of commissioning his brand new ice machine which had arrived on the supply boat, so we got a tour of that, and then we got a tour of his bakery including a demonstration of each piece of equipment (totally mechanised and modern). He seemed to only make 2 foot long baguettes, and one was slightly coconut flavoured, and it was just amazing. He is also a tuna fisherman, as well as a baker, tour guide, and a leader in the Mormon church. I don't think Fernand sleeps much. On the way back from his bakery Nigel spotted his fishing lines so he gave us a full demonstration of how he fishes for tuna, including baiting up a line, and demonstrating how he attaches the baited hook to a large lump of coral and dropping it overboard when it then unravels about 200 metres down. After this he gave us a demonstration on how pearls are seeded and harvested from the oysters. He also gave us a tour of his garden, and gave us a handful of basil and a breadfruit, which we are going to have a go at cooking tonight. He was heading across to Ahe Atoll to visit family that afternoon and therefore wouldn't be able to take us on a pearl farm tour until Monday morning, so he will come to the boat around 7am on Monday morning (after he finishes baking) and take us out to one of the farms. This will mean we will stay here a little longer than we planned but we are enjoying the spell so no one minds. Most of the people we have spoken to here speak some English and have been quite friendly and helpful. Sue and I spent a couple of hours cleaning the port hull yesterday afternoon, but that is as far as we have progressed, will probably attack the starboard hull tomorrow. It's just amazing how much slime, barnacles and other marine critters attach to the hull while travelling. We had a few of the guys from 'Ruby Soho' across for a few drinks last night. They are a group of young Canadians. The are on a 3 year circumnavigation. The boat is owned by two of them, with a third owning a small share. There are normally 4 people on board, but they picked up two friends a couple of days ago who will be with them until Tahiti. The owners are both young mechanical engineers, probably early 30's, and they bought the boat, a Catana 48, in the BVI's in June last year.
The sun has just set and Nigel and Sue are fishing off the back of the boat and have just landed a Grouper and a pink reef fish of some type. We have taken a photo so we can ask Fernand to identify it before we eat it as they have Cigatera here. We caught 4 fish the first day we were here and found out the next day that they most likely carried Cigatera, luckily we hadn't eaten it. We are having another BBQ tonight - fillet steak. Life's tough.
