Home Alone
Vega
Hugh and Annie
Thu 29 Jun 2017 18:20
Annie is now back in the UK for three weeks and juggling all her social engagements to try and compress as many as possible into her short visit. This leaves the sum total of all my communication devices at one iPhone. The amazing thing is how much one can do through the internet, Dropbox etc all on this tiny device. You can even post diary entries. The one thing I have really missed though with the demise of the laptop is photo and video storage and editing. This can all be done on a tablet (iPad) so that will be the replacement for the laptop. Actually I think you can do video and photo editing on a phone but there is a limit to how old eyes and fingers can comfortably operate on a tiny screen. The same goes for charts and a phone can be a backup to the chart plotter. An iPad is more user friendly and some people use one as their primary chart option. We have all our charts on Annie's iPad and it picks up our position from the AIS. Annie thinks it isn't as accurate as the plotter but it is a joy to use. Unfortunately it takes some tricky software manipulation to get all the received AIS fixes onto an iPad but if we ever could get this resolved we could do all our navigation from the comfort of a sleeping berth! Our plotter is the last model not to transmit all its information by wifi but with a later version you can even get the radar relayed to your iPad. It's less complicated than a sextant although reading one of our cruising guides it seems that a few star sights at dusk is much easier than using the sun. One day ..............
Here in Tahiti I am luxuriating with hot showers, good wifi, supermarkets, local market, chandleries, marine suppliers and so forth. All those out in the sticks are still suffering the white sand and palm tree tropical paradise syndrome. You get over all that after a short while here and whilst marina fever will inevitably set in I am not anticipating it during my lone vigil. I love watching the odd container ship and cruise ship come and go and always have the great view of Moorea to remind me of islands yet to be visited.
At long last I can report that the metalwork is being cleaned. We had an unopened pot of rust dissolving gel on board for months. It's a rather fetching pink colour and despite my scepticism of such products it brings stainless steel back to pristine condition. So much so that I am treating everything from the smallest shackle to the pushpit. The threads of all bottle screws are getting the treatment followed by a smear of waterproof grease. The Navy would be proud. The only snag is that it is rather time consuming and boring. I had a rigger lined up to come and look at the mast and the spinnaker halyard sheave today but no sign. Apparently he is very good and very busy. They usually are.
Contemporary Polynesian culture is a bit like our Victorian christmases and Tartan - a fairly recent incarnation. Hawaiian harmonies and guitars are good tourist fare but the real thing is a bit more macho. Ritual sacrifice and the odd spot of cannibalism when food supplies are low are a thing of the past (or so I am told) but ornate tattoos - including the occasional head to toe genuinely authentic touch - can be seen. In the run up to the annual Heiva festival there is a lot of drumming and Haka style slapping of thighs to be heard and dozens of outrigger canoes zooming around the harbour. The women get a look in with Hawaiian style dancing and singing and seem to outnumber the men in canoes (I have yet to see a mixed canoe). You can always hear the women out canoeing by their laughter and shouting, the men being much more serious and less frivolous of course..........
Back to my weevil free porridge.
