Exploring Manihi
Jackamy
Paul & Derry Harper
Mon 26 Apr 2010 19:06
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After a good nights sleep after the beach
BBQ I'd like to say we were up bright and early to start exploring Manihi but we
had a bit of a lazy morning and eventually ventured out at around 11.00. First
port of call was the village to find Fernando, the man who lead us into the
lagoon who is also the baker, a fisherman, a pearl farmer and the leader of the
mormon church - a handy man to know!
It turned out that his bakery also doubled
up as a restaurant/takeaway so we had a spot to eat there later on in the day
whilst we waited for the supermarket to open. Panini, quiche and ice cream!
Whilst loitering outside the boulangerie and talking to the locals Fernando
appeared with two beautiful shells that he'd just picked from the sea bed with
the creature inside still alive and moving. After a little bit of cleaning (i.e.
pouring bleach/alcohol into the shell to kill the fish) he then handed them to
myself and Chrissy. We couldn't believe it, you'd pay a fortune for them in the
shop and here we are being handed them no more than half an hour after they were
found next to the pontoon.
The life they lead here is just fantastic,
everyone is so happy and their lives appear so simple to us. It's a wonderful
way to live!
 Fresh fish caught an hour
or so earlier
  Me and Amy outside the
boulangerie/Fernando's home...........A local lady's tricycle loaded up with
coconuts outside the shop
 Paul and Amy sat with the
locals waiting for the supermarket to open
  3 young men fishing on the reef
and a man just about to go spear fishing
  The village and a typical
house
In the afternoon we paid a visit
to Xavier, the retired French Naval officer who helped us in through the pass
with Fernando. In fact, he deserves a better introduction than that, he was
the Commander and Chief for the South Pacific and was
even offered an Admiralty in Paris but chose to retire here in
the French Polynesia. He owns an island, or motu, here at Manihi and
over the last 6 years he has been building a home for him and his wife. He has
also set up a sailmail station, which is the technology we use to send
emails at sea. We have to call stations in close proximity to us and send
the emails via the SSB radio, we're finding it very handy that
we are only around 1 mile away from Xavier's station as normally the task
of emailing is not easy because of the distance and propagation.
Xavier has a beautiful set-up and
he has even built his own chapel on his island. He is building the whole house
himself and it is amazing what he has achieved so far with just
Fletcher his dog for company during the week and his wife at weekends. He
is entirely self sufficient with 3 sources of power - solar, wind and
hydrovane. He gathers rainwater and also saltwater from the ground for
drinking and washing and the island is covered in banana trees, papaya
trees, breadfruit trees, pamplemoose trees and many more. Fernando calls
him Robinson Crusoe! It's the stuff we can only dream about! In fact since
leaving the island Amy hasn't stopped dreaming. She has decided she doesn't
need money and the stress that you get back home and she could quite easiy live
this simple life. All she needs is the money to buy an island!
  The island
 The solar panels and the main
house
 The wind turbine and Amy with
Fletcher (who is named after Christian Fletcher from 'Mutiny on the
Bounty')
 Xavier at his workstation in a
separate building that is specifically for Sailmail
 Paul and Amy take a stroll
along his beach as the sun sets
We had ordered a
chinese takeaway for dinner with Fernando earlier in the day.
There was no menu to choose from, we just made suggestions to his wife and
she cooked it and wow were we impressed when it was delivered to the
boat. At first we were scared because when we first met Fernando
he had told us that they eat dogs here as they have a problem
with wild dogs and he said we'd try them when we had a takeaway. So
understandably we were a bit nervous when ordering and even more so when it
arrived, but what we ate was most definitely chicken and beef! The portions were
huge, the meal has lasted us two days and his wife even cooked us
a huge gatteau, absolutely amazing!
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