position S16 46.695 W153 57.031
Ocean Rival Journey Log
Adam Power Diana Power
Sun 27 May 2018 01:56
We enjoyed a magnificent feast yesterday evening of coconut crab, langustine, coconut stem salad and rice with Jeanne and Toiree. We contributed some beer and some banana pancakes that I made in the afternoon. When we arrived at 5pm as invited by Jeanne it appeared that Toiree was in a huff with Jeanne as he busied around getting the meal ready while Jeanne chatted. She confessed that she should have been helping with preparations but instead had been looking after two new puppies. She has three dogs-all in fine condition and now 2 new puppies kept out of a litter of 10 (all girls!). She is very attached to the dogs and is worried that when she returns to Italy the dogs will be eaten. Toiree has little time for them and certainly would not lavish attention on them and might fancy a change in diet from fish and coconut.
Jeannne is keen to sell her house in italy and take up the nomadic sailors life but Toiree is not moving and loves his routine of fishing, entertaining passing yachtsmen and copra harvesting. Before Jeanne arrived a year ago Toiree only had a little shack but now he has built her luxury complex she worries that another woman will move in if she goes home. Toiree is very handsome with long black hair and lean muscular body so the ladies we met on the beach might have trouble resisting his many attractions. Jeanne has an ex husband in Italy and thinks he might sail with her as they are still best friends. With no means of comunication I wonder if this is just a dream. She was a somelier in italy and when I asked what she missed most of home she said it was the wine and gave us a detailed lecture on how they only sell undrinkable cheap bordeux in french polynesia. I have bought some of the budget stuff and tend to agree about the undrinkability although I manage to force it down.
This morning I took the last of our polynesian francs over to Jeanne and as Toiree had offered to take us in his boat to the pass for snorkling I wondered if the offer was still on. Toiree had disapeared though and with preparations needed for the next meal with more yachtsmen I doubted he would have time for the pass. Instead we sailed a few miles across the lagoon to the south where a little group of yachts were anchored at the end of the trees. There we had a lovely walk out to the reef marvelling at the lava shapes and forms. I am perplexed as to how the fossilised shapes of coral appear positive replicas rather than negative molds of the original shape. Would you find the original corral intact inside a thin coating of lava? I didn't try to break one apart to find out. We asked some austrian sailors what they thought about the cook islands and they plan to go north to Suwarrow before turning south to Nuie. In a catermeran that may be a faster bet keeping the wind a little off the stern. Currently we have set a course for Aititaki but the forecast is for light winds- will we regret our choice?