16.43S 151.02W

Slowed down quite a lot because Clare’s ill, but is on the mend slowly.

Quite a few whales and dolphins all around here; haven’t quite caught that David Bailey moment on camera though.

Currently in Huahine which is 100nm NW of Tahiti and absolutely lovely. The locals call ‘Bora Bora,’ ‘Bora boring’ because it’s all hotels – we might give it a miss and stay here for a week before heading for Raeatea where we haul out for the Cyclone season and head home for Christmas, grandchildren and skiing.

It slowly dawned on me that what I thought was insect bites was actually shingles. 1^st on my arm [C8/T1] and then 10 days later a 2^nd lot in T8. I am now recovering; specially since I have discovered amitryptilline which has proved a wonder drug.

Cheered myself up by finding a gay Parisian hairdresser in the smart bit of Papeete. Highlights and a cut were not much more expensive than in Wimbledon.

We had more watermaker problems and found a lovely Frenchman who replaced seels and valves on the pump and did it all under guarantee via his French head office. He wasn’t keen to deal with the intermittent fresh water flush which he dismissed as ‘capricieuse’!

Have also done a tour of Huahine with 2 honeymoon couples. One French the other Italian. Saw a lot of burial stones and mosquitoes.

Clare