Vaitahu bay - Tahuata Island 2
Rogue
Alan and Noi not sure which is which
Mon 27 Apr 2009 22:46
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Another Monty Pythons day
We stopped at Hapatoni bay for a night yesterday
and bought the fruit below for $4 US from some fishermen passing by. I didn't
have change so gave them a $10 bill and said I would get the change tomorrow
from their bay which was Vaitahu. So next day we up anchor and go to Vaitahu
which is the only bay on the island with a shop. We are also on the way to meet
up with Qwyver and Nae Hassle at a bay further up. Anyway we get to the bay,
anchor down and off to find the shop and the vegetable selling fisherman.
Fisherman found, he mentions he has some lobster. So instead of getting our
money back we are again forking out $'s. They yet again can't meet change so Noi
says we will take fruit in exchange for the money. Off we go to the shop while
the fishermen head off to pick some fruit.
When we get to the shop the shop owners niece takes one look at Noi and heads off to tell the village child population that the circus is in town. Noi strikes up a conversation with them in what must be the most bizarre broken pigeon English, Thai, Polynesian. Someone must have understood something because after picking up our fruit from the fishermen and heading back to the dinghy we hear someone shouting Noi from what seems to be the top of a tree. Turns out the multitude of kids are hiding in the tree and have remembered Noi's name. After a pleasant half hour of everyone not understanding everyone else we head for the dinghy. The dock is cement with a large swell passing through and not really suited to dinghy's and that means having to put out a stern anchor. We get to the dock and I meet up with a single hander who has a trimiran sailboat with no engine and is going round the Pacific for about the 4th time. Strange dude and as with all single hander’s is desperate to talk to someone. With me being detained by the strange sailing dude Noi decides to put the fruit and shop purchases in the dinghy but also decides to put the bag of lobster in a puddle on the lower dock to keep it fresh. There are no breaking waves so the swell is deceptive. When I eventually extricate myself from the monolog with the dude and go to get in the dinghy we find there is no longer a lobster bag in the puddle. I am convinced the swell has taken it away, Noi thinks the workers have half hitched it and this seems to be confirmed by the kids who are all miming putting something under their shirt and running away. An executive decision is made and we get into the dinghy to head home. The stern anchor is stuck and while I am trying to extricate it from the rocks I see the bag of lobster on the bottom. I manage to get across that I would like a mask if anyone has one. Off go half a dozen kids at a hundred miles an hour. They all come back with two masks between them. The biggest one puts on a great show of preparing himself and ducking down about 3 feet several times. The second mask is on the next biggest and is upside down. He doesn't seem to mind even when the mask fills up with water and he flops around for a few minutes. The 7 year old kid in the next picture is a late arrival and comes haring down the dock and flies off into the water, with no mask, picks up the lobster bag and brings it to me. Pat on the head from me and I show him my anchor is still stuck. Off he goes again and comes back with the anchor in his hand while the other two big guys are still flopping around. I immediately offer him a job or a bag of sweets. He astutely decides on the bag of sweets so off we go to Rogue to get the sweets with the boat down to the gunnels loaded with kids. One box of Skittles later and probably the entire child population of the village with future dental problems we head back to drop them off and continue the life according Brian.     |