At Anchor, Nivani Is

The Adventures of the Good Ship Equinox
Cate and Chris Galloway
Fri 11 Sep 2009 09:33
Hello All,
We are still here at sunny Nivana/Panapompom
Island; overnight the government attempted to get us in their clutches with a
Quarantine Officer requiring us to pay K250 to be granted pratique. We told him
that the Customs Officer took K190 off us and told us we had cleared Quarantine
(pratique) when we cleared in, to which he replied that there was no charge
for custom clearance and that he was not authorised to grant pratique. Long
story short, v.angry Quarantine Officer told us we had been ripped off enough
and departed at speed in his Banana Boat to have it out with the Customs
Officer. Something must have happened because a boat that was told they were to
be cleared in this mornng could not because the Customs Officer had been called
away at short notice. Moreon the saga tomorrow, but I hope we have gotten out of
it for cheaper nthan some of the other yachts that have now joined us in the
anchorage.
Today has been generally pretty quiet - I went
fishing with Milla the local Pastor (who we gave a lift across to Misima a
couple of weeks ago) and it was high tech rod and lure vs nylon handline and
chicken feathers wrapped around a hook. An inclonclusive result, no fish caught
but Milla had the "one that got away".
This evening we had a fire on the beach and drinks
with two other boats Dalmurra (Peter and Ushi) and Lupi Amori (sic) (Klaus and
Maria). Klaus and MNaria are comning over tomorrow to translate all of the
warning labels on Equinox for us.
Another perfect day in aradise, until
tomorrow...TTFN
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