Day of Preparation
Betsy and Jane provisioning at the fresh food market in Raiatea
Because there was limited connectivity while we were out on the boat, I am writing these posts after the fact. The last entry I did was the day after we arrived, and we were so tired, we were in bed and asleep by 7!
After a quick breakfast and gallons of coffee, we had Warren Taxis pick us up, make a stop at the Moorings base and then into town to provision. As we had checked out the one market the day before, we thought the other might be better. One street back from the waterfront, the store proved to be quite well stocked.
We found just about everything on our lists, including some of the items requested by the crew. As we made our way up and down the aisles, as one shopping cart was filled, we pushed it out of the way in a quiet corner of the store. Of course, we found excellent baguettes and a pretty good selection of cheeses. It’s the wrong season for a lot of the tropical fruits (it’s winter here!) but we ended up doing well.
That's a LOT of food
Lucky for us, the market is used to charterers coming in to provision and provides a delivery service to the base. A great service as we were wondering how this was all going to be transported! Jane hopped into the pickup with the driver and off all five shopping baskets of stuff went! Betsy and I headed to the bakery for for chocolate croissants for breakfast.
Our taxi picked us up and we headed off back to the base for our chart briefing. Laurent, a charming young man, walked us through it. Betsy and I had pretty much decided our route, but Laurent had some good suggestions and the base was able to make some reservations at various places we hadn’t been able to contact.
It's a tough life but someone has to do it...
Everything here is done on island time here. Answering emails, returning calls can take days or you just might not hear back at all! It’s a challenge to adjust to the pace of life, but both Betsy and I have done a lot of traveling, and although it tends to be frustrating at times, we know not to get pissed off and anxious about it. And in the end, it all turned out wonderfully well.
By the time we got back to MiriMiri Guest House, we were ready for a drink, dinner and an early night as we had to be at the base before 8 the next morning for boat check. The rest of the crew was scheduled to arrive before 9 with departure from the dock at 10.
A Day of Preparation
First Day Aboard Our Moorings 48
Sweet Vanilla Island
Floating Down the Coral River
A Most Beautiful Place
Fine Food and Black Pearls
Huahine - My Heaven
Papeete On My Own