However, right now I have readers sending me emails asking, "Where are you?" So I write quickly before my 11 guests wake. Because once they do, it will be about making our guests feel welcome, fed and entertained (all of which we have had great success with already).
The only downside to currently being in paradise is that it has been a cool 90 degrees with 12-18 knot winds at times here in the Society Islands. As I type, the wind is blowing so hard that AMARA is more like a ride at the county fair than the strong vessel that she usually is. Her body seems to roll with the waves and is being pushed by the winds in circles, giving me a 360 degree view every time the wind picks up and swings AMARA around. In fact, our sail from Moorea to Huahine yesterday brought us up to 30-knot winds all night. My sister and her family asked for adventure and well, we are giving it to them. The wind should die down next week by the time we get to Bora Bora, but before then, and like I said—it's still a warm 90 degrees out so I am hardly complaining.
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Saturday, July 13
Martin and I arrived in Tahiti late Thursday evening and hit the ground running (as usual) but this time with an incentive. My sister, Courtney, and her family were coming the following Monday to meet us and join us on AMARA for our journey from Tahiti, to Moorea (10 miles from Tahiti), then on to Huahine (90 miles from Moorea) then on to Fa'a and lastly, to Bora Bora.
Before they came, we knew that their was lots that needed to get done before they came, i.e., food shopping, possible purchase more pearls, and, of course, we couldn't miss out on another opportunity to dive to the bottom of the ocean and feed the sharks! Oh, and there were a few minor boat repairs that needed fixing but we had our priorities!
The first day after our arrival, we went to the Heiva festival where we saw spear tossing, coconut shredding (copra), stone lifting and my favorite, music and dancing.
The men preparing for the spear tossing.
Looks like they are still a good aim after all these centuries.
The aftermath.
Now for the dancing.
We were so lucky to have been here in order to get so much of the cultures of the Society Islands under one roof.
We even got to meet Miss Tahiti and Miss Papeete.
After the Hieva festival, we got in our dinghy and headed for the harbor where the canoeing races were going to take place. We got there just in time to watch them take off at the start of the race.
We had the advantage compared to the people on shore because we could follow them from behind in our dinghy which made us feel even more a part of the race.
After the races, we headed for the grocery store to do our last bit of shopping before my sister and her family came to town. We had Sue go ahead and do all the shopping and then we met her later to bring the carts back to the marina where we could load them into the dinghy. It's quite the sight seeing three grocery carts going down the main street towards the marina next to all the traffic.
After the shopping adventure, we were ready for my family to arrive and couldn't wait for them to arrive on Monday.
