deja vu - with lobster
Q here Ahhh yes, Discover Boating, beautiful sunrises and sunsets, long walks on the white sand beaches ! Colourful reef fish, plans turned upside down and inside out, boat parts breaking, time upside down in small crawl spaces, turning wrenches underwater, and making it all work with what you got. Not exactly everyone’s dream when they imagine sailing in tropical atolls but for some I guess. Somehow the challenges offer more growth and patience, the quite moments in the breeze are priceless, the waves wash away the discomfort, and the smallest gems inspire tomorrow.
Ellen: Well, sometimes you pack up and get all ready and go to leave, and then something tangles or breaks and you say “never mind! Let’s just spin around right now and re-anchor, shall we? “Discover Boating…”. Oh the cutlass bearing… that little rubber bushing in a metal sleeve, inside the strut, outside the shaft, upstream of the propeller, downstream of the engine, and underneath the boat with the cloud of remoras. It’s supposed to stay put while the shaft spins inside it, but it didn’t. You’re supposed to haul the boat out of the water to change it, but once upon a time, in rural Panama without that option, Qwalen and I didn’t. It’s serious deja vu, but in a way nicer climate - I’ll take a PILE of gifted lobster over free lurking crocodiles anytime! Thank you Nico! So glad we got waylaid!
NAOMI HERE DO YOU GUYS THINK MERCURY IS IN RETROGRADE , FIRST MY PHONE DIES A HEAT DEATH THEN THE CUTLESS BEARING THEN the wind instruments start acting up! They kind of work but sometimes they don’t,,,, pErhaps the problem will fix itself if I ignore it? I did go up the mast tho which was a very nice view. In any case ,it seems as tho we are going to get a good amount of practice sailing on and off anchor and I guess sailing in and out of passes ??
Jamie , On this uninhabited atoll there are a handful of people who harvest coconut for three months of the year. We have anchored outside someone’s hut and bought him Anzac cookies. In return today he bought us a bucket of freshly caught crayfish! Unbelievable, we had 12 between us. After steaming them and butchering them as a team we had so much rich lobster meat. We fried some in garlic butter and just steamed some more. We gorged ourselves. Feeling very lucky indeed! And very lucky to have such able crew on board that already know about broken cutlass bearings!
Megan here - lesson learned: approach strangers with your arms extended and holding cookies. Boy have we been rewarded. A pile of coconuts and a pile of lobsters! Did another circumnavigation of our current island today, but in the opposite direction. I hope the weather and remainder of our functional boat parts are with us tomorrow, I really want to check out the mysterious bird island on our meandering way back to Fakarava.
Bluebird out.