Taihoae - Nuka Hiva

Off again. We were delayed a little leaving Oa Pou. The guy for the wood wasn't there all morning. Then we discovered that a marathon was being run and would end right there on "our" beach! So we stayed to watch. It is an anual event and folks from France came to run! A really big deal. Only 45 runners though, but one was a 3 time champion from France. It was a 42Km run almost all the way around the island.

They had food and crafts for sale, so Trinda and I went our separate ways.... She found a shark vertebrae and seed necklace that is real nice. I found fried rice and a local fruit cake. The announcer had a great time explaining how good this pie was to be and also how much it gives the "popping farts". So naturally I had to walk over and buy it with every one laughing and having such a good time. This morning Trinda confirmed the potency! There were only about 8 English speaking people in th e audience,
but he explained lots to us, and translated our comments back to the crowd. It was fun.

When the craftsman, Rata Ro, returned he only had a whole tree that he offered to cut up for my steering oar. I told him it was OK, I'd look else where. Then he cave me a piece of wood to repair the dinghy oar that broke into while we were first launching it here.

Then this morning we headed out for Nuka Hiva. We were low on water, so I started the watermaker again. The bay at Oa Pou was too dirty. It stopped up my filters. Minutes later t was blowing the antifreeze out again. So with the sails up and making over 5 knots on our way for 265 miles, I went to work on the watermaker yet again. It turns out the rubber impeller in the watermaker boost pump has eaten itself! Darn! I don't have an extra for that either! I find a transfer pump that I have been using
with the diesel and temporarily install it.

Well, we made Nuka Hiva. Saturday about noon. Everything is closed til Monday! I can't even get the internet til then!!!