Papeete, Tahiti!

We sailed into Papeete`s bay and we threw our lines to a bare chested young man! Not a bad start, hey? The lines were filthy and Andando was covered with green and brown slime! Johan and Joe`s hands got sliced up from the little shells growing on the lines – quite a bloody start!

Civilization! It was a strange feeling hearing the traffic, the siren of an ambulance, seeing people mingling in the streets! But the boys were so excited. Joe connected the hose pipe and enjoyed having fresh water to rinse down the grime on Andando`s white deck. Marco connected the 220volt shore power, and the batteries were smiling. We knew that tonight we could burn some lights!

After radioing Port on Channel 12, we sailed into the Bay following the Morea ferry, with the airplanes flying over our heads or mast! They guide us to Customs and Immigrations, but when we got there, we realized that we needed some visas. Without being upset with us for not having, they only informed us to go to the Post Office on Monday, to get the visas, 3000 Polynesian Franks per person, and to return. To fill up fuel, we have to come back on Tuesday for a letter to be able to buy the duty free fuel for 105 P Franks and not the regular price of 155 P Franks. We roamed the streets, looking for something sweet, but decided against a Magnum for almost 4 Euros! I found my post cards for my dear ones, and Joe got lost somewhere in the shop behind a calendar! After waiting a long time for him, still busy studying the months of the year, we realized that he was enjoying the flowers, and only the flowers, in the Tahiti girls` hair!

We found a supermarket (Carrefour) and bought some necessities. It is still very expensive, and our poor South-African Rands are stretched to it`s limits! We fell asleep with the sound of people….