We are still in the beautiful little bay here in Tahuata – and
\nnow there are 9 boats here. After a beautiful morning spent
\npaddling around in our kayak and snorkeling, we saw that a Coast
\nGuard boat had arrived and they were checking all the boats. It
\nturned out to be totally painless and easy for us. They came on
\nboard, asked us when we arrived in the South Pacific ( yesterday
\nof course), asked to see our passports, asked us if we had
\nfirearms on board, and how much liquor, and then told us
\neverything was ok, and we should just get our papers stamped
\ntomorrow or Monday at the police station in Hiva Oa. They
\ndidn’t spend more than 5 minutes with us and were very
\npleasant. Apparently they went on board some of the boats and
\nchecked every cupboard and cabinet looking for drugs and\/or
\nfirearms. If they had done that on our boat they wouldn’t have
\nfound much except cans of tuna fish and dried soup. There is
\nanother boat here that has a family with a 5 year old, a 1 year
\nold, and the mom is pregnant and expecting in a few months. The
\nrest of us are absolutely amazed – the thought of doing this
\ntype of sailing while being pregnant and taking care of an
\ninfant is more than we can imagine. They seem to be doing fine
\nthough – so I guess anything is possible.<\/p>\n
We are really enjoying this bay – the water is beautiful – it is
\ncalm – and best of all there are no no-no’s (no-see-ums). We had
\nread that people get eaten alive by them here, but we have not
\nbeen touched at all. We are becoming good friends with 3 other
\nboats – 2 Austrian, and one German. All are younger than us,
\nbut age is not a factor here ( at least to us). One of them
\nloves Jerry Seinfeld as much as we do.<\/p>\n
We heard such a funny story. Apparently there were quite a few
\nEuropean boats in the Galapagos who decided that they did not
\nwant to sail to the Marquesas ( where we are), because they did
\nnot want to run into lots of Americans. They all decided to
\nsail down to the Gambiers, which is several hundred miles south
\nof here. Apparently there was absolutely no wind for people
\ngoing that direction, and there is no place to buy fuel in the
\nGambiers, so all the boats who went south to escape the
\nAmericans, had a terrible, slow, uncomfortable sail – not enough
\nwind to sail, but they couldn’t afford to use up the fuel they
\nhad to run their engines because then they would be stuck in the
\nGambiers without fuel. Some people who left the Galapagos when
\nwe did are still en route to the Gambiers, making about 22 nm
\nper day ( as opposed to the 150 to 180 that we made). What is so
\nfunny is that there are hardly any Americans at all here in the
\nMarquesas – and those Americans who are here ( like the Pitts)
\nare exceptionally nice. So there is a lesson there – never
\nchange your travel plans to avoid the Americans. You will get
\nscrewed. Ha!<\/p>\n
L<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We are still in the beautiful little bay here in Tahuata – and now there are 9 boats here. After a beautiful morning spent paddling around in our kayak and snorkeling, we saw that a Coast Guard boat had arrived and they were checking all the boats. It turned out to be totally painless and … <\/p>\n