A Picnic

A few days after meeting the village people we were pretty good friends with them.  We invited them onto our boat for a short sail to a beach everyone called the Sand Spit because a long spit of sand wound out from the beach at low tide.  In the morning at 9:00 we picked up our hostess sand a couple of her friends.  There was Mere our hostess, her uncle, his daughter her niece, Meres husband Jone, and two girls who were just friends.  

We reached the Sand Spit and everyone suited up in their swim suits for a fun day at the beach!  I rigged the sailing dinghy and took Cleo and Archie to the beach, everyone else followed, swimming paddling or sailing to shore.  Some of the village people set up a shelter of saplings and palm fronds using nothing but machetes.  We split into groups, the little kids preferring to stay by the beach and play in the shallows while my dad and two village men took Cleo and Jasper spearfishing and two more village people went to catch coconut crabs for lunch.  I went with David, Sam, Archie and a village boy called Tua to catch some fish in the small salt water pools on the other side of the island.  We didn’t catch anything with our rods but Tua succeeded in catching five small fish with nothing but a rock.

We went back to the Sand Spit empty-handed but we’d had fun, Tua had taught us how to use the pieces of coral littered on the beach to catch small fish to use as live bait, but we still caught nothing.  When we returned to the beach I was hot and bothered from the mosquitos and sun on the beach, I caught a ride with one of the boys in the kayaks and went back to our boat for a cool off and spent half an hour by myself just chilling. I went back when I saw everybody gathering in the shelter for lunch.  I got to the beach just in time to get some lunch.  Everybody had participated in making the meal, the two people who had gone crabbing had brought back two huge coconut crabs the size of my head.  The spearfishing group had speared 5 fish which had been roasted over the fire until they were nice and crispy.

The food was awesome and after we were done we set up a soccer field and played a game of soccer.  My team won and and it was really fun playing in the sand.  We swam back to the boat and I took a shower while we sailed back to the village anchorage.

Tongan Feast

After we moved from the town harbor we pulled into another quieter anchorage by a small restaurant.  I cooked and did school most of the day while my sisters played with the Elena boys on the beach, in the evening we made a a reservation at the Tongan restaurant for dinner. It was only us and Elena at the little place and it was neat and the floor was sand.  We had a fun time chasing each other around in the long grass with the dogs, By the time the food was ready we were all tired out and really hungry.  

We all sat at small polished wood tables with low wood benches and the food was placed on the center table.  We had a cool seafood chowder for appetizer and it was really good, there were all kinds of shrimps and clams and fish in the soup and we all went back for seconds.  Next we had we had a kind of mash, it was made out of the root-like Taro vegetables that grew almost wild in the area and tasted kind of like potato.  We also had a salad, a ceviche made from the local fish and chicken stuffed with local greens and spices.  We drank pineapple and coconut juice and had fresh fruit salad for desert.  

It was delicious and we had a really great time.  

Jades Birthday

We were in a small remote anchorage with a short beach and a path through the forest and we decided to celebrate Jades birthday.  We set up relay races and games such as capture the flag and tug-o-war.  In the morning, before the party my moon and I mixed up chocolate cupcake batter and set them to bake.  Unfortunately It was supposed to be cake batter and it overflowed the muffin tins and stuck to the bottom when we tried to get it out.  After that disaster we were really careful when we made just basic white cupcakes with chocolate chips in cupcake papers.  

The disaster cupcakes were a double batch so we were left with an enormous amount of crumbled chocolate cake that we had no idea how to use.  As we fixed the problem and set up the party my mom ran into Moana Roa mom who told her that we could easily use our mess-up to make a perfect chocolate trifle.  We had never heard of trifle so she explained that it was made by layering chocolate cake then custard then canned fruit, more cake and custard and topped off with whipped cream.  Saving this idea for later, we went about setting things up for the party.  

Despite the cupcake failure the party went very well, with everyone, even the parents, participating in the games.  When we got tired of running around we ate the second batch of cupcakes which had turned out surprisingly well, and rested until capture the flag.  

The best part of the party was the game of capture the flag that we had with the dads.  All the kids and all the dads participated and we had such even teams that the game went on for hours with each team getting close to the others flag but then getting chased of.  Eventually, after almost 3 hours of playing my team won in a desperate rush for their flag, involving me, my dad, some invisible players and a mad rush from another. teammate.  

The best part of the party was the game of capture the flag that we had with the dads.  All the kids and all the dads participated and we had such even teams that the game went on for hours with each team getting close to the others flag but then getting chased of.  Eventually, after almost 3 hours of playing my team won in a desperate rush for their flag, involving me, my dad, some invisible players and a mad rush from another. teammate.  

The best part of the party was the game of capture the flag that we had with the dads.  All the kids and all the dads participated and we had such even teams that the game went on for hours with each team getting close to the others flag but then getting chased of.  Eventually, after almost 3 hours of playing my team won in a desperate rush for their flag, involving me, my dad, some invisible players and a mad rush from another. teammate.

Vava'u

Vava'u 

After an 8 day sail we were glad to sight land, we pulled in and tied up to the jetty.  I started with all the school that I had to make up after 8 days of being “seasick” while my mom went shopping and exploring wifi options and my dad got us checked into Tonga.  

After we were all settled we moved from the customs dock into the mooring field and grabbed a bouy.  We tried to finish school as quickly as possible, eager to be off the boat.  After lunch we were free to go and the Moana Roa kids came to pick us up to go into town.  We walked down the main street (also on of the only streets) and came across an Ice Cream parlor so I treated everybody to ice cream.  We walked back to the dock cafe and sat and talked until dinner time, we ate pizza with Moana Roa for dinner then played around by the dock for a while.

When we got tired and bored we loaded ourselves into the dinghy and went back to the boat to watch movies.

Weaving

At 9:00 one morning we made muffins and went into shore for a weaving class.  We picked up a few people on the way in and we were a full boat when we got there.  The family had caught a fish that morning and they served it grilled for lunch.  For dessert everyone on the boats contributed, there were lots of different kinds of brownies, cherry coconut muffins, blueberry muffins, chocolate coconut cookies and hot chocolate.  After the kids had lunch we sat on the sand playing games and talking, mostly games that did not involve running around because I had a hurt foot and couldn’t run.

Soon the adults were done and the local family gathered us on the beach and started weaving.  One Sister cut palm fronds a certain length and skinned the ends, one sister showed us how to start by weaving the outside rim of the hat, and a third sister showed us how to weave the top and hardest  part of the hat.  I did all right with the rim but I had to hand it over to the woman to finish when I got to the top part, I watched her and when I understood I grabbed up another one and did it myself.  After I had made two hats I wandered around the beach an saw the mother of the family teaching a group of cruisers how to make little things like stars and cubes and plates and bags.  I sat in then taught my sisters and mom. 

After the class was done we drove home laden with christmas ornaments, hats , plates and bags all made from palm fronds.

Huahine

Huahine is a just a morning sail from Raitea so we got in right after lunch. As soon as the anchor was down I was off the boat and in the water.  We played in the grass for a while then jumped on the paddle board for a “paddle” around, (like I could paddle 7 kids on a sinking board with one paddle).  The parents came in small groups and we divided into teams for volleyball, my team won 2 games and the other team won 1.  

It grew late and we lit a bonfire to toast marshmallows on sticks and ate brownies for desert, we told ghost stories by the fire and played tag games until late into the night when the stars and moon were out.

We did the same  thing for 3 days with small differences, like going surfing in the morning some days, and wake boarding some days.  I fell in love with surfing and got better and better at volleyball every day, I played and joked around with the boys off Moana Roa all day and had so much fun.  This morning my dad and Cleo and I jumped in the dinghy with the paddle board and kayak and headed off to the surfing spot we go to every morning before school, I caught a few waves but mostly either fell off my board or joked around with Bo off Moana Roa. 

I’m having so much fun I want to stray here forever but unfortunately we have to leave for internet and connection to the real world outside of my paradise.

Raitea

After Moorea we moved onto Raitea so we could do repairs, like getting new batteries, fixing the computer, sewing the stackpack.  Most of the time we were tied up to the town docks and we spent our days skateboarding, ripsticking, and getting ice cream, we made trailers to horor movies for fun and every night was a party.  We had a great time playing with all of our friends who were with us at the docks too, Moana Roa, Remi De, Elena, Moxie.



One day we decided to hike up to the top of the hill shadowing the harbor, at least a 5 mile hike.  We went with the Elena boys and had fun making bows and arrows out of bendy sticks and getting chased by a very protective mama cow.  We told stories about other hikes we'd been on and finally got to the top, we spent some time on the top of the hill, eating bananas and looking at the wonderful view from the mountain.  You could see everything, we saw the docks where our boats were, we saw the parking lot with all the food trucks, we saw the town square and the ice cream shop.



When we got back down our feet were sore and our knees aching from climbing that hill, but we got showered and dressed for dinner out that night, we walked along the pier, looking for anything that struck our fancy but we didn't find very much, finally we went back to the first food truck we had seen and all had steak frite for dinner.

Tahiti

The sail from Rangiroa to Tahiti was a day and 2 nights, for the first night and half of the next day, we went as fast as we could so we could get there with out spending another night out at sea, but when it became apparent that we weren't going to make we slowed down.  As soon as we slowed down it was much more comfortable, and we stopped rocking so much.

It was early morning when we motored through the pass and even from far away I could tell that there were a lot boats in this anchorage, maybe even more than Cartegena.

As soon as we anchored we all packed up to get off the boat and onto land, we walked up to the marina office and dropped off my dad and Jade to wait for it to open and then continued up the road to the grocery store.  We hadn't been food shopping for so long and we were almost out of food, so we had to buy a lot.  I got a cart and tried to push it but the back wheels moved also so it went sideways when it was pointing straight ahead, Cleo and my mom thought this was so funny and laughed their heads off when I tried to get through the doors to the store.

We shopped and shopped and shopped and shopped, and when my dad came back with not only Jade but also Remi and her parents, we did more shopping all together.  It was really fun, running around the store playing hide and seek and spying on the parents, and when we got hungry we went and got lunch at the cafe and ordered paninis a foot long!  Soon we got tired and the parents finished shopping so we went home, but it had been really fun.

My Birthday

A few days after my grandparents came we celebrated my Birthday. 

I had toasted baguettes with strawberry jam for breakfast, then I went back down and read.  At about 10:00 Nanna and Nonno came and we got ready for snorkeling.  We spent half an hour snorkeling and swimming then came back for lunch.  For lunch we had quiche, cabbage salad and bread, it was really good.  

Later Daddy and Nonno went scuba diving and my mom went for a spa treatment, so Nanna took me and my sisters to the pool.  When we got tired of the pool we went back to the room for showers and pedicures.  

We did each others toes and I got mine a gorgeous blue color that was kind of iridescent.

When everyone got back my mom produced a delicious Key Lime pie for a birthday cake, we stuck candles in it and sang the happy birthday song, then we ate it and it was soooo good!

My sisters then brought their presents and begged me to open them so I did, because i’m such a nice sister.  

Cleo and Jade both gave me bracelets and Nanna gave me clothes and jewelry, my mom got me a fancy headset that has its own 3 gig. storage, and even though Mimi and Pop weren’t here they had sent me presents.  

It was a good Birthday.

The Mud Baths

  Cleo, my friend Hazel, her dad and I

(try to figure out who is who)

My friend Hazel and her family came to visit us after my grandparents.  On the first day we showed them the fort and took them around town, but the second day was a real hit, we went to a volcanic mud bath!  We hired a driver to take us there and back, and we arrived at the village that was appointed official caretakers of the baths, just in time.  We bought tickets and climbed the rickety stairs up the volcano, the volcano might be called a volcano but it will never explode, it’s just hot enough to melt the mud inside of it into a liquid but no more.  

We waited in line at the top of the mountain/hill until we finally caught sight of the mud, it was far down in the volcano and looked exactly like gray soup, explaining how the people coming down the other side of the hill all looked like they were clay statues that had gone in the microwave and were melting down to the core.  My mom told us to get partners and I grabbed up Hazels hand and squeezed it, she  smiled back at me and adjusted her bathing suit.  farther along in the line Cleo and Ruby were holding hands and talking about what it would feel like, “It probably will make our skin really soft,” I said to Hazel, “It’s mud after all.”

The line slowly curved around the edge of the pool and anticipation piled high in my throat, finally it was our sisters turn and Cleo and Ruby climbed down the ladder, they slid in together and we asked the temperature and they said it was not warm but not cold, soon it was our turn ad we slipped into the mud.  They were right it was in between, but it felt so good!

From the outside it had looked like there was some kind of floor on the bottom but it tuned out it was bottomless! At first I thought I was going to sink but it turned out that the mud was so thick I couldn't sink!

It was so fun! After the bath we washed off in the lakes and changed in the van, then had lunch at a road side stand and headed home.