Day 266, Year 1: Happy Birthday to My Sister Patsy!
Date: Monday, July 10, 2006
Weather: Still Sunshine Mixed with Clouds and Occasional Showers
Location: Uturoa, Raiatea (Society Islands, French Polynesia)
Today is my sister’s 73rd birthday. She’ll probably kill me for announcing her age to the world, but she looks so young that I think she should be proud. If I look half as good as her at 73, I’ll be a very happy person. So happy birthday to the world’s greatest sister.
We have had a productive day here on the dock in Uturoa today. We made the final orders for things that we hope the Stuarts will bring to us in Raratonga. I went to the hospital and had more blood tests and x-rays-all fine, and I worked on getting photos ready to send to the website. That’s where we ran into trouble. Again, we are having trouble finding an internet cafĂ© that will let us use our computer and we have trouble using the French keyboards. There is one more place that Mark is going to try tomorrow, but if that doesn’t work, we will just copy the photos on CD and send them by snail mail to our son Justin. Very frustrating. But soon we hope you will be able to share some of the things we are seeing out here.
We are here on the quay or city dock in Uturoa along with five other boats tonight-Don and Barbara on Lutana II from Australia, single-hander James on Cheyenne from San Francisco, Jerry and Kathy on Po’oina roa from Los Angeles, Joe and Cindy on Maggie Drum from the Seattle, Washington area, and one French boat. We have not met the single-hander from the French boat, but we did invite everyone else over for cocktails and appetizers. The weather was pretty miserable-rainy and windy-but we were still able to all sit in the cockpit and enjoy each other’s company. One of the greatest things about cruising is getting together in the evenings with other cruisers to share war stories.
We are sure hoping for a break in this weather, but it could still be a few days. We’re keeping a watch on the formation of some low systems in the Raratonga area and hoping that they just move on. It is time for fair winds and sunshine in the South Pacific.
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| 060710 Day 266 Society Islands, Raitea–Friends at City Dock in Uturoa |
