Aug 26th – getting to and exploring Mopeti

Hello

The motor through the Mopeti pass was not a problem with John in the
rigging looking out for coral heads and shallow spots. The wind was down
for two days so the current against us at the pass was not more than 3
Knots. The wind has picked up last night and today and is expected to
last till the weekend but we are safely anchored in 18 feet on a white
sand bottom.
While going ashore for the first time I slipped on a wet rock and
scratched the same left knee that the infection was in. So as
frustrating as it is I will continue to not be able to do any swimming
or diving in this warm aqua green lagoon until this new injury is
healed. I went to the infirmary to be sure as I now know to not ignore
any possible infection. It was well taken care of and I was given lots
of bandages and medical supplies to keep it clean.
Two other boats pulled into Mopeti just after we arrived and last
evening for sunset I went over to the ENDELIG which means “finally or at
last” in Norwegian for some rum punch and popcorn. We loaned each other
our available DVD’s so we have new movies on the computer in the
evening. Kiki and Henri on ENDELIG and I are taking a walk around the
island of Mopeti this morning. They picked me up in their dingy at
around 8AM this morning. We got over three hours of exercise on our walk
around the island. There is only one road so we didn’t get too lost with
side trips to a sacred marvre, a great petroglyph site with lots of
turtles, and a long walk along along what seemed like endless white sand
beaches. The sunrises have been spectacular oranges and yellows.
Everyone on both boats are going out to a restaurant to eat this evening

John is still sick with the flue and has been mostly sleeping all day.
He maybe going to the infirmary tomorrow if he doesn’t feel any better.
This island is the most rural, slow and low key of any of the islands of
the Society Islands with a total population of one thousand. To give you
an example of the difference while at the infirmary it was interesting
watching as each person came in, they personally greeted every other
person there including me with a hand shake from the men or the cheek to
cheek from the womwn. This was also done on the street. How would it be
if we did that in our society/ country? You would probably say “we’d
never get anything done.” That may be true, but maybe, our
relationships, what is really important would be completely working as
they should be.

Love to everyone
Jim