Aug. 15th – Up the river in Raiatea

Hello to everyone

John and I are still in Raiatea moored in Faaroa Bay off a red dock
owned by a friendly American archeologist, Bill, who gave a very
informative 3 hour tour of the sacred Polynesian Maraes a little further
south. Yesterday we had an adventure going about a mile up the river at
the end of the bay with a friend, Jack,who’s on a boat called Fleet
Wood. Starting out around noon in our inflatable dingy we just got
patched and our 3.5 HP outboard we just got working again. There was
fresh water eels and lots of small fish. At a shallow part we beached
the dingy and all took much needed fresh water baths in a deep pool. At
this point the shear pin on the propeller shaft made the outboard
useless and we began paddling down stream until we came to a botanical
garden, Botanic Chez Lovine, where we took a great guided tour for an
hour. We were shown and given the names of many plants and samples of
flowers of all kinds. Our guide then towed us and our boat to INTENTION
where we fixed the outboard. We also had the opportunity to repair the
engine’s salt water pump and improve its pully attachment system. We
continue to Cruise – fixing our boat in exotic places.

Love
Jim