Day 4 on Raiatea

Yet another work day for us and as busy as usual. Still, we're accommodating to the temperatures, so we're not quite as exhausted as we were earlier.

After a full day, we drove into Uturoa, the capital of Raiatea, and the second largest city in French Polynesia. Our boatyard, Raiatea Carenage, is beyond the airport outside of town. Naturally, everyone's first language is French, and most native Raiateans speak Tahitian, too.

As we approach Uturoa in our tiny Fiat rental, you can see all of what there is. The lagoon inside the reef is at left and the mountains at right.

A view down the street from our parking place. May 1 is France's Labor Day, so town was very busy since many businesses are closed.

A light pole dressed for Labor Day. See what can be done with a palm frond?

This is the main shopping center and was jumping withe music and life today. The locals seem to enjoy holidays. Everyone seems to look forward to the social scene. This is their municipal marina, for smaller vessels, only, although are some marinas for larger boats outside town.

Champion is the largest market in town and the location of most of our shopping.

Checkout in Champion on the afternoon before Labor Day.

Yep, all in French and all VERY expensive, especially alcohol. You couldn't afford to be a drunk here.

The street front outside Champion with storm clouds on the way.

We hauled our groceries back to the boat since we will start living aboard tomorrow morning. This cover is of "shade cloth", used in plant nurseries and such. It's about 90% opaque and breathes well.

After stowing groceries, Conni looks back at the boat. You can see the solar panels behind her. You can also see that she's WAY in the air!

The stairway to heaven... This is our boarding ladder to the boat. Leaving something aboard is a problem! Note that the ladder is metal and when the ground was wet, we received some nasty shocks when standing on the ladder and touching metal on the boat. The two boats that you can see are both metal, one aluminum (at left), the other steel. Metal is a good boat-building material when in these waters.

Wings, ready to launch, we hope. Ain't she pretty? We have yet to install the new anchor, or hank on her sails, but that'll come.

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