#48 NOW May 5, 2005 - 1032 Zone Time = UTC -9 ½ hours Taiohae Bay, Nuku Hiva Temp 94.2, Water Temp Perfect for swimming Miles Completed 2757 (we cut the corner a little), Miles to Go Zero. Greetings from Nuku Hiva, We are presently at anchor in Taiohae Bay. The time here as you may have noticed from above is -9 ½ hours from UTC. This is rather confusing when you are trying to plan something. The following is Jim’s description of our arrival after 20 days 9:28 at sea. --- Hi. We arrived yesterday (Wed.) about 1pm local time. The harbor has about 30 sailboats all on anchor. I drove the boat up to a concrete pier to leave Larry off with the paper work and passports, with huge swells still in the harbor it's a wonder I didn’t wreck his boat. Then went out a bit and hovered, then back in to pick him up. All for not. The Gendarmerie (local police/customs etc. etc.) takes after noon French siesta. Come back later after 3PM, which we did with the local person Larry hired to smooth things through. All went well at the police dept. and we were officially in the country in less than 15 minutes. Jim had to ride in the back of the old old pickup. Nice ridddde! So as of now, we are on the hook with the rest of the boats. Seems strange not to be rock’in & roll'in. We arrived with 247 gallons of fuel left (we burned 693 gals) which is more than Larry float planned. We cannot get more fuel until the 10th then we will be off to Hiva Oa. Last night we went to bed at 8pm and did not awake for 10 hrs. This morning we washed the boat down then went swimming (water temp. 90 degrees), it was still refreshing. We are now all closed up with the air conditioner running. Pretty tough way to go boating, egh? Since we have ample fuel, in the morning we are going around this island stopping at all the other bays and coves. Hav'in fun but it is hot & muggy. Jim --- Once ashore, we hiked down to the bank and found an ATM machine. Soon we were in possession of some rather large and colorful notes. With 25,000 CFP (French Pacific Franc), we felt very rich. At approximately 100 CFP to the dollar, we were not that rich. We next hiked up to a little super market, well it was more like a 7/11, and purchased two bars of ice cream and two soda drinks for 1000 CFP. It soon became apparent that our 25,000 CFP really was not going to last very long. Today we plan to explore the town a little more. It has a population of about 2000, and at the far end of the bay is a small resort, which has a nice restaurant. I think this evening we will splurge and dine out. Not that Jim’s cooking hasn’t been excellent, but perhaps he needs a night off. As Jim mentioned we will be spending the next 4 or 5 days circumnavigating Nuku Hiva. There are many little coves and bays in which to anchor. This will be a good time to rest and catch up a little before heading south to the other islands. Our fuel should arrive here on the 10th from Papeete. We will not be sending quite so many NOWs as we spend more time sitting on the back deck with our feet up, warming our toes in the sun. I do hope that you are all doing well. Life is a Cruise, Larry and Jim Larry Rick Done Dreamin' Nordhavn 40 #33 Site: http://gricknet.homedns.org/ Email: <mailto:donedream@pacbell.net>donedream@pacbell.net