Marina Tahina

So far I have been very surprised by what I have encountered and what I always had imagined Papeete would be like. It is a big harbor city, much like Oakland or Long Beach, with a tropical flair. We spent two nights there. It was very loud with the highway noise right next to the shore line. Also, there are no beaches, just rocks and drop offs.

We did meet some of Jock and Yuriko's friends they met on their last trip. Yuriko made a delicious Japanese dinner for Sabrina, Pascal, and their baby boy. By the end of the night, Sabrina said she would bring some black pearls for Yuriko and I to look at and choose what we wanted. Her brother is a pearl farmer in the Tuomotus. I couldn't believe it would happen, but the next day she brought a Ziplock bag full of black pearls!

We also saw a beautiful ceremony where the Polynesians were blessing a sailboat about to make a journey to Shenghai. Lots of flowers, tattoos, singing and celebration going on.

A few observations: Doors to buildings open in instead of opening out. If a family has all boys, the youngest boy is raised as a girl to do the female tasks. Lots of big, Polynesian cross dressers! Bread is only 50 cents. Kids are taught Tahitian, French, English, Spanish and now Japanese in school. Because of the coral reefs, people are taken by boat or jet ski out beyond the reef to surf. Quite interesting to see people so far off shore surfing.

Today we moved the boat to Marina Tahina. On Sunday, Sabrina and Pascal have invited us to a big family party. That should be fun.