Addition to Iles de Gambier (Nachtrag)

There is something I forgot to write.

On saturday there will be a big ball to the honour of all mothers. "Bal de les meres", including the election of "Miss Maman (45+). Tickets are available at all magasins (little supermarkets) for 25000 CPF (250$)! Only high society in Munich would be able and willing to pay that much to go to a ball and that would require good shows with good bands for the guests to be happy. I wonder what the ball will be like, how the people dress. I am sure everybody goes there. Gaston, the guy who gave me so much of his fruits, told me, that he dances walz - at a ball. So they all learn to dance even classic dance and they do have balls. I was quite surprised. Gaston also plays in one of the three rhythm groups practicing for the dance competition right now - every evening for three hours. Money does not seem to be an issue at this island. On weekends most of the people order pizza - for an average of 12$/pizza.

Talking about Gaston. I did bake a cake with pearsauce (Birnenmus)(there are no apples or pears available) and brought half the cake to my fruit providers - the lady where I got the pomelos from and to Gaston. Youshould have seen their smile. I did not know what else to give them as a thank you, since they have all they need. So I thought putting my time and eneryg into something they cannot buy might be a good idea. I think it was. We of course also had a piece of that cake, delicious. I did not know that you could make fruit cake with a sauce (Mus bzw. Kompott).

Looking back to our last stop I also have to add the rest of the gambier islands we have visited. Each one a little paradise for itself. So on Gambier we had the unique combination of green islands with mountains surrounded by a reef with little sandy islands with palm trees and some other trees and bushes on them. Islands that you had for yourself. Most of them had houses on them though - houses left behind. No one has lived there for years. Except for one, which seems to be inhabited (bewohnt) on the weekends. Islands with big swimming pools in front of them and private aquariums and reefs for fishing. Places to relax.

Now we are heading for many islands/atolls of the Tuamotus, but they will all be flat, just these sandy islands - no island with hills coming up til Tahiti and Bora Bora. But, many swimming pools....
We are sailing quite slow, not too much wind but little wives rocking us around, like always. Yesterday Fritz gave us a lot of food out of his freezer because he had new delivery by boat from Tahiti. We are really loaded with food and especially pomelos now. At least tonight I don't have to cook, we'll enjoy Fritz's lentil soup. Yesterday before we left I cooked cabbage picked in Fritz's garden with bacon, breadfruit and sausage. Good.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Another good-bye

So, it seems like the day has come. Once we have helped Fritz to get his frozen stuff off the transportation boat (Versorgungsschiff) and we were able to buy flour and the rest of the stuff we need we will set sails and leave Mangareva and Iles de Gambier heading towards the Atoll of Hao. We had a great time, it was the longest stop EVER on our trip so far.

When we first arrived I only saw the green island of Mangareva and thought "well, looks just like in Brazil. Why sail here?" Now, after 3 weeks here, I changed my mind. I have come to love this little place with its friendly people who keep their island licked clean, the wonderful fruits, the way of living, the fresh baguette, the music and dancing every night, the beautiful singing, and even that you can't get all that you want all the time. You learn to took forward to the arrival of the transportation ship which brings new alimentation, all kinds of goods and, of course, the mail. Passing by the harbour is fun where everybody arrives with his car and takes the goods sent for him. People order (maybe via internet or fax?) goods in Tahiti and the next ship brings the stuff. Everything from food to construction material, cars, furniture, clothes....And everybody orders his own gas / diesel in canisters of 200l. There is no gasstation here - .even with all the cars on this island. But, it works.

The island is way cleaner than anything I have seen in Brazil, Argentina or Chile. People constantly mow their grass (mähen) and take all the leaves out of the immens huge gardens. Some are busy everyday to keep the garden clean. And I love that in addition to all the huge trees (the biggest trees I have ever seen) they have many flowers in their gardens. They love flowers and I love their flower hats.

I had so much time here that I even started drawing again and playing the guitar. Last night I practiced a little bit before I went to bed and learned my first song. Cool. The new strings that Sebastian brought are great, a lot better to play.

So, time to say good-bye. I am sending the last pictures from here - but this time not regular photographies but photos of some drawings I made. Not great, but fun. And don't forget: Alita did not lie still while I drew....Too bad the flash ruins the drawings a bit, but scanning takes a bit more time...

Contrasts

I LOVE contrasts, how about you? Out here on the ocean you get a lot of these. You can see the whole dark clouds with pure sunshine in front of them until the dark hits you...I love these moments. See yourself, pix taken yesterday.

Here the moon is already up. Look for it...

 Rain coming...

 My favourite picture

 And Marcus fishing...

More pictures are online in the photo gallery. Just follow the link.
http://sailing.smichah.de/#58.10