The Marquesas

Having dropped anchor in Taioha’e Bay after 21 days at sea, we had quite a few chores to attend to. But first, Angela and Gerry from MV Celt came over to have a celebratory beer with us. At 9:00 am. Then we had to start to clean the boat. It was not too bad as we had tried very hard to keep he poopy Boobies off as much as possible and cleaned up the poop as best we could along the way. Most important, we had to show the main engine some love. Change engine oil after 496 hours. Change the oil filter, fuel filters, Raycor filters, check coolant, and a few other things. I think I could hear the engine say aaaaaahhhhhh when the clean new oil went in. Fortunately we had not needed to use the generator for the duration of the crossing so did not have to do the same for the generator, or the wing engine.

I had to also do a lot of housework, the floors, walls, heads (bathrooms) tables, everything needed to be wiped down and cleaned. The fridges needed a cleanup, stove top, kitchen sink, and I had to vacuum the carpets. All the mundane household chores which had been largely ignored for 3 weeks now needed attending.

We also had a fair amount of garbage to take ashore. While we don’t have access to garbage disposal, I try to keep the garbage to a minimum and separated. All food waste goes down the Insinkerator, bottles, tins and jars get rinsed and kept in a separate basket. Food wrappers get cleaned and go in the bin along with tea bags and other items that will not start to smell and make life unpleasant.

Stepping ashore was also like a new experience, our sea legs were well and truly entrenched so to us, it felt like we wobbled our way up to the garbage disposal area and down to the market. Standing at the roadside waiting for a passing car, I felt like I should hold on to the sign post incase I stumbled. It took a while to feel normal again, and it was quite a relief when at last it happened.