Did you know pigs eat coconuts? 8 Jul 19

16º 30.432s 145º 27.448w

Tue Jul 09 2019

Well the wind has finally pooped out here at the Southeast corner of Fakarava. At one time there were almost 50 cruising boats in here, lots of them with children, “kid boats” as we call them. We were all hunkered down as it rained on and off, and the wind blew up to around 40 knots. The good news is we got some great kite boarding lessons in, using teeny little 6 square meter kites in the 20 – 30 knot wind conditions. We’ve made great progress and will be shopping for some basic gear in Tahiti so we can continue to work on our skills.

Yesterday the winds died off and then did a full 360-degree rotation. Most all the boats in the anchorage ended up with anchor chains wrapped around bommies, but at least for us it was easy to clear just by snorkeling down around 8 meters and dragging the chain away from the one big bommie we had hooked. Our chain float system kept us from having more wraps, and as soon as I cleared the chain from the one bommie JollyDogs drifted back and everything was perfect again. A secure anchor with clear chain is a big deal to us – coral is hard on even hardened chain, and hearing it grind away as we’re laying in our bunk doesn’t create a restful environment.

Our free diving instructor, Aline Dargie, snorkeled over yesterday morning as she wandered throught the anchorage helping folks with their tangled anchor chains. She had her spear gun along, and when she noted the plethora of surgeon fish lurking under our boat she asked Isabel if she wanted one for dinner. Isabel responded in the affirmative, and within seconds had a fresh fish in the bucket. I eventually returned from an extended SUP paddling workout that included a stop and visit with the lovely crew of SV Malisa, Atle and Anna-Marie Bakkehaug. He’s originally from Sweden, and they spent 9 years living in Auckland, New Zealand before moving back East then buying a beautiful XC38 monohull. It’s a Swedish built go-fast cruising boat that has a super cool fuel cell installed to supplement the 300 watts of solar panels. The fuel cell runs on methanol and outputs around 73 amps at 14 volts to charge their batteries. Apparently these things are commonly installed in RVs and boats in Europe, but I’ve never seen one and just had to have a look. Unfortunately, Atle can’t find the methanol fuel in French Polynesia and likely won’t be able to source it until they arrive in New Zealand in November.

That’s the drill for a lot of cruisers out here; 3 months in French Polynesia, then move on with the intent of arriving in New Zealand before the weather gets too ugly. According to Isabel many of the boats get pasted on that last big leg from either Tonga or Fiji. That’s pretty much the last straw for those spouses who are humoring their partner doing the sailboat thing; it generally leads to a fire sale on the boat or a “single hander” guy wondering what happened to his wife and marriage. The wives often declare they are going home to visit the kids / grandkids and never return! We have no kids or grandkids, and we’re staying in French Polynesia for “a while”, which could be up to 3 years. To top that off, Isabel is one badass sailor and it won’t be her that bails out. I’m pretty sure we’re both good for the eventual wild ride we may enjoy as we finally make our way to New Zealand sometime in the next few years.

Yesterday after returning from my SUP adventure, I got to clean and fillet Mr. Surgeon Fish. Tossing fish guts into the water had JollyDogs teaming with 6 white and black tip sharks up to about 2 meters long in seconds! As my next chore was to clear the anchor chain then clean growth off the props, I began to question the thoughtfulness surrounding my sequence of events. Perhaps cleaning the props and clearing the chain BEFORE throwing fish guts into the water might have been a smarter idea? In any case, I finally grew a pair and donned mask/fins/snorkel and into the water I went. The sharks were still swimming around hoping for more yummy bits, but they took little notice of me. We’re about the same size, I guess, and they don’t regard me as part of their food chain. I think. With the anchor chain clear and the props no longer completely fuzzy, that task was complete and I still had all my limbs.

If one wants to eat fresh coconut, it’s as simple as going ashore and wandering about to find a good one. They’re laying everywhere, but the land crabs have made short work of most. What John on Halcyon told me to look for was a husk coloring of bronze / green. I finally found a couple, and then borrowed John’s machete to hack the husk off of one. Not a very safe way to behave. The locals use a big spike stuck in the ground, and simply push the coconut husk against the tip and pry the husk off. Much safer, but there is always the possibility of impaling oneself on the spike. Mom always said I was “accident prone”, so obviously it’s just a matter of time until either the machete takes off some fingers, or the spike ends up sticking out my back.

The coconut turned out to be perfect! Tasty water and meat, and Isabel cooked up a kitcheree dish for breakfast. As it’s time to wander down to the South pass and explore somewhere new, we got ambitious to collect more coconuts and learn how to open them using the spike method. Aline and Adrien had noted that every household has a spike somewhere “out back” and if I asked politely folks would always be happy to let us use it, just clean up the mess. Coconut husks go in the fire pit, then get used to cook whatever or ward off mossies with the smoke, etc. Isabel and I paddled over to SV Pizza to ask Aline about the local family, and Adrien offered to come ashore and make the introductions. Off we went, and soon a friendly local fellow whose mom runs the restaurant picked a few coconuts out of a pile, then Adrien and he both demonstrated the method. He was a bit anxious with me at first as I appeared likely to impale myself; and he noted that he had managed to do the same years ago. It worked a charm, and now we’ve several fresh coconuts on board full of tasty water and meat. There’s a lot you can do with coconut!

Like feed the pigs! As I was husking the remaining coconuts the friendly local fellow walked over to the pile and using an axe chopped a few into pieces. The pigs came running, and it’s really fun to watch a dinky little oinker chowing down on coconut. These pigs grow up to be dinner at the restaurant, but until then they wander around looking for something to eat or somewhere to take a nap, and it’s not at all uncommon to see a pig wandering around on the beach, seemingly observing those silly humans playing with kites. Not a bad life until the “big day” when they show their best side while rotating on the spit over a coconut husk fire. Wonder if they taste a bit like coconut?