Fakarava 12 June 19

16º 13.469s 145º 33.450w

Thu Jun 13 2019

Last night we joined a rather large crowd at the Pakokota Yacht Services and tiny resort for a lovely meal. It was served family style, and included sushi style albacore tuna, poisson cru (raw fish marinated in coconut milk), parrot fish baked with a vegetable medley, fried chicken with lemon sauce, garlic rice and plain white rice. Dessert was apple crumble with vanilla ice cream. Absolutely delicious, plenty of food, shouldn’t have eaten so much, yum oink!

We shared an end of the large table with Stephen and Yvonne, an Australian couple on SV Triple Shot, one badass looking trimaran. Stephen noted that he and I might consider an early morning (0630) SUP adventure for a little exercise, and I happily accepted. Back on JollyDogs and to bed by 2100, it was a calm and restful night.

Just barely got my first cup ‘o joe down this morning and here comes Stephen on his SUP, so off we go for a bit of exercise. All a bit breezy and a slight chop and swell running, so we hugged the shoreline and tried really hard not to fall onto the bommies with all their interesting corals and creatures. Along the way we spied a large brown jelly fish, the first I’d seen in French Polynesia. It was about the size of a pumpkin with about ½ meter long tendrils. Guess we’ll try not to fall into the water around that sea monster! Off in the distance is JollyDogs, Isabel doing her morning yoga workout on the foredeck.

Back to Triple Shot for a cup of coffee and a cookie (biscuit in Australia) and then return to JollyDogs for a lovely breakfast of chia pudding with blueberries and nuts. We’re health freaks, I tell you!

On this day a little internet action is necessary, complimentary at the little shore resort, so Isabel and I dinghy in with a bag of laundry to have them do while we collect wifi passwords. Banking and mail checking must be done! We return to JollyDogs for lunch, then I take my leave to get closer to the wifi router as the signal is a bit weak in the anchorage. While on shore happily internetting away, I get talking to Emir and Xin from SV Hugo, and happen to mention Stephen and his wife Yvonne, originally from Holland. Emir is from Serbia, and immigrated to Australia around the age of 13. Xin is Chinese with a similar immigration age. Emir quickly corrects me, noting that Yonne’s original heritage of Dutch is irrelevant. They are ALL Australians.

Australia is a country of immigrants, much like the US. The older immigrants fresh off the boat (or airplane) have trouble learning English and generally speak the old country language. The younger kids rapidly assimilate, initially the target of bullying, but eventually they are assimilated. Perhaps it is because the immigration remains fresh and relevant to so many Australians.

The US has a problem with old immigrants versus new ones, and there is the perception that immigrants don’t want to assimilate and assume an American identity. As my own wife is an immigrant, I see both sides of that conflict. She is from England and still identifies in some ways as English, although she earned US citizenship some years ago. She has made her life in the US and should perhaps identify as American. Some people have just have a tough time letting go of the past. Equally, some people have problems accepting immigrants and appreciating the economic and intellectual contributions they make to society. The United States began with a bunch of immigrants essentially terrorizing and trying to exterminate the indigenous population. Since that has been mostly accomplished, the older immigrants have turned on the fresh ones. Seems like lots of folks are looking for someone to blame for whatever bugs them. There’s a lot of weird psychology surrounding that stuff. I find the attitudes of young Australian immigrants soooo refreshing.

Ian and Manuela from Mr. X popped by today, out for a ride on their rental bikes, and Andrew and Julia from Hullabaloo hollered on the VHF as they sailed by on their way to the village. Wow is that Oyster 56 one beautiful sailboat! We encouraged them to check out the steak frites at the village grill. Tomorrow morning Isabel will catch the shuttle up to the village – the supply ship is coming in and there may be fresh lettuce!

Don’t accuse us of not living exciting lives!