Getting pictures of all the beautiful people we meet is not as easy as it may seem. Many people are shy about getting photographed, some people consider is down right rude, most often we simply do not have the camera with us. I went through our pictures from the last months and came up with the following set that I thought were good. Please thank Jason Rose for many of them. He gives us his, we do the same for him. Keeping track of who gets what credit is beyond my ability, so, just enjoy them I suppose.
These were on the island called Raraka, in the Tuamotus. That is a young Greater Frigate bird that has no mama. So, this little girl has taken to caring for it.
Also on Raraka. This fellow is grating up coconut for a meal being prepared for us visitors.. There is a wooden paddle he is sitting on with a metal, serrated tool attached to the end that does the job.
This dude was funny. He had some crazy stories. One of which was getting attacked by a guy in Tahiti wielding a freaking machete. The got chopped in the neck and had a huge chunk of the meat carved out. He laughed when he told that one.
A brother and sister swam out to visit us on board Willow. Very peaceful, respectful kids. The simply wanted to say hello and share some coconut with us in exchange for a look inside our boat.
This is the man that tattooed both Jason and I when in Huahine, French Polynesia. Half of his face is covered as well. Very interesting fellow.
That is Jason’s brother Alex, with a local sweetheart, and Alex is a pretty big guy. Just to give you a little perspective.
Jason’s other brother, Trevor with a local fisherman in Huahine.
Ben, Matt and Camilla in Riatea, with some of the local creatures we met on a walk one day.
A visitor to Willow one morning for coffee.
On Palmerston now. From the left is Simon, John, Shekinah and Yvonne. These were some of the folks that were our hosts while we visited there.
David, my good buddy while on Palmerston. He showed us all how to most easily break into coconuts and carve out the meat. Bested us all at spear fishing and was an all around good young man to spend time with. He works nearly 12 hrs a day it seems. Fishing with his father or uncle, then cleaning the fish, then the coconut breaking to feed pigs and chickens. He is 12 years old.
Other kids on Palmerston.
Jason and Matt getting a coconut-shucking lesson from David and Johns father, Edward.
This is John again on Willow, a wild little man.
Shekinah visiting Willow, quickly found the coolest seat on the boat.
This was back in Papeete, Tahiti. It was the night Jason, Matt and I played some music downtown and earned a few dollars. These kids all sat there around the guitar case as the change piled up. Instead of pocketing it, they arranged it in neat piles according to value, stacked and counted.
This picture has nothing to do with locals we have met, I just saw it and remembered as being a very good days sail from Riatea to Bora-Bora in very light winds. That spinnaker was given to us in Mexico and not seen much use. In calm seas it works great and does a bit better than the junk foresail, However, in general we have not found it to increase speed much, relative to the aomount of work needed to get it set up. Perhaps we need something a bit bigger.
