Today we had a sailor from another boat come to visit. He was curious about our powerboat and wanted to know more about her. A few hours later one of his boat mates came by and said he wanted to know more about the boat, too. The cruisers are fascinated by Kosmos. Invariably, as soon as they find out we have a power boat, we are inundated with questions. They always ask the same questions in the same order. Eric has threatened to make up ridiculous answers to throw them off, such as “How much fuel do you carry?” “One tablespoon of plutonium.”

We didn’t go into town until close to sunset.

We took a walk along the main road to the north of the sea wall, passing a “snack”, several official buildings, like the mayor’s office and post office, a clinic, and a few houses. As we got farther north, there was a house here and there, but it was mostly coconut groves that look like they are actively farmed. We realized there probably was not much more to see along the main road and headed up one of the dirt roads to the ocean. The ocean has a white sand beach. In between the sand and water is a layer of “moonscape”, very large, discolored rocks, with no vegetation at all. In Apataki we thought the moonscape was just coral, but now we think it is actually lava rock. Beyond the rocks is a coral/lava shelf that the ocean waves crash against. We walked back along a dirt road that paralleled the ocean, passing the generator plant and gas (petrol) trucks and a few houses. We were back to the park not too long after dark.

This is the park on the quay and the sea wall. You can see the cleats (do-hickeys you tie the boat to) along the seal wall.

The “snack” is located at the north end of the little park area along the sea wall and is a small stand that sells chips, candy, soda, slushies and beer. Like the restaurant, there is a small covered patio, with a couple tables and chairs on the patio and a few more tables scattered around the dirt beyond the patio. There was a musician with a keyboard synthesizer there performing all kinds of mellow rock songs in French. We are not sure if he performs every night or just on the weekends. The snack is a popular hang out for the locals. There was a group of guys having beers and some kids playing jump rope. Special Blend had told us that on Friday, Saturdays and Sunday nights they serve food. We would have never guessed there was any real food served had we not been told. There are only two items on the menu, and we are not sure if it is always the same two items or if the menu varies. Our choices were Chow Mein or Steak and Fries. We got one of each, and shared. They were both good. The steak sauce was excellent.

We have noticed here that the dogs are afraid of strangers. They don’t bark at all, and they don’t beg for food. They sit back from you and stare at you with big eyes. When you try to pet them, they cower and run off. When you try to feed them, they are skeptical and don’t always take the food, even though they look hungry. It seems that here, like in Nuka Hiva, the dogs are just wild and have no owners.

Someone asked us if French Polynesia is poor. The answer is not even close. The Marquesas and Tuomotus are definitely rural, but not poor. People have small, functional, clean homes with tile floors. They have nice cars and/or boats. They have satellite systems on their houses. Everyone is required to get a high school education. Crime is completely non-existent (unless you count growing pot in your house, which is a serious crime here). Our understanding is that the Society Islands (which is the island group Tahiti is in) have very glamorous and cosmopolitan cities, and like most cities, crime does happen there.