Hey good lookin whats ya got cookin

Breadfruit, Sop fruit, fresh mint, tomatoes, and ginger root

Banana, mango, and coconut muffins fresh from Victoria's oven.

 Sailors have never eaten this well. Ron and crew never want to eat anywhere but on the boat; that's because we are the best restaurant everywhere we go. We eat dinner on deck by candlelight with white linen tablecloth and the price is right. 

Pompanos; island grapefruit, very sweet and green.

 These grapefruit are pale green inside and very juicy sweet. They make for good breakfast treat.We found lettuce for the first time and I got 4 heads. The French green beans are excellent.

Bok Choy, French green beans, lettuce, and fresh ginger

New Zealand Apples and large Avocado

Well, we are officially in Paradise. Left Nuka Hiva after spending 4 days there checking out, fueling and provisioning some fresh produce. The girls hooked up with two Aussie sailors and rented a car to explore the waterfalls above the town. Ron and I stayed on board and the girls brought the party to us, inviting several cruisers over to the boat and that party went on for 3 days! The cute Aussie sailors helped Ron fuel the boat and also repair a few things. Lou and I went to the farmers market early and bought a lot of fresh fruits and veggies. The stuff is so fresh you can tell it was just plucked from the vine.
Cooked up some breadfruit which I sauteed' with garlic and shallots and it was delicious. (Ron loves breadfruit.) Lou brought back a fruit that looked like a cactus with flesh the consistency of mashed banana, which I pureed after removing the black seeds. The fruit is called sour sop and was naturally sweet; I added some cinnamon and put it in the freezer which made a lovely sorbet.

Sunday May 8th: We are currently in the best anchorage thus far; Atoll Manihi just off shore from the exclusive Pearl hotel. We have the entire lagoon to ourselves as there are no other boats here. The passage into the atoll was very intense as there are coral heads throughout the bay and you can go from 50 feet in depth to running up on a coral head. We arrived at dawn and a local islander came in his speedboat to guide us into the perfect spot. The water here is so blue and so clear you can see 40 feet to the bottom. It took 3 days at sea to arrive here and the girls did all the watches and arranged a great point of sail. The main sail and large head-sail were perfection and we had 48 hours great sailing at 7 knots until the wind left us and we motored the last day. The locals brought us some breadfruit, baguettes, and 4 fish. I stuffed the fish with onions and garlic, then cooked it whole. Not certain what kind of fish this was, but the meat was white, tender and flaky; very good.

Our on board mermaid joined us at the hotel, wearing the shade cover to the dink!

After we settled into the lagoon Ron wanted to go ashore and explore the town and the hotel. We all piled into the tender and left for the hotel Pearl, except for Sooz who was snorkeling naked at the time. The Pearl hotel is a tropical paradise and we asked permission to walk around the grounds and leave the tender tied to their dock. We were given cart Blanch and ended up in the restaurant for a beer. At this point I was feeling guilty that Sooz got left behind when all of the sudden there she was. Being the resourceful girl that she is, Sooz swam to the hotel, right up to the tender and made a wrap around skirt from the canopy cover and let her dreads cover the rest. What a vision she was, we laughed till we fell out of our chairs. Sherri gave Sooz her shirt as she had a bathing-suit underneath. After the hotel we went into town which was not much of a town and bought some beer.

Ron, Sherri, and Lou taken at the Pearl hotel.

While walking around the town we came upon some villagers washing their dog's in the sea. It was dog washing day and they had 5 dogs tied to the coral. Apparently this is done to kill the ticks and fleas.

Dog washing day on Atoll Manihi

 The dogs were not happy about this; only the golden retriever we saw in the lagoon looked pleased to be in the water.


Sooz is not only beautiful but very mechanically inclined. So far she has changed oil and fuel filters, put oil in the generator, fixed a broken toilet pump, (with all our help) mended the halyard,filled the batteries with H2O, and changed the water maker filters. We have all risen to the challenge of sailing this boat and have learned to work together to overcome obstacles. True adventurers rise to the occasion and see obstacles as opportunities to learn. Many are called but few show up! Those who can do and those that can not teach!

Sooz changes the fuel filter in the Lazurette