4 pedals & 4 paws: Day 9 & 10 of Sailing (Friday and Saturday)

Well not a lot happened on day 9, just the usual wake up and get up sometime around 8am, have a shower and brekky, by 9am we are up in the lounge area with all our computers and cameras, dump them and climb up to the third level outside, sit on the picnic tables and try and soak up a little vitamin D all the while looking at the big expansive ocean to see if we can spot our birds that are following us or to see if we can spot a waundering pod of whales, by 10am we are back in the lounge uploading photos clearing the cards doing the blog then it is lunch, after lunch is usually TV or video time, by midafternoon it is either siesta for some or reading time, then dinner, then back to the lounge for chilling out time and then bed by 9pm … and that tends to be our day.
You are probably wondering why there isn’t any exercise routine in there … well much to our surprise we can’t seem to do it. We cannot skip because as you jump up the ship is also rocking, rolling and going up and down and generally you are out of sinc with the ship so skipping is out, we cannot do our exercise DVD as you run the risk of being thrown across the room due to the rocking, rolling and pitching of the ship! Dad says he is covered in bruises from being flung from side to side in the passage, Mum looks like she is always going to fall over, my quads are getting a work out from all the balancing and correcting yourself when the ship pitches!

So Day 10 (Saturday) is particularly interesting as we had anticipated that the ship was going to do a little trawling around the Marotiri Islands. It was estimated that trawling time was 7am, everyone was excited even the crew were looking forward to it, we all got up early only to find that the seas were too rough for trawling and we were on our way to Mangareva and that we should see Rapa Island around lunch. Very deflated we had brekky and showers and did our usual routine of going up to the third level. Eric was up there doing a few minor repairs on the life buoy

Just chilling out and to our surprise we could see our first land since the day we left. It was way in the distance and hard to see without sunglasses due to the glare but it was a very welcomed sight to see land despite that fact that it was rugged and mountainous!

We never got close to it, Captain Hamish said we were within 40 miles of it. From Rapa Island it is estimated 2 days to Mangareva (612 nautical miles). So we are officially in French Polynesia waters so naturally the topic of the Rainbow Warrior comes up and the 2 French Agents of Dominque Prierre and Alaine Marfar (not sure on the spelling of their names so I have done it phonetically!) were spat out in disgust! Off course while in French Polynesia we decided to practice our French which basically consisted of Bonjour toulemonde, Ca-va?, Fromage, Yoplait etc so we basically sat in silence!

There is a sweepstake as to when we will set anchor in Mangareva – some time on Monday (no need to get there on Sunday as the customs or the Gendarme (pronounced zhohn darm) don’t work on Sunday) I am guessing 3pm and to make matters worse (an unbeknownst to us when we organised all of this) we have to set anchor out of view of the harbour as we are carrying cargo. We cannot go into the harbour as this is not an official passenger run. We are diverting to Mangareva for Lea Ann and Uschi as this is the official supply run from NZ to Pitcairn, if we anchor in the harbour this ship is seen as importing goods due to the supplies on board, so very James Bondish here, basically Hamish has sent Uschi an email to say we will arrive Monday and you won’t be able to see the ship so Sharon will send you a text to say when they have arrived and where they will pick them up. Hamish and a crew member will to onshore in a zodiac (just like the french agents!) and Lea Ann and Uschi will be picked up and bought on board … LOL.
In the afternoon on the ship Mum and Dad always have a siesta although on day 10 mums was before lunch