June 26th, 2007, Tuesday, Day 10
Tahuata Island, Anchorage Hanamoenoe
Marquesas Islands, South Pacific
First Mate:
We were given mangos. Yum! Then, the same cruisers, s/v MoonShadow, caught a 6' or 7' Wahoo and shared it with the entire anchorage (6 boats here). It really feels good to be living off the sea and the land. We have drank sweet coconut water, eaten the white sweet flesh and even dabbled with bits of the coconut jam (which is not our favorite part of the coconut). Then, we continue to gather buckets of fresh limes. And today, through jungle brush and swarms of gnats and mosquitoes, we collected a
few mangos. Anya has a favorite way of collecting mangos, but you have to stay clear of her path or a flying coconut might hit you. The banana trees are fruiting, too, but we still have a bunch from Fatu Hiva so we left them for others. To the best of observations, there is no local community living at this anchorage even though there is a hut behind the shoreline scrub brush and coconut palms. We wished we owned a machete so we could harvest more of the sweet coconut.
Crew Anya:
I just had The Most Wonderful News today: I am an aunt!!! Now I know why we were celebrating Monday when we did. We just 'knew' that something special was going on. It was Monday night that Wim and Richard got the phone call that Bo was born. Little Bo was born on Sunday at 06:11 am. A Midsummer Night Dream came true!!! I have no words for how I felt when I read the first sentence saying "Hello Aunt Anya". The e-mail was in Dutch so I was reading it and simultaneously translating it for Judy, Gaby and Sami and I just couldn't stop crying. They have been waiting so long and now it has finally happened.