Good morning from Taihoe Bay. Our time zone here is UTC (Zulu) minus 9-1/2 hours. We are not sure why that half hour is so important to the Marquesans, but it does make for interesting conversions from other time zones. Good news is that our engine part is in Papeete, Tahiti. Bad news is that it is stuck in customs. We are playing a faxing-of-documents game with customs, with the help of our friend Henri (On-ree) who runs the beautiful Pearl Lodge Hotel on the hill above us. He is incredibly helpful, and the view from the hotel veranda is quite nice with a Pina Colada in hand as we wait for Henri to make calls to Papeete on our behalf. Hopefully the part will clear today and arrive tomorrow or Friday.

Schimy, Rylin and Dave went off on an island jeep tour yesterday. On request, Schimy and Rylin were dropped off at the top of the island, intending to take a few days to walk (and camp) their way back to the boat. We were thinking of them early this morning as it rained 2 inches in an hour. But at least they have plenty of fresh water!

Confetti is officially cleared into the country after a complicated and somewhat confusing trip to the Gendarmerie. Dan and I had to post a $3000- bond to stay in French Polynesia, and almost had to post another $4500 for the crew. Thankfully Dave had befriended Anne (On), the local laundress and clothing merchant, who took it upon herself to contact the Gendarmerie head office in Papeete and have them convince (through faxes) the local office that the crew’s plane tickets were sufficient proof that they would leave the country. So if you have diplomatic issues in the Marquesas, apparently the laundry lady is the person to talk to.

The French government does not want people arriving here and then living on the 80-degree islands for free. Every local we have met, though, has been incredibly friendly and nice to us, and has usually gone out of their way to be helpful. The local population of this island is 2500, with 2000 people living right here in Taiohoe Bay.

I am still working on uploading pictures over this slow connection, and hopefully will have them up tomorrow.