River Ride, Gardens, Bananas and more

Yesterday was another one of those days that ended up better than we could have ever expected.

Our main trip of the day was to explore the nearby river. The wind in the bay we were in was whipping up the water so getting to the river mouth got us a little wet. But soon we were in the river and all was tranquil.

There was not a great deal of wild life to see but Helen was totally thrilled (not) when Ben thought he saw a snake in the water. We made our way up river about a mile or so before coming to a shallow section. While Helen and Ben waded ahead to see if the river improved around the corner, I dragged the dinghy up a couple of the shallow sections. In doing so I developed a huge hole in the seat of my shorts.

In the end we all agreed with Helen’s early conclusion that it was not worth carrying on so we reversed and dragged the dinghy back over the shallow sections. For a while we paddled the dinghy to enjoy the peace and quiet of the surrounds. At one point we passed a collapsing jetty with a man working. He called out to us and asked us if we wanted to see the botanical gardens which was by the jetty. We were keen to do this and quickly agreed.

We soon learned the chaps name was James, although not James Bond. He had a reasonable command of English. Near the river the gardens, if they were the gardens at this point, were very overgrown. As we progressed, though, the gardens became a lot neater. We were followed by a young chap and a very pretty young girl who smiled a lot. They didn’t say anything and weren’t introduced. Being in the company of a pretty girl (followed) while having a gaping hole in my shorts reminded me of the worst disasters of my youth.

James was a good host. He explained the names of the plants in English and French and sometime in Tahitian. At one point he showed us how to climb a palm tree although Ben and Helen’s attempts to copy were less than successful. I declined to try owing to the trouser situation.

At another time, James also opened up a coconut for us to nibble on the contents.

Throughout his guided tour he kept offering us bananas. When we reached the river he again offered us some and we accepted thinking we must tip him for his kindness even though it was uncustomary. The young boy and girl joined him in his skiff and they crossed the river and headed downstream a short way. James went ashore and soon came back with a big bunch of bananas. Despite our offer, he refused to accept. We thanked him in Polynesian using the words he had taught us during the tour.

Loaded with bananas we headed back down river and back to Dignity. On arrival we hoisted the dinghy in readiness to leave the bay. A few moments later a couple on a nearby boat passed our stern in their dinghy which promptly cut out leaving them adrift. We lowered the dinghy again and I headed off to their rescue. I took their bow line and towed them back to their boat. I offered further assistance which they declined.

We soon had the dinghy raised and were underway headed for Ile Tarou. Having been off the internet for a few days I checked around for signals and to our great surprise found a faint but open one.

All thoughts of getting in the water were soon dismissed as we all took our fill of this free resource. For that last couple of months we’ve had to be careful with our time as it costs several $$$ per hour. Now we could catch up on the things we wanted. Over several hours I downloaded all the updates for my old laptop. Finishing this morning I have gone back and checked all my old blog entries back to the Galapagos. I have fixed all the categories and embedded all the photos into the appropriate entries. That took a lot of time.

Ben and I did go out snorkeling for nearly two hours. We took the spear gun hoping to find some big fish. Near the channel drop off we found some very interesting sites including a whole area of anemones complete with clown fish (of Finding Nemo fame). We did shoot a few fish which we fed to moray eels.

In the evening we carried on with watching 24. During this we heard this ever increasing beeping/chirping. At first we thought it was from the show but after a while we figured out it was coming from the bananas which we had hanging up. After we had finished watching the TV I examined the bananas and found a small cricket which I dispatched. We heard no more chirps.

We’ll probably all go snorkeling later this morning to catch the incoming current before moving on.