Monday 27th August

Rarotonga,
Cook Islands

21 12.295 S
159 47.091 W


We remain captive for the time being, the weather is beginning to improve but it looks like it will be Wednesday before we can leave here in reasonable winds. So knowing that we were going to be here all day we made plans to use the car wisely for the morning – it had to be returned at 11.00hrs. After punting to the dock we drove first to the immigration office to see if we could change our departure dateNow Gerry had already been told that he had to settle the harbour master’s bill before checking out but he wanted to see if he could do it without settling the bill first – of course he couldn’t so that was a wasted trip into the office which will have to be repeated when we leave on Wednesday. Abigail and I meanwhile went to the grocery store and began filling the cart with essential supplies – all the things that we have eaten due to our extra stay here plus some toilet rolls – we were down to our last 4 and as you know (Lorie) we can’t be sure when we will find them in another supermarket anywhere along the way! We were about half way around when Gerry found us and hurried us along. Our next stop was the bottle shop – out of rum and soft drinks again (oh and crisps – red rock rule!) By now we had about ¾ hr left and we drove around so that I could take a couple of photos that I had been meaning to get all week. Back to the boat, it began to rain just as we loaded the shopping into the dink so Abigail and Gerry ferried it across whilst I waited in the car; luckily it was just a short shower.. Our neighbours were looking to walk into town for some beer so Gerry then offered to act as a taxi and drove them, by the time we returned to the dock it was time to hand the car in so Gerry did that whilst Abigail and I went and bought some decent cups of coffee. Gerry was itching to get back on the boat and check out the weather for the next few days so Abigail ferried him across and then returned with the dink so that she and I could go tot the gift shop and the pearl farm – we had a couple of small things to buy including a pearl earring for Bear who couldn’t possibly go home without one! We returned to the boat and Abigail made us lunch and then went for her afternoon nap, Gerry played with the weather stuff for a while, sharing it with our neighbours here and getting an invite to one of the boats for cocktail hour and I did the dishes and made soup before labeling photos and typing blog notes. Gerry made up a container of cocktails and I made up some canapés to take over to cocktail hour, we were the last to arrive and the first to leave 21/2 hours later. The people who invited us were Americans and their boat “Scholarship” was an older boat with a beautiful design. It was like a meeting of the united nations as there were 2 Americans, 2 South Africans, 2 New Zealanders, 3 Australians, 1 Englishman and 1 Brazilian invited for cocktails; they also invited the only single hander in the dock who was for some European country but he didn’t turn up. It made for an interesting gathering with lots of stories and friendly teasing (mostly about sport). As I have said we left first and went to the fish and chip shop for what turned out to be a later dinner and then headed home to bed; we could hear the others arriving back at their boats and they sounded very drunk!