Day 7 on the Job

We've had a busy time. We work most of the day, sometimes earlier, sometimes later, depending on how well we're doing in the heat. We've accomplished a lot so far, but still have some major task in front of us, and we plan to splash the boat in five days. Yikes!

One of my tasks each year it to clean the Racor primary fuel filter. I did, and this was the bacterial sediment that was clogging our filters. Holy Smokes! Bacteria cannot live in diesel fuel, but they can live in the water under it, and live off of the diesel. That's what this is. We need to track the source of moisture, eliminate it, and get these tanks clean!

This is a Pago 32, a brand with which I'm unfamiliar. The French couple owners were sailing close to a barrier reef, using an iPad to navigate. They failed to realize that the iPad had lost a fix and simply grazed the reef, producing the terrible damage that you see here. I'm surprised that they were able to save her. Lesson? Don't sail so damned close to a reef that a navigation error will put your vessel at risk!

A typical end to a typical workday. A tired group of sailors talks while Conni awaits my photo journey.

A cruise ship is in Uturoa! We departed our favorite grocery store and came face-to-face with this!

And here she is! Sirena, as she is now named, has been owned by two other companies and was only recently sold to Oceania Cruises for US$82,000,000, then underwent a $40,000,000 refurbishment in Marseilles. She's a beauty.

The bewildering array of sandals at our grocery. There are so many styles because they are the only foot ware that anyone uses.

Beef carpaccio, ready to eat: have you ever seen that? It's from New Zealand.

The local fish area of our market displays lobster (langoustes) and small lagoon fish. They're in the upper right grey bin and are held together by a stick.

This is typical after-work scene: good French rosé, sausisse, cheese, and baguette. We sit in the cooling breeze until well after dark.