S/V Hoku Pa'a Photos - Tabuaeran Part II, Feb/Mar 2006

...click on the small photos for larger versions...

We cycled a couple of hours out along the northern shore of Tabuaeran to some beautiful low-lying coconut groves.	Bjarne has managed to scramble up a short palm to knock loose a few coconuts for lunch. It still takes us quite a few minutes to husk them. The local record is 3 seconds!	Ever seen crabs this red? No, this is before cooking.
Taro is a root vegetable similar to the sweet potato, and is a staple throughout Polynesia, served boiled, baked, sliced & fried, or mashed. There are several hundred varieties and this one prefers to grow in wet areas.	Here's a rarity: a bee hive. The fellow is smoking away the bees so he can carve off a section of comb as a treat for the kids. [Photo by Carlton]	One of the bees' targets.
Most trucks are owned by either a gov't official, or a cooperative of some sort such as a church group. Two of the women in this picture are wearing the style of blouse popular on Tabuaeran and Kiritimati.	About a dozen frigate birds have been tamed and will approach their humans for food, as well as doing their own fishing.	This cat, also seen in the previous photo, is incredibly well-behaved about not eating what it shouldn't.
We were invited out fishing on one of the tenders used on cruise-ship days to ferry passengers. A few hours spent circling the island netted several barrel-fulls of wahoo and tuna.	When the modern cruiser isn't fishing, there's always a computer or three...	...and dancing to entertain.
Barb wows the local talent scouts!	Great sunsets were frequent at Tabuaeran, but not more often than one/day.	Fantastic markings of the Clown Triggerfish.
Green Moray.	We loved snorkeling with the Manta Rays, who were often cruising the food-rich waters of the pass. This one had a wingspan of about 2 meters.	Another day ends.
After three months of continuous splashing, Freya's bow was growing its own bumper crop of seaweed.	It was at Tabuaeran that we said goodbye to One Night Stand, our faithful dinghy. We sold it to other cruisers whose own poorly-made dinghy was losing it's bottom. Here's our new work-project.	We spent four days preparing and gluing the bottom back onto ArgosNot. Carlton generously tested the repair by jumping in, from Freya. Yikes!
OK, here's another one. No more, I promise :-)	Barb had to travel back to Victoria in February, and the nearest airport was at Kiritimati. Her return trip to Tabuaeran was aboard this ship, Nei Matangare.	Here's the passenger accommodations. Though Barb was only onboard for one night, those proceding to Tarawa would be living on this deck for about two weeks.
Soaps and shampoos are rare; here's someone grooming another for nits and eating them.	Folks traveled with their prized belongings, including pigs.	Baby Gecko.
The high school had a boat to ferry students about - it seems that Canada helped out somehow, judging from the maple leaf on the bow.	Unfortunately, these cute puppies will look a bit more mangy and undernourished in a few weeks. Dogs here aren't pampered in the same manner as in N. America.	A good long-way-off view of a rain squall.

S/V Hoku Pa'a 1000 DeCosta Pl. Victoria, BC Canada  V9A 6Y3

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