LAND HO!!

yeah we made it to Futa Hiva!! we arrived 3am monday April 21, this place is absoulutely beautiful!! very lush and green and very high . the whole place is made of lava and is a giant crator left over from a volcano. We are anchored in Baie des Vierges ( Bay of Virgins)

We have also met up with other cruisers we were talking to on the ham. O vive, has 2 kids - teenagers ( 14 and 12) just perfect for our kids and have been hanging out all day the last 2 days. We went into town and Steve already got himself some work, working on the local police vehicle and then another villagers truck ( Puegot diesel pick up truck!! not so fun) got paid a whole bunch ( like a tree full) of bananas and pompemousse (grapefruit) and 3 baquettes . still more to come tomorrow for the
villagers truck.( however she did offer Steve some land and would build him a house so he could fix her car all the time) So Steve's really bringing home the "bread"!!! that's how they pay here, money not the means of trade or payment. Steve also traded some of our floating rope for a wooden carved bowl, beautiful. Maya traded some of her make up for papaya and tappa ( local paper painting made out of the bark of tree. they pound the dickens out of it to make it thin and wide- they also use 3 different
types of trees, will get the name tomorrow) Steve also traded 2 harmonicas for 2 fabrics used like a sarong. one for Emma and one that both Maya and I will share. I have been trading stickers for different fruits, lots of lemon & grapefruit which is so good here that even Steve and Kyle are eating it. no veggies and no real store at this village to buy anything. We hiked up to a waterfall and had a great swim. About 5 different cruiser boats hiked together. Its so neat , just meet them and feel like
you've known them forever. We are the only Canadian boat here at the moment, lots from Europe ( UK, France, Holland,Sweden,Germany) 2 American boats , one from the west coast and one from the east coast ( that's O'Vive) there are about 12 boats here now. Quite different than Mexico where it was all mostly Canadian boats. We treated ourselves to a dinner at one of the villagers homes, she put on quite the spread for 20 cruisers. Chicken in coconut milk, rice, some kind of papaya salad, breadfruit
( we don't like this!!!) and banana that was pink ( looked like hot dogs at first, but not!!) they even played music and her 3yr old granddaughter did the polynisian dance. then a couple of the villager ladies did the dance and you guessed it! ME too. I was up there swinging my hips ( not as good as them though , you have to see them move, just awesome!) and yes Steve and Glenn Dorothy Marie, got out the harmonicas and Sax and " We be jammming!"" it was a grand time!! Definately worth the crossing!!

We have these 2 inch long tube barnacles all over the water line. so many!! we will be cleaning these off tomorrow, also going to the school to watch a special festival , all the children are in costume and will be dancing. we are looking so forward to seeing this as we have watched them practice. They are so cute!!! Emma even was given a crown made of palm leaves to wear tomorrow with the other school kids.
They speak French here and boy what a challenge to try to remember the french words after doing Spanish, I keep saying Hola, instead of Bojour, but each day I get better and better. the people here are so lovely!!

.Well that's the update for now. We are all doing great and glad to be at land for a while, we will be leaving here on Thursday and heading to either Hiva Oa or Nuka Hiva.l will keep you posted! by the way the ocean water here is like a warm bath!!

for those "spying" on us here's the lat and long of where we exactly 10* 27.83'S 138*40.22'W

love Dionne