left Futa HIva

Well we have just pulled out of Baie Hanavave - same bay we were in just two names, it's 2129 utc and 11:45am local time ( have no idea what time that is in vancouver) we are on our way to Hiva Oa to do our check in. we loved this place!!! have made many friends with the locals and even the policeman want s us to come back there after we check in at Hiva Oa.. but we will be moving on....... could live there though if I could get some of you to come !! I have fresh basil and mint, and all kinds of
fruit. loads of bananas!!!! Steve fixed the headlight switch on that puegot diesel pick up he was working on before and they gave him a tiki carving . the man Jack , does the carvings and his wife does the tapa. she gave Steve a tapa the other day for working on her truck. they really want us to stay and have Steve be the village mechanic. It's so lush and green and so full of beautiful flowers!! the smells here are to die for. tons of trees , a real paradise!! The village people will be in Papeete
at the end of May for artisan exebition and we hope to see them there. The people here are so wonderful!! very sad to leave....
yesterday was Steve's birthday and we ( all the cruisers) were invited to a special festival performance by the school children, it was excellent ! they were dressed all in the traditional Marquises style of dress, flowers and palm leaves everywhere, the younger children wore the tapa cloth and boy they all looked so beautiful. they sang and danced and did a play and I even got picked to dance with them at the end of the performance!! those young ( 3-10 yrs old) girls can sure move their hips! had
a big feast afterwards and we were all very welcomed.
later on in the evening we ( cruisers ) organized a big jam on the dock and invited the village , lots of the men came and played guitar and sang. we did "happy birthday to 'Steve" and he lucked out with on cruiser ( Ovive ) baking a cake, I made lemon merangue pie and squares ( lemon to die for here!!) and Dorothy Marie made white chocolate macadamia nut fudge for him!!! had a blast.
there was a altercation with another cruiser boat with the village family we have become close to. The cruisers ( Swedes,can you believe it?!) thought the village had stolen their camera and they made quite a fuss, very loud and awful. Lauralie - ( one of the girls that has become a very dear friend of mine) she is from the village family was so upset when she saw me last night , trying to find it. I felt so bad for her. turns out the cruiser had it in his bag the whole time.. but he made such
a scene he was asked to leave the island. Sally ( Dorothy Marie ) and I went and saw the family, and gave hugs and let them know that no one thought they had stolen it. and that we were very sorry the cruiser reacted that way, makes it look bad for all of us. They were so touched to have us come up there!! They gave us food from the dinner they had done... and I returned their dishes with banana bread and chocolate white fudge !! they loved it and gave us more bananas, pompemousse, and basil. They
are very sad to see us go. will miss them!!

The only way to get to this island is by boat! I feel very lucky to have come there. never know , we may end up living there

hugs to all,
Dionne