They started the hike around the other side of the mountain on the right.

The hikers take a break

Not a lot to report today. Ann went on a hike up into the mountains of Moorea with the folks from Gato Go, Buena Vista and Ladybug. They pretty much covered the same terrain we went over on our island tour in a 4×4, so you know it was a strenuous hike.

For my part, I have a hula dancing injury. The bottom of one of my toes has a split in the skin from hula dancing on asphalt. OK, lame excuse, but it’s the only one I have. I also needed to do a bunch of little boat projects-and one bigger one. The little ones included the door to the head. The mechanism only works when you turn the handle counterclockwise. I took it apart and found a couple of parts to be extremely worn. Not having new parts, I mixed up some MarineTex epoxy and built up/strengthened the worn part. Success. So far, it’s like new. We’ll see how long it lasts.

The other big job today was fixing the outboard. Yesterday on the way back from the stingray petting expedition, the prop started free-wheeling on high speed. It would drive the dinghy on low RPM, but as soon as I added some throttle, it would free wheel. I took it apart today and the shear pin is fine. However, when I put the shear pin in and turned the prop with pliers, the inner bushing spun. Worn out. So, I drilled three holes through the outside of the prop into the inner bushing and screwed some self-tapping screws. Finished too late to tell if that is the solution. I’ll test it tomorrow.

That’s about all for today. We’re staying her a bit longer now that at least half the boats here have cleared out.