Med-Moored with the big guys
Enjoying a Charisma from our spot on the quay
That about sums up today’s efforts. I got my Cook Islands Motorcycle license this morning and we now have a scooter for exploring Rarotonga. This is a bigger island with some actual traffic, hence the license, whereas in Aitutaki, 2 cars was considered a traffic jam. OK, the license was the good news, the bad news was that around noon, the Port Authority asked us to stand offshore while they did some final dredging in the harbor. We left around 1300 and didn’t get the all clear to come back in until 1630, so basically we hove to a couple hundred yards offshore all afternoon and got some reading done.
When we finally got to come back in the dredge was right in the way of our mooring spot, so we had to go around the dredge turn toward it, drop the hook right in front of it, pivot 90 degrees and back into our spot. The guys on the dredge were all watching intently to see if we would be able to accomplish it. I’m happy to say we’re actually getting competent at the med-moor thing and pulled it off (much to my surprise-I was expecting the worst). Ann is getting very good at the windlass and I seem to be able to harness the prop walk into something that gets us backing where we need to go. Of course extra hands on shore make it all possible. Very few monohulls do this maneuver with ease. The cats make it look easy though with their twin engines.
So that’s about it for this day. There’s still a possibility that tomorrow may look the same as the Port Captain says there’s a big barge they have to bring in and moor near us. However, Orcinius and we are hoping that we got the spots that are tucked in enough that we don’t have to move at this point. If we do, well that’s OK it’s sort of part of cruising-expect the unexpected. If we don’t, then we’ll hop on our scooter and tour the island (it’s very beautiful! We can see stunning jungle covered mountains from the boat). We plan to stay through Saturday unless the Port is so difficult to work with that we decide to leave. If it works out we’re going to do a cross island hike. You can hike from here to the other side and take the bus back. There are two bus lines here-the Clockwise bus and the Anti-clockwise bus. That’s it!
Here’s hoping!
So, if I showed up on your island with my motorcycle license from the US would I still have to get theirs? Could I bring my Harley? Maybe you guys could start a motor scooter gang; what with the tats and all.
This thing about Clockwise/Anti-clockwise buses sounds like something out of Alice In The Cook Islands. Don’t go down any rabbit holes. Frankly, I think you dudes should be looking for the bus named “Further”; rather than the circular Cook variety. If you find the right brownies, maybe you can find it along with the Merry Pranksters.
I can’t believe you are letting yourselves be pushed around by a bunch of stupid barges. I say you get the ol’ flotilla together and bombard the barges into submission with your 20 lb cannon. That’ll teach ’em.