APATAKI, TUAMOTU (CONT.)

Sometimes events and circumstances allow people to make a special connection.  This is what happened to us in Apataki with Alfred and his family.  When we first arrived on the motu (small island)  Phyllis and I were walking around the property and I noticed that there were two bee hives.  I went over and made a cursory inspection and then moved on.  Later on I mentioned the bee colonies to Alfred, the owner of the Apataki Carenage Service, and found out that he had just started beekeeping and didn't know very much about it or how to harvest the honey.  This is very fertile ground for a beekeeper with 24 years experience so I, immediately, became enthusiastic to show him how to manipulate the bee colonies and harvest the honey.  He had no extracting equipment so we went back to the very basic way of getting honey out of a comb without it.  Basically, I uncapped the wax cappings with a fork and then squeezed the comb through a mesh screen.  It worked out wonderfully and Alfred and his family were so happy to bottle all that honey that we became good friends.  Over the next several days, I taught Alfred how to wire frames and examine the brood in his two colonies.  He has ordered 10 more colonies and will be on his way to becoming a good beekeeper.

This connection gave us that special edge with this family and all Polynesian hospitality was extended to us. Every night we had fish grilled with rice and other fruits.  Alfred's father grows vegetables and gave us some bok choy.  He would not accept payment.  In fact it became impossible to pay for these things.

The haul-out was very successful and we were able to paint the bottom with anti-fouling and put on new anodes.  We relaunched on the boat on June 16th and went back to the mooring.  We were liking Apataki so much that it was getting difficult to leave.  We delayed sailing until June 21st when it was time to set sail.  We motored the ten miles to Pass Haniura and made a quick exit with an outgoing current without difficulties.  The Wx was fair with wind out of the SE @ 15 kts.