Stopping in Rarotonga - Day 3

Wednesday. Today was supposed to be provisionning day but again there
was no hurry as the farmers market does not open until 9. Except on
Saturday, it is a very quiet market with few offerings. We found lemons,
tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, green peppers, papayas and eggs. We took
all that back to the boat, put the finishing touch to the lines of the
Monitor and to the lazy jacks, filled up the water tanks (but we had
first to go and buy a hose with all the fittings for european
standards) and were ready to go for lunch, supermarket, liquor store and
clearance before being picked up by Claude's friend at 5:30.
After lunch, we went to the supermarket but while we were shopping, we
were told that there was another Tsunami warning and that we should
immediately seek higher ground.
So we went back to the boat to store the groceries and I went to the
harbour master to find out more about the warning. It turned out that
the warning had already been cancelled. Alas ! Too late to make the
liquor store.
All that was left was to wait for the Harbour Master to bring the
clearance to the boat, take a shower and wait for Claude's friend.
The harbour master never showed up, but Andre Raoult was right on time
and we were on our way to a very very nice evening. First he showed us
his house, ranch style, with a view over the ocean and superbly built
and decorated.
After that, he had prepared a "couscous" which is a North African dish,
very different from what I have heard called couscous in the US.
The conversation was mostly on boats, sailors and sailing as Andre is an
international judge for sailing competition worldwide, mostly dinghies
such as Laser.
While we were enjoying a very nice and entertaining evening, a strong
front went through, announcing the southerly wind we had been waiting for.
We were back on Papy Jovial around 11 happy to have spent another
excellent day in Rarotonga.