Cecil

0800 Position 21-12S 159-47W. Moored in Avatiu Harbor, Rarotonga

There is supposed to be a security guard on duty 24/7 here in the commercial part of the harbor. He makes his rounds on a scooter. At 8AM yesterday, just after the shift change, the security guard showed up at the boat. I don't know where the guys from the two previous shifts were. We never saw them. He found out that we had just entered the country and volunteered to call the officials for us. An hour later Customs, Immigration, and Bio-Security, in the forms of Dennis and Paul, arrived to check us in. These were a couple of great guys who helped us through the tedious paperwork process but also acted as tour guides to give us advise on where to go and what to see on Rarotonga. A couple of hours later they left and Agriculture arrived. He didn't even bother to climb aboard the boat. We filled out a piece of paper for him and he left.

The next issue was mooring. Rob and Renee took off for the harbormaster's office to work it out. They were gone until mid-afternoon. They got approval for us to stay right where we were. That was good news as it is difficult to move around and get moored in this surgy and windy harbor.

We had one more official visit to make. Since we were planning to depart on Sunday, the entire crew had to show up at immigration to check out of the country. The immigration office is at the other end of town so we had a tour of the place walking the half mile there and back. While in the immigration office a nice guy walked in and struck up a conversation. Craig Clennett is from Hobart, our destination and Rob's home town, and is Commodore of the Rarotonga Yacht Club. He invited us to stop by the club today for a drink.

After returning to the boat, Piers and I went to work on improving the recipe for "The Van Diemen". It is getting better and better. We've substituted mango juice for the fruit juice mix we were using previously and have added mint leaves and a wedge of pineapple.

We had a superb dinner of grilled lamb, sautéed bok choi with garlic and ginger, and mashed potatoes/carrots/white turnips. Piers was on a roll telling stories, the most memorable being one from his youth about an orphaned camel in the outback of Western Australia. "Cecil" grew up living in a bar, and the patrons there often bought him beers. Cecil became a fixture at the bar, and an alcoholic. As he matured he became more ornery, and after a number of years the bar owner had no choice but to get rid of Cecil, giving him to a zoo. The bar threw a big going away party for Cecil, and because of the camel's fame folks came from miles around. Cecil got so drunk on the beers folks bought for the honoree that he fell down outside the bar and couldn't get up. Piers later went to visit Cecil in the camel pen at the zoo, called his name, and Cecil came over to him. Piers claimed he could see a tear in the camel's eye as he stood there forlornly remembering his previous life. I wish I'd had a tape recorder running.

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