the dinghy saga

P has arrived safely, and we left Taihiti yesterday afternoon and had a very good fast sail to Moorea. Today we've had a good long walk up to a look out, and also round an agricultural research centre where there is a labeled walking route round plantations of pineapples and areas where other tropical fruits are being grown - mostly not new to us, but we saw lichees and a couple of unknown fruits for the first time. Cooled down with a snorkel when we got back, in lovely clear water.

The dinghy saga has ended more or less well for us, or at least better than expected. On Saturday we reported the theft to the police, then on Sunday had a look at the guard's report book and found that at 4.30am on Sat a young American and girlfriend had taken a dinghy and driven off. We told the police who said that maybe therefore it was somewhere local and they took us for an hour and a half search in their launch round all the nooks and crannies of the coast, into the marinas and round the anchorages. Nothing. On Sunday the Fri night guard was back on duty. He described the lad, and said that he had been on a boat 'Astra' that had been at our dock on Thursday, and who had been visiting another boat on the dock on Friday. So we then asked around the dock, and found out that Astra was in a marina as the owner had gone back to Britain, and the crew were still on board. He called the lad, A, on the radio, and A said he would go and get the dinghy and come straight over with it.

Well, he didn't arrive, so in the afternoon we decided to go back to the police and get them to go with us to the marina. I left G waiting at the police station and went back to the boat to find the A waiting for us. Full of apologies. The dinghy had disappeared, and he was willing to buy us a new one. Evidently he was drunk on Friday evening, tried to hitch a lift back to the marina unsuccessfully, and 'borrowed' our dinghy instead. Then he didn't do anything about it all weekend, and of course by the time he went to look for it on the bit of beach where he'd left it it was gone. The police gave him a good talking to, but left it to us to sort things out. Mrs from Astra was still on board, and insisted that our dinghy had to be replaced, and was willing to fund it. So by Monday evening we'd found replacements, and on Tuesday it was all delivered to the dock. It appears that 20-yr old (British) A has been in trouble with the police before, and Astra offered to take him on their planned round-the-world trip to try and sort him out. He is well-educated with a degree, and knows a lot about sailing, goodness knows why he did such a stupid thing. He now has a debt of over 3,000 pounds, an expensive taxi ride.

Not very much choice of dinghy in Papeete, so it's not nearly as good as our old one, and a bit smaller. We have got exactly the same motor though, (which has to be run in). So apart from the stress and strain and agro, it has cost us a full tank of fuel (UK prices here), a dinghy cover and a cover for the engine, having to stay for 3 or 4 extra days at the dock instead of free anchorage, and a good tip for the guard who helped us identify the boat and described the guy. At least though we didn't have to fork out for a new dinghy ourselves. What a saga.