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New Year Party

A Polynesian New Year: 2021

We celebrate the New Year Polynesian style on Sugar Shack.  Little did we know what we were in for when we agreed to host our friends for New Year’s Eve.  Our friend’s Stephan and Manu took care of everything and I mean everything from food, drinks, décor, music, cooking, and cleaning.

Stephan and Manu came over around 1700 to drop off the food, chafing dishes, grills, coolers, drinks, folding table, and décor.  It took Matt and Stephan three trips in the dinghy to get it all on board.  We were expecting 11-12 people including one other cruiser, Eve from “Auntie” and 9 Polynesians.

The Décor:

Manu came prepared with flowers, palm fronds, and décor.  She is so sweet! She showed me how to decorate with the plants/flowers, brought batteries for all the décor and we had fun creating an oasis on the boat.  Bottom right corner is Stephan and Manu during pre-party prep.

New Year Celebration

New Year Celebration

The Food:

Two large chafing dishes were filled to the brim.  One was dedicated to rice (they love their rice) and the other had fried bananas, fried oranges, potatoes, grilled bananas, and green beans.

They rented three portable grills powered by a type of propane and 12 dishes of food.  Basically, the three grills were placed in the cockpit on our table and the folding table.  When it was time for dinner, we brought out several boxes of food and Stephan grilled the meats which included shrimp, beef, chicken, pork, and fish.  Guests loaded their plates with rice and vegetables and then the cooked meats were passed around.

The bottom right photo was just a funny photo of some of the shoes…most were left in the dinghy.

Stephan also brought a cooler full of beer, rhum, lychee rum, raspberry cider, whiskey, and tequila.  Each group that came brought their own cooler full of liquor as well.  Nobody touched our liquor because they all brought their own.  We thought hosting included us doing something…but nope!  They would not impose or consume any of our food or drinks. Nor would they allow us to cook or clean.

The New Year Party

After we fed everyone the first dinner (yes, there will be a 2nd dinner before the night is over) we headed to the bow.  Manu had brought these super cool balls that lit up and changed colors.  It was the hit of the party for sure.  We hung out at the bow until midnight. After all it would not be a new year celebration without glow, right?

At midnight there were fireworks on the dock.  Totally surprised us all as nobody expected them.  It was super short, maybe 2 minutes worth, but really cool! An excellent way to ring in the New Year.

The obligatory post next to our sail bag :0

The ladies all had beautiful floral crowns.  I was very envious.  Bottom left: Manu and I, bottom middle: Manu and Stephan, bottom right: full moon as it rose above the clouds.

Party goers

Party goers

A few of our guests took turns playing Polynesian music.  Several truly magical moments happened when they all sung along with the music in true Polynesian fashion.  What a blessing it was to ring in the Near Year on such a beautiful night, with a full moon, lots of food and drinks and good friends.

The funny thing is timing.  Cruisers refer to 2100 (9:00pm) as sailor’s midnight.  Why?  Because we are usually in bed by that time.  We are also up at sunrise.  Eve, Matt, and I were wondering how we were going to manage to stay up until midnight.  Lots of laughter and good company helped us solve that problem.  Eve left around 12:30am and the party was still going.  Matt passed out around 0300 and it was still going. 

2nd Dinner

Right around 0300, the food came back out.  Which is a good thing as we had enough to feed over 40 people!  There was so much food!  Stephan cooked up a second meal for everyone.

Somewhere around 4:00am, as the sun was rising, I had to tap out.  I asked Stephan if they could move the party to the dock as I was going to fall flat on my face!  We got everyone off the boat and I did some basic cleaning (put the food away, cleaned up some of the mess that might attract bugs/ants) and crashed hard around 4:45am. 

Somehow, I remembered to turn off all the electronics, battery operated lights and décor, bring in the underwater light, closed the hatches, turned off the VHF, and shut the shades.  I was hoping to sleep at least until noon!  Ha!  Didn’t happen. I woke up 4 hours later and started the massive cleaning project.

The First Day of the New Year

Everyone offered to come back over to clean but I tackled the project as Matt recovered.  We still had the folding table, grills, chafing dishes and tons and tons of food and liquor.  Stephan and Manu came over with 4 other people and we enjoyed a New Year’s Day dinner.

Believe it or not, there were still lots of left-over food and drinks.  We luckily piled it all back into the coolers and loaded it in the dinghy to bring it back to Stephan’s house.

We found out that they took the party to the dock and then the beach.  They never went to bed!  Yep, can you believe that?  Of course, they are all in their 30’s.

An absolutely excellent way to start the New Year of 2021!

New Year’s celebration in this blog post occurred on NYE 2020.  Our blog posts run 8 weeks behind our adventures.

St. Michael's Church, Christmas in Gambiers

Christmas in Gambiers

Beauty is all around us as we spend Christmas in the Gambiers!  We celebrate a few days before Christmas in a small bay on the West side of Taravai called Onemea.  We are all by ourselves and have an unobstructed view of the sunset. Once inside the bay you are surrounded by reefs on three sides which provide excellent snorkeling.  Matt flew the drone and captured these beautiful photos.

Onemea on the West Side of Taravai

Onemea on the West Side of Taravai

A beautiful rainbow over the hillside.

Matt gets the drone out and captures a really pretty photo of Sugar Shack with the sun and puffy cloud.

Onemea bay, Taravai

Onemea bay, Taravai

Cookie Baking Day

Our family used to do a cookie baking day where all the ladies gathered together to bake dozens and dozens of cookies.  When I moved to Texas, I continued the tradition by inviting my girlfriends and their daughters over for baking and decorating.  It was a great way to get out of decorating the cookies and getting sharing the cookies.  I love to bake but decorating does not bring me much joy.  Last year, I invited several gals from other boats and we decorated them together…but this year I was all on my own.  I made the dough for two recipes (gingerbread and sugar cookies) one day and then put them in fridge.  The next day I baked 288 gingerbread cookies (with red hots) and 130 sugar cookies (stars, hearts, sea horse, bells, and a mermaid). 

The next day I made 75 white mice (or Mexican wedding cookies) and 75 chocolate candy cane cookies with white chocolate drizzle and peppermint topper.  Then I made frosting for the sugar cookies and decorated the bells, hearts, sea horses, and mermaids.  Whew!

Christmas in Gambiers is a day of Sharing

Part of the joy of baking is being able to share the cookies with others.  So, Christmas in the Gambiers came on Christmas Eve.  Each boat in the anchorage (6 of them) received a cookie care package and 5 different local families did too.  What fun!

Christmas Eve Activities

There are only 8 boats in the entire archipelago right now which is amazing, albeit shocking!  One of the boats is a family of 4 with a teacher from the UK.  They invited everyone onshore to do caroling.  They even had song sheets.  I must say we sounded terrible!  But it was great fun.

After caroling, we headed to St. Michael cathedral for  evening service.   We were not sure how they would handle service with the pandemic restrictions, but it went off really well. Everyone wore their masks, no hugging or kissing (which is huge for French and Polynesian people), and we all tried to sit with at least 2 people space between us.  It was crowded and hot though.  I can only imagine what it is like when they are literally full to capacity with people body to body. 

The church was decorated so beautiful with natural plants and flowers.  A beautiful nativity highlighted at the entrance and of course the beautiful stations in each of the corners.

St. Michael's Church

St. Michael’s Church

The alter was decorated with live trees and fresh flowers.  Everything worked in harmony to accentuate the stunning alter covered in natural pearl shells.  Truly beautiful.

Christmas in Gambiers at St. Michael's Church

Christmas in Gambiers at St. Michael’s Church

After service, I went back to Stefan and Manu’s place to enjoy a tasty dinner.  Stefan had been cooking since noon and man oh man did he cook for an army!  I thought there would be more people but it was just he and his wife, their two young kids and Matt and I.  I am not sure where he thinks we can put all this food!

Stefan literally prepared a feast with lamb, lobster, oysters, potato casserole, and many many side dishes.

As we were headed back to the boat, we heard the Taporo coming in – yeah!  The supply ship has arrived. 

Christmas in Gambiers – The Supply Ship

I have written about the supply ship on many blogs.  If you might recall, I always say it is like Christmas.  And wouldn’t you know it – they actually arrive on Christmas day this time!  It is so amazing to see all the locals congregate on the dock waiting for their packages and presents.  We saw new bicycles, TVs, outboards, fresh food and produce, fuel, propane and oh so much more.  Everyone was happy and excited to get their holiday on!

Everyone checks in at the little “hut” where you order and pay for your goods (upper left corner photo).  We had wanted to buy 25kilos of flour and 4 cases of beer, but they were out 🙁 So sad for us.

Several boats needed fuel, so we loaned out our jerry cans and gave hand – because that is just what you do.  

Stefan and Manu invited us back to their house for lunch (Christmas eve left overs) – who would say “no” to more lobster?  We stumbled back to the boat after being overly fed and rested for awhile before going over to “Auntie” a new cruising friend that we met. Eve on “Auntie” invited other cruisers over for Christmas happy hour which was lovely and just a perfect way to end this beautiful Christmas celebration.

Although I miss my family tremendously, Christmas in Gambiers showered us with love and happiness (both from the locals and other cruisers).  Life is good and truly blessed.

Events from this blog post occurred around 12 December, 2020.  Our blog posts run 8 weeks behind our adventures.

Sugar Shack in Puaumu

Parte in Puaumu with Polynesians

Puaumu is in the NE corner of the Gambiers. We had to cross over unchartered areas with a look out on the bow to keep the boat clear of coral bommies.  We arrived on a beautiful, calm day with no swell, light winds and perfect conditions.  Not many cruisers or locals visit this small, private, yet pristine island.

Puaumu in Gambiers

Puaumu in Gambiers

The first few days at this anchorage were just glorious.  We had the entire bay to ourselves and the water was like a glassy mirror of the sky.  The island of Puaumu is in the shape of a “C.”  The left side of the island or the north side is owned by my friend Stefan and his family.  The right side or the south is owned by another family.  Stefan and his family stayed here for 2 weeks during quarantine.  We had the pleasure of visiting them by dinghy and enjoyed a huge, delicious luncheon feast.

Playing in Puaumu

Smooth waters are just perfect for paddle boarding.  Typically, I paddle board on my knees or butt, but with these conditions I ventured on to my feet.  It was shaky at first, a little bob and weaving going on, but I finally got the hang of it.  Matt and I paddled around the anchorage, checked on the anchor, and admired the many fish around the coral heads.

There was one coral bommie directly under the boat.  Well, let’s be clear, it was not under the boat when we anchored.  When the wind changed, we shifted over the bommie.  As you can see, Matt is checking it out and we have clearance – even during low tide.

Matt broke out the drone and captured some amazing shots of Sugar Shack during sunset.  The dark splotchy marks in the water are coral bommies.

Sugar Shack at Puaumu -drone shot

Sugar Shack at Puaumu -drone shot

These are amazing shots too.  The top one shows the Pacific (lower portion of photo), Puaumu and the lagoon.  Sugar Shack at peace by herself and Mangareva in the background.  The center photo has Puaumu on the far right (off camera) and shows the furthest NE motu, Tepapuri in the background.  We can’t bring the big boat to that island, but we have explored it by dinghy.

THANKING WHO?

We had invited Stefan to stay onboard Sugar Shack for the weekend.  In part, as a thank you for hosting us for lunch a few weeks ago.  Stefan, his wife Manu and their friend Popo (or Nani) came by fishing boat Saturday afternoon and stayed until Sunday evening.  It truly was our intention to host them, to cook for them and to show them a marvelous time.  However, they came with boxes of food and drink to last well over a week!

For dinner, Stefan cooked 6 lbs of Mahi Mahi, chicken and sausage.  Plus, we had beet salad, fresh bread and salad.  For dessert I made avocado chocolate pudding which turned out divine.

Stefan Cooking up a storm

Stefan Cooking up a storm

Sunset was enjoyed at the bow of the boat.  Our guests had trepidations about the trampoline, but we eventually got them to walk on it.  Each square inch can hold up to 200lbs so there was no concern of breakage (no concern on our part). 

The next morning, I made blueberry pancakes, but Stefan insisted on cooking omelets for everyone as well.  In addition, we had cheesy bread, homemade guava preserves to go on more fresh bread, starfruit, and fresh squeezed juice.

We enjoyed a day of fun in the sun, swimming and playing cards.  Lunched was followed by more fresh fish on the grill, fresh bread, fruit, sushi which is actually called poison cru.

Stefan taking a giant leap

Stefan taking a giant leap

Super fun weekend turned out to be Stefan, Manu and Popo spoiling us with cooking, cleaning, and a few days of complete fun.

Coconut Hunting

On the small islands you have to make due with what you are given.  In some cases that is hunting for coconuts, but only on the islands or motus where there is no coconut harvesting of copra.  A coconut is handy for coconut water, coconut milk, coconut cake, and plain ole coconut.  I bet you didn’t know the little coconut could be so useful?  We scavenged for a long stick and started hunting.  Once we find a few green coconuts, we use our machete to hack into them and capture the yummy coconut water inside.

Coconut Hunting

Coconut Hunting

Beach BBQ on Puaumu

Several of our friends decided to join us in the anchorage.  After our Polynesian friends left, 4 boats joined us.  A little cruiser party in Puaumu.  One day we had a beach BBQ on the corner of the island.  It was Hoodoo (Yanell and Missy), Sea Jay (Chris and Fred), Kalea (Jaques and Elensie), and Storm Along (Lynette and Nils).

Beach BBQ

Beach BBQ

We had some gorgeous sunset shots.

After our tasty dinner, we sat around the fire chatting and enjoying the good company.

Puaumu is an absolutely pristine island with beautiful beaches, turquoise waters, and perfect views of sunset.