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Christmas in Gambiers

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

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

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.

Rikitea – Parting is Such a Sweet Sorrow

Polynesian Party Sugar Shack

We invited Stefan, Manu, and Popo back onboard Sugar Shack for the weekend. We had planned on sailing to another island, but bad weather made it a weekend at anchor in Rikitea. Dada and his two kids came for dinner and brunch the next day but did not stay the night like the others. Our local friends brought an immense about of food and showed us how to prepare meals Polynesian style.

Tangled and Twisted

One day during our 10-day stay in Rikitea we had a particularly hard blow (gusty winds). It whipped us around and close to a float. We watched it and felt that we were far enough away to avoid getting tangled. However, when we woke the next morning, we discovered the ball wrapped around the chain and the bridle.

We could not do anything about it as the winds were howling and the seas were a large. We finally get a calm day with no wind and no swell a week later.

Matt starts to pull up the chain only to realize that it is not one float, but many. In fact, it looks like we hooked the entire pearl float farm! These shots were taken from the bow looking down.

We had to tie a secondary line to raise the chain since the floats were all tangled. Of course, I got the line all messed up and it over rode onto itself.

Matt hops back in the dinghy to try to figure out this mess. 5 balls, tons of line and everything tethered to a big cement block at the bottom of the 16-meter Riketea anchorage.

After several hours, we finally came to the realization that we could not detangle this mess without getting the hooka or dive gear out. Our friends on Hoodoo have a dive compressor and offered up one of their dive tanks.

Diving the Tangled Web

The good news about having to dive this mess in Rikitea is that we get to check out Matt’s dive gear which has not been in use for a awhile. Matt got all his gear on and went down under. It took him well over an hour to remove everything including 6 floats, a pear net, half dozen lines in various widths, and 3 pearl floats anchors. It appears Gambiers did not want us to leave either.

And we are now free to leave Rikitea.

Parte in Puaumu with Polynesians

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

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

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

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

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

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.

The Adventures of Sugar Shack

– Sailing Aboard a Catana 471

Tag Archives: stefan