Day 35 Dinner native style

Serge and Cathy
After breakfast, we donned snorkel gear and explored the shoreline. The appearance above the water line that the island drops off precipitously into the sea is borne out in the under water view. There are amazing columnar lava flows in the rocks.
We saw many small fish of which the neon blue and tangerine varieties were the most colorful.
After our refreshing dip, I went ashore with Dirigo and Far Niente to see a demonstration of Tapa making. There is certainly many hours of work in each one.
Yesterday, the Tapa maker had asked if we wanted to have a native dinner so we had arranged for a dinner prepared by Cathy and her sister Rose. These are obviously not their real Marquisian names but the ones they use with tourists.
At 1730 the 11 puddle jumpers from the four boats arrived at Serge and Cathy’s house to find a sumptuous spread of rice, chicken, poisson cru (raw tuna marinated in lime and coconut milk), breadfruit, banana cooked in coconut milk and a salad of shredded green papaya. This latter dish looked a bit like cole slaw but was delicious with a surprising honey mustard dressing.
The house of Serge and Cathy was simple but clean and pleasant. Our table was set on a concrete “patio” in front of the house. Also present were their three sons, a daughter and a 2 ½ year-old granddaughter.
The family was reserved at first but after dinner, when the topic turned to music (Patrick said he played several instruments including the guitar) Serge brought out an 8 string Marquisian ukulele and proceeded to show off some rather amazing skill. His son played the drums and his daughter sang and danced. Patrick took a turn on the ukulele and the evening turned into mutual entertainment. We all agreed it was a unique and wonderful experience.