Day 91 Meeting Norbert

A rain day
We woke up to rain this morning and decided to watch a movie and wait for the rain to stop. Since we are connected to shore power, we have no worries about using our battery power.
By mid morning, we had packed up and along with Liahona, we set off toward a motu named Tautau that is inside the lagoon and just Northwest of Taha'a. (A motu is an island that is the remains of the original reef that is now covered with sand, trees and other vegetation.) Motus are usually quite small and Tautau is no exception although it is one of a row of islands in this location along the reef.
On the way out of the harbor, we stopped at the fuel dock and while we were there we got a call from Far Niente who we had not seen since Huahine. They were returning from Bora Bora and were just entering the pass into the Ra'iatea lagoon. By coincidence, they were also heading for Tautau so we made a flotilla of the trip - two Island Packet mono-hulls and the catamaran Liahona.
When we got our list of "things to do in Taha'a" from Guy, we were told that one of the best snorkel spots was the "coral garden" between Tautau and its neighboring motu. Now there is a new Pearl resort on Tautau and nowhere to anchor plus the day was getting late and the sky cloudy so we crossed back to Taha'a and anchored in Baie Tapuamu.
Another thing on Guy's list was a local named Norbert who sold fresh fruit and vegetables. It did not take Norbert long to find us. Dressed in a flowered sarong and a thatched leaf hat, he pulled alongside in his wooden flat bottomed boat playing a ukulele. We bargained and bartered (check out the pictures of this) for some pampelmous and one vanilla bean (the main product of Taha'a).
All three boats had a pot luck dinner on Liahona. Being a catamaran, this boat has plenty of space for a crowd.