Day 118 Preparation

Tomorrow is Independence day
We spent the day organizing ourselves. There was the automatic boat cleaning and some maintenance items and we went to the store to re-stock our depleted groceries and buy some supplies for a barbecue tomorrow to celebrate the 4th.
The harbor here in Rarotonga is really an industrial port rather than a yacht anchorage. There dock is stacked with containers and there are lift trucks moving back and forth transporting all manner of cargo from fuel cylinders to vehicles. The black rubber tires of the lift trucks leave a deposit on the dock that gets everywhere. After the complete cleaning we did yesterday, it is easy to see black footprints on the deck even though we put down several mats for foot wiping.
There is an area at the end of the harbor that is a little more suited for yachts but it requires a med moor meaning that the boats drop an anchor in the harbor and then back down toward the concrete sea wall onto which they tie several lines to the stern. The makes a parallel row of yachts facing the middle of the harbor. There are six other boats in the harbor and only seven spaces so we will have to squeeze in. The wind is blowing into the harbor at a diagonal so getting Southern Star into one of those spaces is going to require some careful maneuvering.
Town is a 10 minute walk away and the road is lined on one side with fairly standard tourist shops, mostly selling clothing. There are only a few restaurants and they are mostly a counter with some picnic tables outside. At the other end of town there are a few sit-down restaurants and we chose to have dinner at one on the waterfront. It is nothing elegant but the fish is good and the tables are right on the water.
After dinner we went to the only cinema in town for the first movie of our trip - and it was in English.