Thanks to all who have entered comments on this blog! Sometimes I don’t see them for a week or more, when I don’t have an Internet connection. But I read them eventually and I appreciate them. I like getting some feedback and knowing you’re reading my stuff and mostly enjoying it.

Note that today I completed the Marquesas Photos #2 post. It was started over 2 weeks ago but at the time it kept getting errors trying to upload the pix. So the posts came out in an odd order. Hopefully it’s not too confusing.

With the Tahiti photo I’m finally up to date. We arrived today. Hallie joins us tomorrow. I’m pretty excited about that! But we can’t take off to cruise paradise  (where!?) yet, because we have boat chores to do while we’re here in the big city. Hallie says she’s up for anything so she can do boat chores with us — should be fun!

Thanks again to all who have posted comments.

Photos of the Tuamotus are challenging because they are all flat and look similar. Nevertheless here we go…

Here’s some things that are ‘wrong’ with this area. It is way too hot in the sun. The primary activity for several hours during mid-day is to find shade, preferably with a breeze. There is no soft sand — it’s all bits of coral, not something you would want to dig your toes into. Pretty much everything except fish is brought in by boat. Supplies are very limited, and expensive. It struck me as funny today when we decided to stop into a store, after a walk in the heat, to splurge on an expensive ice cream bar. “Sorry, no ice cream until the boat comes tomorrow.”

And yet, many think this is paradise. I’ve been thinking about what makes it so, and sitting in the cockpit in the cool breeze at the end of the day, watching a beautiful sunset, I came up with a one answer. Here you live outdoors. You feel that you are a part of the natural world, rather than apart from the natural world. You can swim in cool refreshing water that is clear enough to see the fish all around. You can sit outside with little or no clothing and enjoy the warmth and the breeze. There are no insects interfering with this enjoyment. It might rain, but it will stop in ten minutes, and you’ll be dry again in another ten.

I don’t think I could live here long. The sun erodes your will to do things, it seems to me. It becomes too easy to sit and do nothing. I would likely lose the satisfaction that I find in doing my projects (like circumnavigating, for example). Not much happens here; not much changes. I would never tire of the weather, but I would not like to be so far from friends and family. And a supermarket with a steady supply of cookies and ice cream (yes, and fresh vegetables, too).

So if I can’t live here, is there some other paradise for me? Or some aspects of this paradise that I could find or make at home? It’s challenging to spend time outside in Maine. The mosquitoes and other insects immediately come to mind, and the cold for much of the year. Would it be significantly different further south in the USA? Should I be focusing on building a screened deck with a heated floor and a hot tub and a view…? Would that be my paradise…?