May 24th 2025

Alex will arrive this evening.

As I lay stretched out on the deck in the morning sun, swaying gently with the boat, I started thinking about what we’d planned for the next few days. And as the mental to-do list grew longer, I thought having a car would make everything so much easier. I grabbed my phone and booked a rental. Pickup just before 5 p.m., just ahead of the wave of Americans arriving and flooding the counters. With that mission complete, I figured it was time to get some boat work done.

Mission of the Day: the aft cabin. We hadn’t been able to use it for sleeping, it felt damp and musty. Alex and I had already decided we’d need to redo the walls; clearly something was getting wet in there. So, I rolled up my sleeves (metaphorically, obviously - it’s way too hot for actual sleeves) and started tearing them down. Not as easy as I thought. The glue still had a serious death grip. Piece by piece, I peeled off wall panels until I reached the port side. And… oh boy. It was dripping. Not just damp - dripping. Like there was a whole hidden ocean living inside our wall. Pretty disgusting, honestly. But I kept going, ripping out everything until it was all out of the boat. I felt pretty relieved catching this early means we can finally track down those leaks in the deck before they cause more damage.

Removing the bolts would have been the next step, but that needs two people. So instead, I dinghied back to shore, dumped the ruined wall (kept the side panels for measurements), and headed back to Tauha. I unpacked my bags properly, organized everything, and replaced the old grimy lights and fans with fresh new ones.

By 4 p.m., it was time to head to the airport. I hopped in the dinghy and then walked 45 minutes along the road with a podcast in my ears. When I got to the airport, the rental desk was still quiet. It took them a while to get me into the system, but by the time I walked out, the line behind me was looooong. So glad I came early.

And then - Alex! He showed up with a big smile. Was he thrilled just to be off the plane? Maybe. But I’m telling myself it was to see me. Either way, he was also happy I’d sorted the rental car. Since the car was a manual (rare in the U.S.), and Alex didn’t have an international driver’s license, we decided it would just be easier to list me as the driver. We cruised back toward the marina in our tiny Peugeot. We made a quick stop at the grocery store to pick up dinner supplies, then loaded Alex’s bags into the dinghy and crossed the now-dark lagoon.

Back on board, under the stars, we made some food and settled in finally together again on our floating home.

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