Rainy but Lovely Rarotonga

It has rained on and off every day here in Rarotonga, but we get out anyway and have really enjoyed it here.  Friday night we went to dinner at Trader Jack's with Ken and Wendy from Cop out. Don and Marcie joined us and the 6 of us celebrated Ken's birthday and then extended the celebration to include Frank's past birthday, Don's upcoming birthday (9/2) and Marcie's good news that she is cancer-free for the 3rd year running!  We dressed for the occasion in spite of the getting to shore experience here.  There is nothing like putting on your rain poncho to climb into a wet dinghy with about 2 inches of water in the bottom in order to get to the slimy ladder to climb up to the concrete wharf, to humble oneself.  We have mastered the transition well.  Friends who want to visit us should be well prepared for any contingency while on the boat.     Saturday is a big day here.  Just a few hundred yards away is a large market each week.  It's like one of the big street festivals back in Denver.  All types of vendors are set up and we spent half the day browsing, shopping, eating and visiting.  Then in the afternoon, Syren arrived so the cruisers gathered together to help them in.  It is quite a big deal which gives all the guys something to do and provides the daily excitement for them all.  Saturday night we went with Syren and crew along with Jackie and Peter from Ahu to the local Indian restaurant for their buffet.  This is the first Indian food we've had in quite a while and it was quite good.  All we ever seem to do is eat!  Sunday we took the moped around the island, stopping at the Rarotongan Hotel for the show presented by St. Mary's dance and vocal group.  They performed and sang praise songs in their native tongue with a few in English.  It was a beautiful and moving performance which at times moved me to tears.   After the show we set out for our very first Geocache find.  It is somewhat like a treasure hunt using your GPS, however when the treasure is found, you sign the logbook and leave something.  To find out more go to www.geocaching.com .  We plan to do this now wherever we sail!  We returned to the boat, logged our find on the site and then settled in for a comfy night in the rain.   We watched the movie Calendar Girls, which we had borrowed from Malachi.   On Monday, Malachi and Orca III departed for Beveridge Reef.  And due to approaching bad weather we decided our time in the Cooks may have to be cut short.  We have been watching the reports which tell us that we want to be out of here before the weekend, but also have to be somewhere else by then so we are studying our options.  The anchorage is getting very rocky in here.  Tuppenny has tied up to us for more stability, and even our big girl is beginning to get tossed around like a rocking horse.  Monday night not many cruisers slept well.    Today, Tuesday the 26th, we awoke realizing that we are going to make a run for it – heading to Niue and praying that we arrive by Saturday.  It is about 540 miles and we will have good winds for a couple of days dropping to around 5 knots by Thursday, which is NOT good it means a lot of not moving.  We need a good 13-20 knots to get good movement out of this girl.  We mustn't get caught in the approaching storm yet we cannot stay here.  Syren made a decision to leave with us and Ahu as well.  Those two yachts are much faster cruisers than we are so wish us God Speed! www.frankandbarbgladney.com while at sea: kd0cff@winlink.org (note:the sender must include the character sequence "//WL2K" in the subject line of the message.) Skype ID: frank.barb.gladney