An Unexpected Guest...Almost

 As if our boat isn't full enough, we brough a pallet's worth of stuff with us aboard SHINDIG and shipped it from Nuku Hiva to Raiatea. Where are we going to put all this stuff?

One day, in the midst of our numerous boat projects and our first day out of the boat yard, I received an email from my friend Kristen. She was about to fly out of LAX bound for Tahiti to catch a connecting flight to Nuku Hiva to visit her friend Rob on the sailboat Tiger Beetle. (Rob, who is also a friend of ours, had recently completed the Puddle Jump.) In addition to visiting for fun she was also his courier, bringing with her Rob's new auto-pilot, an essential piece of cruising gear.

In her email, Kristen was in a panic because she'd learned that due to a fireman's strike in Nuku Hiva all flights to and from Tahiti had been cancelled. Apparently, by law there must be several firemen standing by for every airplane arrival and departure. Too late to cancel her flight to Tahiti, she wondered if she could visit us in Raiatea as a Plan B. We responded of course, we'd love to have her, then had an "Oh S**t" moment as we realized the boat was still what we termed "a war zone", loaded with items that still had to be re-installed for cruising and new things that still needed to packed away. Heck, we didn't even have our dinghy inflated to pick her up from shore! We figured we'd stand by and work something out if necessary.

We heard from Kristen when she arrived in Tahiti. Exhausted from her red-eye flight she was quite upset as the airline still could not reassure that she'd be able to fly to Nuku Hiva. "Maybe the strike will end soon" was all they could tell her. She was due to fly out in two days. There was no way we could get Cinnabar guest-ready in two days, but we figured Kristen was a game girl and we'd all be able to work around the clutter.

We talked to Kristen the next day and she said that the airline was going to allow one early-morning flight and she would be allowed on it. Hopefully her excess luggage would go as well; the flights to Nuku Hiva are notoriously stingy with their weight allowances. But she wasn't going to believe it until she actually got on the plane. If not, she would fly to Raiatea. 

We were still in wait-and-see mode, but since we didn't hear from Kristen early that next morning we figured she'd made the flight. Sure enough, she called later that day and was aboard Tiger Beetle with all the transported gear. Whew!

Kristen, we're sorry you couldn't make it to Raiatea and here's what you missed...

Welcome aboard!! This is the main salon (aka saloon) and dining area. I'm sure we'll find a place to put our plates.

This is our cabin so you don't have to worry about the kiting sails and clutter.

The galley. Lots of room for cooking and preparing meals. We'll work around the mainsail and boat canvas.

And finally, here is your cabin! Roomy, yes? And note the booze bin lives there as well. We'll find some way to squeeze you in.

UPDATE: Most of this stuff had now been stowed, installed, hidden and Cinnabar is approaching livability. We are now at the island of Huahine. It's fabulous. More later...