Aitutaki -

They drive on the wrong side of the road here; fortunately my motorcycle has the option that allows the bike to drive on either side of the road. The driver’s license here costs $2.50 so both Cassidy and I got one.  You only have to be 16 to drive here, so she and Wolfie went off for a 1.5-hour tour of the island. They even got lost on this tiny speck of land!  Crazy, I know!  Oh, and you only have to wear a helmet if you go over 40 KPH.

So when we arrived here a boat that we knew from Bora Bora called us on the radio to see what we knew about Aitutaki.  His auto-helm was out, and he was a solo sailor!  The pass here is super narrow, long, and shallow.  Since it was low tide and the sun was nearly down we recommended he just tie off to our stern for the night.  (We had taken the only mooring.)  What could go wrong!!  Today after checking in, and waiting for the tide to come in, we guided him in through the channel using the dingy and a boat hook to check depth.

Unfortunately even in the deep part of the channel he ran aground.  After much powering around to get the boat off I had Cassidy hop in the dingy to help me. But as soon as she hopped in the boat got "un-stuck", and there were some inappropriate comments about her being so heavy that when she hopped off the boat floated high enough to go over the sand bar.  Red-faced but laughing she climbed back on the boat only for it to run aground right away again. This time she would not hop off, but the damage was done, and the jokes will continue for a LONG time!!!!  More stories to embarrass an unnamed female 16 year old coming soon!!! :)

Courage