Mangaia Eclipse Mania

I had almost completely forgotten about the eclipse coming up this weekend until, while driving "home" from church last Sunday with Julianne and Paula, we picked up a fellow looking a bit lost along the roadside....not so....just one of those science nerdy sorts, a star gazer :) .... a Brit, who follows the moon, sun and stars. This is his 18th year following the eclipse, partial or complete, doesn't matter to him. He is part of a group that meet yearly all over the world for some serious astronomy :) The ladies and I thought this was rather a cool way to see the world and chatted him up ..... dropped him off at a house down the road where 37 of his mates waited for his arrival ..... must say, they were rather an unusual assortment, varying nationalities, and all in various stages of sleep-deprived jet lag, rather a motley crew! A mere few days later I offered a lift to a young Japanese student ..... with very limited English .... but with some great hand language, grunts, exclamation exhalations, many "aaah yeses" and the odd word thrown into the mix, we managed to locate the little house he was renting with others ..... and yup, without a doubt, ....... another group of star gazers!! This younger group will be travelling in student style luxury, ie. a freighter or old fish boat (not sure which exactly, signing would indicate a fishing boat!) to the island of Mangaia, to view the eclipse. It has taken five weeks, but I do declare, I just may have made the transition to at the very least, an honorary local! I can now find my way everywhere these days!! and that is a miracle in itself, as I am errrr, rather directionally challenged in general :) but then again, maybe no miracle was involved ...... there is only one major road and it follows the coast :) ..... and Sarah, no, I do not normally pick up hitch-hikers, but in the Cooks, if you are driving anything but a motorbike (and even then, it is nice to offer if it is raining :) !!) ..... just polite to offer lifts to those in need or just to be a friendly ..... natural as breathing ..... I rent a car every week for a few days and at one point, all Budget had to offer was a van (no one wants a big gas guzzler on this island so vans are the last to go!) Feeling a tad guilty driving this monster around, I stopped at a bus hut offering anyone a lift to town. The buses are a tad slow, so of course, everyone jumped aboard ..... there may have been a bit of a misunderstanding however, as everyone offered me a few bucks at Cook's Corner where I dropped them off, thinking I was a rather friendly taxi driver ..... too funny! .... but back to the eclipse ..... there is excitement mounting on Rarotonga this week!! A huge yacht/sailboat has been moored near the wharf for the past week ...... after much speculation (this is after all a very small "town" and literally, you could not meet anyone in town without being asked "do you know who owns the fancy boat out there??" ....... a reporter from Cooks News finally decided to row over to see if he could spot an interview with the captain of the boat. Clever fellow ....... the captain was quite forthcoming and the reporter was rewarded a two page article for his effort!!! ..... and the rest of us were thrilled, for we now had at least some answers and pictures of the crew and boat!! The captain, despite being rather secretive about the boat's owner gave lots of other details ...... it is a $25 - 50 million boat, 50 meters long, first owner was Italian, sold to the current owner, an Irishman, boat registered in The Isle of Mann ...... and yes, there is a piano on board!!! The boat is on a round-the-world journey ...... it's second one ...... the first world sail completed with the Italian owner in 2002 .......... speculation is that it could be Bono :) (the name sounded familiar but indeed, I had to ask one of the young ladies at the internet cafe who the heck Bono was :) ..... the crew of eight are mostly American ..... the owner flies in on his own plane, meeting up with the crew here and there, sails for a few days and flies back to Ireland. He is apparently flying in this weekend for ..... you guessed it ...... the eclipse!!! ..... they will be sailing as close to the little island of Mangaia as possible for the three and a half minute eclipse!! Decadence galore!!! Mangaia, one of the tiny Cook Islands, has been setting up bunk beds in their school (the island has less than 1,000 inhabitants) for the past week, in preparation for their guests! Every house has a room to let for all the celestials that will begin arriving Friday. Air Rarotonga will be flying in food, bedding and various supplies for the tourists. I think there is room for a few hundred on the island ..... don't know how the logistics will all work (bathrooms anyone???) but should be an interesting experience for the local population!!) I am sure there will be many boats moored around the island as well, including our current Irish yacht!! I tried to get a spot on a small vaka leaving from the wharf here, but they were booked before I got to it! Ten spots were advertised as available for the three day return journey to Mangaia and all spots were taken before the ink (advertising the availability) on the Cooks News was dry!! That's it for local news, coming live from Rarotonga! Kia Manuia, Seija