We are looking for a second car at the moment. It shouldn’t be too hard to find a simple used car here, right? They import 10,000 cars a year for a population of 250,000, this should be easy, right? Well, finding a car is relatively easy, but finding a car which is in decent shape for a reasonable price is a monumental task. It is an island so the market is isolates and distorted by metropolitan French arriving with their newly increased salary of 1.8 times what they made in France and being willing to pay exorbitant prices. People sell 8 year old cars here with over 100,000 km for more than ½ their original asking price. I was under the impression that a car loses anywhere between 15 to 30% of it’s value in the first year. So how does it manage to then keep that price over the next seven years… honestly I have no idea.
What really distorts the market are the parking or in American terms the used car dealers. In the US the used car market is large enough that they do not determine the price, but here private sellers see the price the used car dealers sell their cars for and think they can do the same. Just trying to pay a visit to a parking is a monumental task. OK, first there is Nouméa time meaning nothing is open on Sundays. Then most places close Saturday afternoons. Oh anf forget about trying to go after work or during lunch for they close by 5:30 and are closed for 1.5 to 2 hours for lunch. In the US I Would call this a front or cover business for organized crime or money laundering. Here you call it a business!
Monday, February 18, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Gene came by the neighborhood
Gene tried to pay us a visit the other day, but was turned away by a high pressure trough, I am happy to announce. Upon see the satellite photo all I could think, is my what large cloud coverage you have and upon seeing the pressure gradient all I could think was oh my, this might get a little wet. She was a category 2 at her highest, still nothing we care to content with. I have waited to post about this until the saga was finished, as cyclones are carious things who do not always follow what the computer models predict.
New Caledonia was on pre-alert and level one alert, but Gene (pronounced either the Anglo or the Francophone way- the radio hosts here were a bit confused as the cyclone was named in Fiji), and therefore the name did not make much sense to Francophone eye/ears. I sent out a rather terse email stating what could be the eminent future just before the model changed and Gene was no longer on a direct course for us, but rather visiting our general area.
Everyone in the marina went into cyclone preparation, sails were dropped, canvas taken down, everything taken off decks, tires acquired. Why would one acquire tires, well they act as excellent cushioning between boats in the event of high winds. Cyclone preparation means a lot of hurrying up and waiting. You take things down far in advance before the winds pick up and the rains come, but then what does one do afterwards? Mill about of course and chat with ones neighbors. All this milling about meant me talking with neighbors more than I usually do, and I actually got a compliment on my French, that it is improving, albeit in regards to weather discussions which like directions seem to come naturally. I was however able to explain to the people at the various garages I visited why it was that I wanted old tires and not in fact help with my own tires. Apparently this is quite normal as there are many boats in the area. Nouméa has a population of roughly 90,000 with five marinas of various sizes, so as you can imagine the boat to person ratio is rather high.
Gene finally did disappear as she headed south and moved into colder water. If you think of me, think cold water and high pressure thoughts for me (things which reduce the chance of cyclones).
New Caledonia was on pre-alert and level one alert, but Gene (pronounced either the Anglo or the Francophone way- the radio hosts here were a bit confused as the cyclone was named in Fiji), and therefore the name did not make much sense to Francophone eye/ears. I sent out a rather terse email stating what could be the eminent future just before the model changed and Gene was no longer on a direct course for us, but rather visiting our general area.
Everyone in the marina went into cyclone preparation, sails were dropped, canvas taken down, everything taken off decks, tires acquired. Why would one acquire tires, well they act as excellent cushioning between boats in the event of high winds. Cyclone preparation means a lot of hurrying up and waiting. You take things down far in advance before the winds pick up and the rains come, but then what does one do afterwards? Mill about of course and chat with ones neighbors. All this milling about meant me talking with neighbors more than I usually do, and I actually got a compliment on my French, that it is improving, albeit in regards to weather discussions which like directions seem to come naturally. I was however able to explain to the people at the various garages I visited why it was that I wanted old tires and not in fact help with my own tires. Apparently this is quite normal as there are many boats in the area. Nouméa has a population of roughly 90,000 with five marinas of various sizes, so as you can imagine the boat to person ratio is rather high.
Gene finally did disappear as she headed south and moved into colder water. If you think of me, think cold water and high pressure thoughts for me (things which reduce the chance of cyclones).
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Projects
Boats offer many opportunities for work, but not as many opportunities for creativity. Ok, that is not quite true, as we have a 30 year old boat we can attest to the fact that people get creative when you see the random holes drilled throughout the boat. You cannot move things around, as they are fixed (this being my normal approach to changing a space).
Prior to our Pacific transit I was looking for places to store as much food as possible. Friends of ours on another Pearson 365 had storage under their sink, and sadly we did not… but why not make some. I was under the impression that as much we could put on the boat prior to leaving the Americas was a good thing, as provisioning or vitiating is significantly cheaper in of the eastern side of the Pacific. Philippe was under the impression we were fine the way we were. In retrospect we did have enough space on the boat, and would not have starved for lack of storage under the stove.
After a bit of prodding Philippe humored me by cutting out a section so we could access the unused space. This was accomplished while under way from Panama to Ecuador, that is just how flat the sea was leaving Panama! I didn’t believed the ocean could be like a lake prior to that passage. While it is not the most convenient place to access it does provide a considerable amount of space. I easily stored 20 liters of milk/juice/wine. Now the milk and juice have been drunk the wine traded, the storage is for our seemingly never ending supply of large trash bags and Ziplock bags we bought at Costco in America two years ago! Who new when we outfitted that we bought a 2+ year supply of razors, bar soap, Ziplocks, trash bags, and baking soda. Honestly what does anyone do with 6 lbs of baking soda?
The storage was created some time ago, but the cover was never completed while traveling due to lack of tools and space to complete the wood work. Anyone entering the boat could see our uncompleted storage area. It was not so pretty with it’s jagged edges. Philippe finished the cover a little while ago. It is a nice improvement from what it looked like before. If you look closely you can see how while the floor is a straight line it is not parallel to the stove, it makes for entertaining woodworking.
Prior to our Pacific transit I was looking for places to store as much food as possible. Friends of ours on another Pearson 365 had storage under their sink, and sadly we did not… but why not make some. I was under the impression that as much we could put on the boat prior to leaving the Americas was a good thing, as provisioning or vitiating is significantly cheaper in of the eastern side of the Pacific. Philippe was under the impression we were fine the way we were. In retrospect we did have enough space on the boat, and would not have starved for lack of storage under the stove.
After a bit of prodding Philippe humored me by cutting out a section so we could access the unused space. This was accomplished while under way from Panama to Ecuador, that is just how flat the sea was leaving Panama! I didn’t believed the ocean could be like a lake prior to that passage. While it is not the most convenient place to access it does provide a considerable amount of space. I easily stored 20 liters of milk/juice/wine. Now the milk and juice have been drunk the wine traded, the storage is for our seemingly never ending supply of large trash bags and Ziplock bags we bought at Costco in America two years ago! Who new when we outfitted that we bought a 2+ year supply of razors, bar soap, Ziplocks, trash bags, and baking soda. Honestly what does anyone do with 6 lbs of baking soda?
The storage was created some time ago, but the cover was never completed while traveling due to lack of tools and space to complete the wood work. Anyone entering the boat could see our uncompleted storage area. It was not so pretty with it’s jagged edges. Philippe finished the cover a little while ago. It is a nice improvement from what it looked like before. If you look closely you can see how while the floor is a straight line it is not parallel to the stove, it makes for entertaining woodworking.
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