Coconut Grater

The big hardware store was sure to have a coconut grater, they told us back on Manihi. It wasn't so big and it didn't, but the kids were very cheerful. They thought we might have some luck at the Shell petrol station and we did! Finally. I had to jog to the ATM and back before they closed but I made it.(ATM!!! first one for 3,500 miles!) Back to the boat, quickly moved to a sheltered spot, a bit tricky with the sun about to set but we had clear instructions and they agreed with the chart which is always nice, plus there was another yacht anchored so we dropped in near them and started grating coconuts!
We don't usually catch fish easily at anchor, but next morning Marcel pulled in a 1.5k cod, and squirrel fish, so I put in a line and another cod and another unknown. Marcel hailed a passing family, baby in pram, toddler, mum, dad and black dog in the dinghy, to check if the fish were OK. All are excellent! So far there seems to be no ciguatera, we've been told all fish are good. They did say there is one like the cod, but with spots which is not good, but I don't know if it is just not so tasty or to be avoided.
I turned most of one cod into Poisson Cru... this is a heavenly dish. Cut your fish into little bits, and completely cover in fresh squeezed lime juice. After some time it will be white through, cooked by the acid. Drain, and in this case put a little chopped onion, some dry roasted chili and one precious Tuamotu Tomato from Fernando's garden. Then cover in fresh squeezed coconut cream. Now go to heaven.
We had an excellent beach-comb here. I found a modern polynesian canoe paddle, very high tech! A fish scaler, bait chopping board, a nice oregon plank to mount the coconut grater, a hair brush, a lure like the one Sabine found in Italy and the usual bits of rope and other usefuls. Marcel chatted to a lady about coconut cream technique, she said she had never seen the famous pink sands of Rangiroa, but she had been to the Blue Lagoon. We will see neither as it's a day's travel to one, a day's travel to the next and another back to the pass. So three days just to get there and back. The anchorage would be nasty in the current wind but in truth, we have to get to Fiji. It would sound great to say 'we saw the Pink Sand and the Blue Lagoon' but I have enough joy from the beautiful faces, flowers in hair and laughs and smiles of the people of Rangiroa. And the fish! We were anchored close to some shallow reef and between it and us were massive schools of Unicorn? Fish, slowly milling about with their upper jaw in the air going clack clack clack. Reef sharks cruising amongst them, occasionally trying for a bite and there's a loud white patch as the fish politely make a little more room for the shark. Between us and the bottom were a lot of big blue fish. On the way to the beach huge schools of garfish. I've never been anywhere so fishy.