Both of us are still sick and Pearl had a rough night with sore throat and slight fever. Nonetheless, we've been working on a new strategy to break the bureaucratic log jam.
Yesterday Pearl worked with the doctor here in Nuku Hiva on a letter that contains the doctor's recommendation that given my recent life-threatening illness, we not sail more than 4 days from a hospital during the next 2 months. We sent it, along with an email explaining our situation, to the high commissioner of immigration in Tahiti. We also sent attachments of everything we could think of. 9 attachments total.
After having spent almost 5 hours getting the email out, we headed back to the boat yesterday evening feeling that we'd done a good thing. This afternoon when we arrived at the Snack and opened email, we discovered that even though the email had said "sent", it didn't go through. Too many attachments.
So, we just went through the whole thing again, this time sending 10 different emails. We'll see what happens. Our hope is that we'll get the extension, though it's probably unlikely. If we do, it eases the pressure to leave here next week. That would be good, since Pearl is very reluctant to leave before we know more about how I respond after the current antibiotics, which I'll be finishing tomorrow.
If we don't hear back by Monday, we'll check out of the country, since our deadline is Wednesday. If we do that, but stay here awhile longer, it could get dicey if the gendarmes see us around town.
Meanwhile, we're evaluating all options. Those include ending the sailing trip somewhere here in French Polynesia. Ending here in Nuku Hiva is probably not viable because disposing of the boat would be very difficult to impossible. We likely could find a buyer in Tahiti or Raiatea if we had some time, but that would require getting the 2 month extension.
We also haven't by any means given up on continuing to sail west after French Polynesia, but feel it's necessary to be looking at all options.
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| Chuck and Karen. Chuck is the retired ER doc who checked David out. |
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| David and Hella from Scotland. David is another doctor who puzzled over David's recent illness. |
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| Two boat kids, one Polish and the other Dutch, make fast friends. |
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ReplyDeleteWe're off to go sailing with D&E and likely will be out of touch for awhile. Best of luck dealing with the bureaucracy. I hope to learn that you are both in good health and happily sailing along. J
ReplyDeleteOh dear, oh dear, oh dear! The uncertainty and worry swirling around health and immigration issues must be terribly hard for you both. I hope things smooth out soon. I'm thinking of you both.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait for and at the same time I dread the next episode of "The Perils of Pearline"! It'll sound twisted (moi??) that it's something of a relief to hear that BOTH of you are sick, I mean, likely evidence that David's present bout has to do with an island-wide germ and not something a lot more sinister.
ReplyDeletethis puts into perspective my fretting over a calf with intermittent bloat--boy howdy (would that be, "tamari'i 'iorana" in Tahitian?) you should have such problems!
Woody
Great that you met with David and Hella, we met them also but in Galapagos and again in Hiva Oa, wonderful people. Hope you are both on the road to recovery and that the extension is soon granted. Look forward to update. All good things Lesley (SV Suliere)
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