People at Patokota

Pakokota was a neat spot. There's not much there except the yacht services, where Agnes provides great coffee and delicious dinners (duck and potato gratin), and Matthieu rustles up cold drinks, wifi and help with boat maintenance.
​We were initially only going to stay for one night- Jim treated me to the delights of Agnes' kitchen- but we heard that a group of cruisers were congregating to hold a music night. It seemed worth hanging around for.
Our gut feeling was right.Steve and Stuart brought guitars, violin and saxophone, and local LuLu played the one-string base (the coolest thing you can do with a string and a rubbish bin). The music was great, the crowd was friendly, and I took a chance and pulled out my sketchbook.

Drawing people can be nervewracking, especially when you don't have a cafe table to hide behind. Steve and his wife quickly clocked what I was up to- the crowd wasn't big enough to hide it- but Steve got pretty excited, and everyone was very positive. I was even asked to send them scans of the drawings, and I got chatting to lots of people who were interested. Sketching can be a great ice breaker! There's even a bit of a resemblance between the sketches and the models.
​We enjoyed a couple more days of hospitality before upping the anchor and heading for North Fakarava, and more diving.