It's a Ship. It's a Store!

Empty beer bottles in the backpack? Check. Bags in a separate backpack? Check. Cash in hand? Check. Bathing suits, sunscreen, shoes, sunglasses, bottle of water. Check.

Time to go shopping.

New friends Robert and Maina, in front of whose house we’d anchored, had offered to bring us with them when they went across the lagoon to meet the Mareva Nui, a supply ship that arrives once every 3 or 4 weeks from Tahiti. They’d ordered a few cases of Coke ahead of time, saving a lot of money over both the store price AND the ship price.

*With Robert and Maina on supply ship day*

The ship price?

The supply ship doesn’t only bring items that have been preordered by stores or individuals, but will even set up its own store on the dock, complete with kiosk and receipts (kind of like going to a lumberyard in the States, where you pay ahead of time, then go get your stuff, receipt in hand). We’d heard about this (and seen it without understanding what it was when we were in Hao) but had no idea how to go about it; having a local’s guidance gave us the courage to give it a go. Really, our prime goal was less expensive beer; we knew what the price was in the store and were hoping it would be less budget-busty by buying from the ship. Veggies were likely to be a hit-or-miss proposition, since they get hauled in and out of (maybe) refrigeration at each spot, and are picked over at each stop. “Cheaper from the ship, but better quality from the store,” said Maina. “Sometimes we buy tomatoes from the ship.”

*I love the contrast of the outrigger canoe with the ship . . .*

Takaroa is the 5th stop for the Mareva Nui, which heads first to Rangiroa’s 2 villages, then to Ahe, and then to Manihi. Beer doesn’t suffer from handling and won’t go bad, unlike the vegetables.

One caveat is that you need to buy items in relatively big quantities. A case of beer, a kilo of carrots. No half kilos or single bottles. Between cash flow and storage space, this might present a challenge. There are also limited offerings from the ship as opposed to the store, which probably has its standard order of items frequently needed by local inhabitants.

Promptly at 6:45 am, Robert and Maina’s friend Tukey arrived from town in his open panga-style motorboat to take everyone shopping, and by 7:15 the boat was alongside Calypso. We’d shuttled our stuff - a plastic case of bottles, a backpack of more bottles, a bag of bags - into the dinghy to make the transfer easier; once we’d gotten everything settled we were off for the 2 mile journey across the lagoon. It was a wet ride, with waves and spray flying across the boat.

The dock was a hotbed of activity. Cranes from the Mareva Nui swung palettes filled with barrels of jet fuel, boxes of washing machines, cases of beer. Forklift drivers wearing hard hats moved steel containers and more palettes around the dock like chess pieces; one guy we nicknamed Mario Andretti for his speed and precision. Open flatbed trucks from one of the local stores or the commune itself or the fire department backed up to the edge of the quay, were filled using that forklift and a lot of brute labor, and zipped off. We saw shrink-wrapped parts for the inoperative RO plant, labeled with TEAVAROA (the village here) in black sharpie, sharing bed space with 5-gallon bottles of water (like for office water coolers) and coils of black pipe. A dozen dogs milled around while people greeted each other with smiles and laughter.

In the shade of the mural-painted building a vegetable table had been set up. Boxes of cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, limes. A precarious pile of flats of 20 eggs, each wrapped in plastic film. A couple of people sat on folding chairs behind the piles, but they weren’t selling, just hanging out as part of the social scene. Nearby was a tower of beer cases and a palette with shrink-wrapped soda six packs and individual water bottles.

A small white and blue shed with TMTO MAREVA NUI in red stenciled lettering on the side had been swung into strategic position in sight of the ship, the dock, and the main road. This was the kiosk where, we learned, you went to pay for whatever it was you wanted to buy. Bring cash. We got in line and started the process.

*This kiosk container gets swung off the ship onto the dock*

Note to self: Having a plastic case for beer bottles makes the exchange a simple one. Maina had given us a plastic case complete with empty bottles, and we had enough loose empties to make another case. The guy at the kiosk could not wrap his head around the fact that we wanted to buy 2 cases of beer but only had one case to exchange (apparently the brewery accounts for every plastic case and wants the same number returned). So Jeremy bought one, traded out the full bottles in the “new” plastic box for the empty bottles in the backpack, and got back in line to buy the second case, a plastic case full of empty bottles in hand.

Note to self: Some items are sold by the ship; others are sold in a private deal through the captain. Hard to tell what is what just by looking as everything is displayed on the same table. They’ll tell you at the kiosk. Here? We had to buy limes and eggs direct from the captain.

Note to self: Look hard at the quality of the vegetables before you pay for them. Sometimes, it seems, the captain will let you choose your own, while other times he’s the selector. Hopefully it all works out. If all you see on inspection is mushy cucumbers, though, you won’t get good ones even if you’re the one picking them. I doubt there are any refunds.

Shopping at the ship was an experience we will definitely be looking to repeat. It’s not a one-stop shop (we especially needed onions, which the ship was not offering at least this time around), but the price is certainly worth it. A case of beer at the local store would have been the equivalent of $70; it was $55 from the ship.

*The side of the building when the ship is NOT in port. The kiosk was set up right here.*

We’re also very interested in seeing if the prices, especially for beer, are consistent across ships and ports. Will a case of Hinano sold by the Mareva Nui cost the same in Manihi, for example? If we’re here when the Maris Stella arrives, will they have beer? What will it cost?

Cruising offers the opportunity to learn new things all the time, even ones you had no idea you needed to learn about.