The Eastern Pacific - Pacific Crossing Notes: A Sailor's Guide to the Coconut Milk Run - page 271

The Spice of Life: Roll Up Your Sleeves
You'd think that a solitary South Seas anchorage filling up with sixty sailors aboard six
charter catamarans would spell bad news for the handful of full-time cruisers already
moored there. Instead, the impending arrival of the fleet heralded one of the highlights of
our Pacific crossing. We were drawn to the atoll of Toau by reports of outstanding diving
and the hospitality of the two sole inhabitants. So we were surprised to find Valentine and
Gaston in a somewhat agitated state as they prepared to host their biggest-ever dinner two
days hence. “I am praying,” Valentine confided, wary of the task ahead.
Word spread quickly among the four cruising boats tucked into the cozy bay. Without hesit-
ation, all rolled up their proverbial sleeves and turned the ramshackle waterfront homestead
into a beehive of activity and bon esprit. The men worked nonstop for the better part of an
afternoon to filet a massive heap of fish brought in from a funnel-shaped trap on the reef.
Black-tipped sharks darted along the nearby shoreline, poaching for offal, as island dogs
perched atop shallow coral heads and barked furiously at the intruders. Meanwhile, we wo-
men kneaded dough, minced garlic, and plaited palm fronds into decorations. A more
gender-neutral task was wringing milk from handfuls of sweet white coconut flesh, an in-
gredient that found its way into every dish on the menu, from bread to poisson cru. A pig
was butchered; lobsters were collected from a pen in the atoll's protected waters; the sun
dropped ever closer toward the deepening colors along the sparkling horizon, and the day
drew to a weary close.