May 2007

Hello everyone,

Hailing our return to Polynesia, a strange cloud covers the steep mountain that occupies the center of Raivavae?s main island, as I review the events of the recent weeks
Last month has ended for me with short trips to two Northern cities: first, as I went to Lille for the shooting of a show for the French TV channel ?Tele Melody?, I chose to make a stop on the way back in the town of Arras to take photographs of the town?s famous ?places? (town squares) and its wonderful belfry, named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. As we were looking for a good viewpoint, we have been invited in the home of a restaurant owner?s family, which welcomed us kindly into their home under the roof. I always marvel at the kindness people often extend to me. And climbing the steep stairway was worth the effort, as the view was breathtaking

Then we went to Brussels to see the show given by French singer Michel Polnareff; a very famous performer in the sixties, he suddenly left France to live in California. It was the first time he performed in Europe for many years and his success has been huge, hundreds of thousands of people have attended his beautiful shows, with great American musicians, extraordinary lighting, and Michel has so many huge hits that every song he sang was one. We were friends for a while at the end of the sixties, but I had almost never seen him since. I went to congratulate him at the end of the show, in the middle of ?show biz? bustle; when he recognized me, he got suddenly excited.. ?Turn around, he told me, face the other way?? Then he called his girlfriend, a beautiful colored girl he has met in California: ?Danyellah, which singer is it I tell you about all the time?? And Danyellah, who had not seen me as I had turned my back, answered: ?Well, Antoine, of course!? Seems that Michel, (whom his fans, who are very active on his website ww.polnaweb.com, call ?l?Amiral? - the Admiral), follows closely my travels, envies the life I have chosen to live, and often talks about it; he had told his musicians about me the same day. Now that the contact is reestablished, I will certainly go see him someday in California (on my way to Tahiti) when he returns there at the end of his triumphant tour in France.

Then this social whirl ended for us, as we boarded again a plane to Tahiti. It was raining hard on Taravao (the island?s wettest spot) and we had to wait for a brief sunny spell to paint Banana Split?s hulls; with the boat back in the water, an excellent weather window opened and we jumped through it to comfortably reach the Austral Islands, and here we are, back in Raivavae, intent in enjoying the last weeks of the Austral autumn before returning to the region of eternal summers, the Tuamotus. We plan to film and photography, and to finish the next two films, dedicated to Patagonia and to New Zealand, due to be published in October, in High Definition.
At the moment I am sending you this massage, Raivavae is suddenly in turmoil, as the village?s power station has burnt to the ground : no power, no cell phones, the President of Polynesia has come on a special flight to bring new generators? For our part, on Banana Split, we derive most of our power from the sun, we have our water reserve, and I send you this message via satellite phone?
I wish you an excellent month of May
Antoine