07/23/10
Hi everyone, I know that a lot of time has passed since my last entry into the blog, but here goes.
We're anchored off Bora Bora Yacht Club. Right now it's blowing about 10 knots and has been pretty windy all day with periods of showers (nearly every day).
We have visited 4 of the Marquesas' Islands (Hiva Oa, Fatu Hiva, Tahuata and Nuka Hiva), only one atoll in the Tuamotu's (Rangaroia) and 5 of the Tahitian Islands (Tahiti, Moorea, Huahine, Tahaa, Raiatea and Bora Bora). All of the places were very beautiful (each in their own way).
The Marquesas were not as green as the others, but it was very relieving to finally spot Hiva Oa after 28 days at sea. The anchorage there was very calm and sheltered (and shallow), we used both bow and stern anchors there. See previous blog entry.
Tahuata was very nice on the Northerly coast, but windy on the Westerly coast. Tahuata is very close to Hiva Oa, only about 5 miles away. We went to two different anchorages here. The first was off the West coast of the island. The anchorage was shallow but very windy. We had anchored here the shore, but just below a "major" pass in the island. The wind blew so bad that we thought we would capsize the boat. We stuck out the night and then moved to a spot on the Northerly side of the island. It was a very nice spot with a white sand beach. Judy, Rob & Svein went ashore. There was only one building on the beach. It was a copra-drying shed and hadn't been used for a while. They found some "wild" limes there and Rob also brought back a couple of coconuts. After wandering round for a while, they came back to the boat. I had just napped and read while they were gone. We left the anchorage the next morning for Fatu Hiva.
Fatu Hiva has a very deep (and narrow) anchorage; we anchored in 90 feet of water. The anchorage is in the "Bay of Virgins". It is a spectacular sight as you come into the bay. It is said that this entrance is the most photographed in the islands. We wet ashore and explored the very small settlement here. We spent 2 nights here and left foe Nuka Hiva.
Nuka Hiva (the largest island in the group) was just OK. We spent 4 days here, getting some supplies and using the Internet. We found out that we could buy a card at the Post Office and use the Internet there. We went to 5 bays around this island, each was a "little' different then the other. The first bay we went into was Baie Comptrolier. It was a very long bay and got shallow fairly far out. We took a loooong hike there to some ruins (4 hours round trip). After this trip, I vowed to NOT go to anymore ruins, unless they were very accessible. They were having some sort of holiday (every Monday, it seemed like). They were having a bocce ball tournament, bingo and outrigger canoe races. We sat and watched the bocce ball and recouped our strength. After Baie Comptrolier, we went to Baie D'Anaho. It is around on the Northerly side of the island and is a very quiet anchorage. We spent 2 days here. Svein and Rob snorkeled with the people from Sea Flyer (the boat that almost lost their mast on the crossing from Mexico) while Judy and I went ashore and explored the small (again) settlement there. After this bay, we moved around the corner to Baie D'Hatiheu. There was only one other boat there. The boat's name is "Puppy". We had met the people aboard in La Cruz, before we left Mexico (we have become very close to them since). They came from LA and are both Russian. He is was born in Russia and raised in Germany. She was born in Russia also, but moved to La in the early 90's. Their boat is small, 36' and about 25 years old. They worked on the boat for a year and then left for Mexico. They weren't going to make the crossing into the South Pacific until next ear, but decided to go now. We will be "buddy boating" with them from Bora Bora to Samoa. Anyway, after leaving this anchorage (after a couple of days) we returned to the main bay (Taiohae Bay) before departing for the Tuamoto's. It was a 4-day sail from Nuka Hiva to Rangaroia.