GHOST

Well we finally made it at 5am on the 26th May, the trip from the Galapagos having taken 3 weeks! The island is volcanic with towering cliffs you can see from quite a distance away and Nuku Hiva is the largest of the group of 7 islands. Although it looks idyllic with nice beaches in fact the island is infested with "no see ums" - a relative of the sandflies in New Zealand whose bite is itchy (far worse than the mosquito's) and can leave welts on the skin! So all the Marquesan islands are renowned for their inland features rather than as a beach destination!

The wind pretty much died during the penultimate day of the trip so it was engine on and away we go. At least it gave us a chance to top up the water tanks and give the batteries a really good charge. In fact the sea state was so calm that we were able to do a few loads of washing which was useful. Also with the engine on our boat speed is very predictable which meant that we knew what time we'd get in - good for morale after our long and relatively slow trip, even though we all knew it was worthwhile in order to look after the rigging until we can get it fixed in Tahiti. Luckily the wind picked up again on the final day and we were able to sail right into Taiohae Bay.

My birthday was a relatively quiet affair, celebrated with some chilled sangria as Brad cooked dinner as a treat. More celebrations are planned when we reach landfall, with a few beers somewhere ashore but we may limit it given the reputed beer prices in French Polynesia, apparently US$4 each!

Friday we are hoping to do some diving here as the wall dives are supposed to be amazing and there are supposedly lots of pelagics here (big seagoing fish & sharks) - though we have been teasing Jay that we are done with watching hammerheads after the amazing diving in the Galapagos. We also want to do some walks around the island as there are some great waterfalls to visit, the highest at 350m and it will be GREAT to stretch our legs as we are all feeling a bit cramped up.

The plan is to only spend a few days here touring the island and stocking up again as there is a 500nm passage to the Tuamotos ahead of us (groan) and when we get to these amazing coral atolls the supplies will be very limited. We are all looking forward to some great diving there and Jay is hoping the conditions are good for some more kite surfing practice.