After spending a fabulous day in Fatu Hiva's Hanavave Bay (aka Bay of Virgins) hiking around the town, meeting people but never found the storied waterfalls, we retreated to the boat. After a refreshing swim to check out the condition of the boat's bottom, I was happy to find almost nothing (thanks to Petit Trinidad SR bottom paint) sans for a few small gooseneck barnacles' and a little slime. After a sun shower off the transom, another delicious dinner was prepared especially for us by our CFO Fred. A long day behind us, the crew retired early. Sometime after midnight, captain Gerry felt some rain coming into his bunk and we did a "close all hatches" drill, before returning our cabins. But the rain continued, and by morning the bay was filled with brown water cascading down from the peaks above, with lots of floating debris like coconuts in the water. Since our plan was to hike more today, we decided to move on when the rain refused to stop. So we headed off to Atuona on Hiva Oa, about 45 miles to the North. Although Hiva Oa is considered to be downwind, today is was not due the weather system that brought all the clouds and rain, so we motor-sailed upwind. The good news was this afforded us the opportunity to make 70 gallons of water and top off the batteries in the process. Entering the small, well protected harbor of Tahauku Bay (French spelling) at Atuona, we felt lucky to find a spot between existing boats in a packed harbor in 10 feet of water.

We quickly set our bow anchor, but still needed to set our stern anchor due to the tight quarters when I noticed some folks motor by in their dinghy - and I recognized them from their cruising videos! How funny is that. Travel 3,000 miles and meet someone you've been watching on YouTube. So I hailed them by name, and they gladly took our stern anchor and dropped it for us. I guess that's how it goes in the cruising community; even celebrities help their fellow yachities. Tomorrow were going to check out the grocery markets and get some laundry done.. More later.... Cheers from Huzzah!