Made It!!!
26 March 2015 | Atuona, Hiva Oa, Marquesas
Ange
We arrived into Atuona yesterday morning at 7am local time after 22 days at sea. The first week was very, very rough & extremely uncomfortable. The last two weeks were very slow with little wind - our average speed was 4 knots. We had beautiful days & nights though & we got plenty of rest. Thank you to everyone who tried to follow our progress...bloody Americans wouldn't let us join their radio net, so we couldn't post our position underway.
Hiva Oa is beautiful...very rugged & green and the locals are lovely & friendly. We checked in at the town of Atuona yesterday morning - about 30 minutes walk away. It is a little larger than we anticipated with plenty of small supermarkets, but as we expected things are very expensive. We had a beer at a small cafe - $6.50 each! Phew!!! Just as well we stocked up in Mexico. Yesterday afternoon we spent relaxing on the boat & had a great sleep last night. It's so good to have more than 3 hours sleep at a time!
The anchorage here is really rough so we have a stern anchor out to stop us rolling side to side. We were surprised at the number of boats here...including a few boats that are doing the WORLD ARC. We will keep an eye on the boats following us...they should be here in about 10-14 days. Maybe sooner as the trade winds have picked up & everyone is having a good sail.
We will spend a little time here at Atuona, cleaning the boat & waiting for paperwork to arrive so we can get duty free fuel. There is plenty of fresh water available, so clothes & sheet washing are high on the agenda!