Arrived in Hanavave (Bay of Virgins) today, one of the best known and most spectacular anchorages in the Marquesas. A tricky anchorage with only a small area of suitable depth, 7 boats already here, and wind bullets roaring down from the surrounding mountains. A great bonus was finding an internet service that I could subscribe to from the boat! Some young guys fron the village came by in their dinghy and traded with James for some of his old fishing lures. In return they went over to the village and came back with pamplemousse (grapefruit) and lemons. We plan to spend a few days here and in the next village to the south before heading off to the Tuamotus.

The Marquesas are not quite the remote, off the beaten path, islands that we were expecting. There are a lot of cruising boats and local French Polynesian yachts here and more coming through every year. There are 2 big rallies - the Puddle Jump, mainly Americans leaving from Mexico - at least 150 boats; and the World Arc rally from Europe - another 100 plus boats. There are not a huge number of anchorages and some of them are quite restricted so there are space issues and we have noticed an certain unfriendly vibe when entering a new anchorage. Luckily we have also found some spots where we can be on our "Pat Malone" enjoying the gorgeous coloured water and the amazing scenery. The photo with this entry is of a beautiful spot on Ua Pou that we had to ourselves for 2 days.

Where did that week go? We have been in the main anchorage at Taiohae for most of the week with just a short trip to Anse Hakatea (Daniel's Bay) for a couple of nights. It's on the SW corner of Nuku Hiva and the scenery there is pretty spectacular with high mountains rising straight up from the anchorage. It is the site of one series of Survivor. We did the popular walk to Vaipo Falls, at 350m, it's the tallest in French Polynesia. It was a pretty walk criss-crossing a small river, and part of the way bordered by a variety of fruit trees (mango, custard apple, breadfruit, banana, pistache, guava, lemon, orange) and tropical flowers. Another highlight at Daniel's Bay was watching a manta ray doing upside down tumble turns right next to the boat. We've been suffering somewhat from the heat and humidity. You know the type of heat that turns your clothing into limp rags and sleeping is more like tossing and turning on a soggy pillow. Rain showers come and go periodically so we have to close all the hatches, then the boat gets stinking hot inside. There are also lots of biting insects, mainly small mosquitoes and no-no's (similar to sandflies). The latter were especially bad at Daniel's Bay and we both have lots of itchy bites now despite liberally applying insect repellant and using mozzie screens on all the hatches. So, I guess HOT and ITCHY just about sums it up! We'll be heading off to Ua Pou tomorrow, continuing our journey through the Marquesas for another couple of weeks before crossing to the Tuamotus.