We awoke under the tall spires of Ua Pou - the most prominent one is known as the Warrior. A man wearing a headlamp paddled by in an outrigger canoe, back from an unsuccessful fishing trip. We had waffles for breakfast, then used a kayak to set the Fortress as a stern anchor to keep the Mabel Rose pointed into the swell (and to prevent her from swinging into the channel to the pier, in case a supply ship came).

We went ashore at around 0900, hoping to find some grocery stores open, at least. We landed in gentle waves on the fine sand beach where the Tukuna Vake School for outrigger canoeing is. Dozens of these sleek canoes were pulled up on the beach, and some children were trying to stay right side up in a few in the water.

Even though Ua Pou is reputed to be the most populous Marquesan island, Hakahau is still just a very small town. We missed the boulangerie cafe - it opened at five and closed at eight. Past the quiet Mairie, the post office, and the bank, there was a small signless store with a pretty good selection of groceries, But we decided to look around town for the other stores that were supposed to be open on Sunday.

We bought some groceries at a slightly larger store, then we found the actual supermarket beyond the pretty church, and loaded up for the week. Still, we couldn't find baguettes or eggs - we missed our chance for baguettes at the boulangerie and eggs at the other two grocery stores.

We passed the gendarmerie on our way back to town. At our first stop, in Atuona, the officer told us we were supposed to register in any port that had a gendarmerie. So I hailed the shirtless man in the back of the parking lot, from the street side of the fence. He came up to the fence, and when I asked if we needed to register because we were on a foreign boat, he said that it was "pas un obligation."

So we went back to the boat and hung out in this pretty harbor, listening to the children laughing and screaming as they jumped from the pier into the water. Until the gendarmes came and blew a whistle, then the kids all left and the laughter stopped. We had a good enough cell signal to have a video call with our own children.

At around four we went back ashore to see if any of the stores had afternoon hours, so we could pick up eggs. We ended up taking a leisurely walk around the town, seeing a few closed storefronts and beautiful gardens. In several places, we could head people singing in Polynesian in backyard gatherings.

No stores were open. Back at the waterfront we watched some young men surfing the outrigger canoes in the break right in town. These long slender canoes are so fast, they do not need a breaking wave to surf - they just angle down the slope of a wave.

As we walked around the crescent beach to where we left our kayaks, the outrigger canoes came back in. We paddled back out as the setting sun lit the high ridges above the town. The mountain spires drifted in and out of the clouds. We will get up early in the morning to get cafe and baguettes at the boulangerie.