Hi everyone! I know I’ve promised I would get this site updated for several days. Our Sailmail email is acting up (I’m sure it’s operator problems;>)for me and so I had to wait until I got internet service. Finally we got a good internet service yesterday, but have we’ve been busy;>) doing ‘stuff’. We got to the Isle of Hiva Oa around 9:30 PM (MST) Monday, the 28th of March. But it was really dark and we won't go into an anchorage we don't have a track we'd used before when it's dark. After trolling up and down the Island ALL NIGHT LONG we finally came in about 7:30AM on March 29th. It was a sight for sore eyes, after 17 days out on the open water, to see land!! We’d only seen two other fishing boats (AIS alerts in the middle of the nights)since we’d left Isla Clairion. What a sight to come into! It was lightly raining but the heavy black clouds over the mountain tops were beautiful. The green of the Island was enhanced by the rain and the clouds with the sun peeking out around the clouds made a magnificent welcome for us . Although photos never seem to capture the real beauty of scenery, I think the pictures from the books for this area are really close. I am posting just a few pictures I took now and will post more later as I get some good shots (I hope).
We had a great crossing with only 3-4 days & nights being a little rough. But not a bad ride, and that's coming from someone who tends to get a little seasick! We traveled 2,693 miles from Cabo San Jose’, Mexico to Hiva Oa, FP. Plus, starting March 10, 2011 we left La Paz, Mexico for approximately another 145 miles. Storm Haven behaved beautifully with only a couple of little OOPS (watermaker hose breaking and a few little other things –She’s 20 years old, ya know;>) Nothing serious that couldn’t be fixed was broken. So we love Storm Haven even more for bringing us to this wonderful paradise!!! But, I have to admit, we both were a little relieved to see land and an anchorage after 18 day and nights at sea.
It was raining when we came in and every day since it has lightly rained. Everything is lush and green but not muddy. Guess the area soaks up all the rain it can get for all the different plants that grow here. Plants that have to be babied and nurtured and begged to grow in Wellton, grow as wild plants here. We're having a little trouble language wise. Paulie was suppose to learn French with her trusty French Rosetta Stone. But --- ran outta time;>) Everyone speaks French here and most have at least a small basic knowledge of some English, thank goodness. We've gone to the Town of Atuona, which is about 3 miles from where the anchorage is, every day since we've been here. Most of the time our Representative, Sandra, from the agent the "PuddleJumpers" hired to help us with the paper work and bond, drove out and took us to town. She's been great and we're so glad we joined the PuddleJumpers group and got the benefit of this Agency. It's been well worth it. And, with this agencys' help part of their service is to get us a duty free fuel, which is important on a motor vessel like Storm Haven. Then we just walked back the three miles to Storm Haven. Great exercise and if it wasn't so humid I probably would really enjoy it. The Town is up and around a hill from the anchorage. So the uphill walk is great. But today we decided to walk both ways and it got really hot and a long way back!! Yesterday we went to the local Museum which was really interesting before coming back. Then we went to the Make Make Snack house for a hamburger, fries and a Tahitian beer apiece. It was only $20./a person;.( We probably won’t be eating out too often. Today we walked back into town to the bank to cash some of our US Dollars into Tahititian money. Tuesday we did that with no problem. Today they said they were informed not to take US Dollars any more! Thank goodness we can still use our ATMs for cash. What is happening to our Good ‘ol US Dollar being the world standard monetary value? We’re having to learn the Tahitian Dollar values and it’s not easy! The folks have all been very good with us and we have to pray that they’re all being honest. It’s kind of like being in Mexico and the peso except we pretty much knew how that exchange worked and what it was worth. The Tahitian exchange is (as of today) almost $84. to our $1. So it’s in the hundreds and thousands when you buy anything!!
We plan to leave here Monday or Tuesday and head for Isle Fata Hiva. It’s about 45 miles away and is suppose to be (another) beautiful Island. But it is less inhabited than here and the artist are, we hear through other cruisers, more authentic and original in there wood carvings and art work. We can stay in the French Polynesian Islands for 1 month. And there’s a lot to see and do before we have to leave. Then we will head for the tuamotu Islands. They say that is ‘not to be missed’. We’ll keep you all updated as much as possible.
Thanks for following our blog site and I hope you find it interesting to follow on our trip to Paridise!
Bye for now
Don, Paulie & Bootsie