Tahuata Island
15 April 2024 | Tahuata Island, Hanatefau Bay
Kirk Groehnert | Mostly sunny, occasional shower

Tahuata Island is just a short distance southwest of Hiva Oa. We decided to get out of Hiva Oa three days ago and do a 3 hour sail down to Tahuata Island.
Hiva Oa was like a parking lot at a California Costco with people cruising in and out to see where they could squeeze in. It was a little stressful for us when you know there are boats that if they were to swing the wrong way on the anchor, we would hit each other.
The cruise down here was perfect with good wind and no need to adjust the sails too much. We pulled into this beautiful and peaceful anchorage with clear water, snorkeling and a very small village nearby.
We never get tired of snorkeling or swimming the 85 degree water. It's perfect when you start feeling hot - just jump off the back of your boat. The water visibility is at least 50 ft and the variety of fish are amazing. We even have a resident pod of Spinner Dolphins here. I swam over to them today and saw them. They took a little look at me from a distance and decided that was enough.
This anchorage is also a good place to clean the 3700 miles worth of algae and things off of the hull. It's actually pretty hard work to scrub some of the stuff off but at least we are in the water.
Then there was the dingy. The dingy was not holding air, yet again. It's a constant struggle on a vital piece of equipment. I had just about enough of trying different glues and seams continuing to coming apart. The problem is that the sun beats up everything and the dingy is no exception. I was feeling like we just need a new dingy but fortunately, Crystal took charge and fixed it. We spent a day pulling apart the seams were glue had deteriorated and re-gluing them. It was a success! For now, the dingy lives on.
We took a little excursion on our dingy and went to the small village here in the bay. There isn't much there except a few buildings, a small dock, a church, and community center. Every tree here seems to grow a fruit. We picked some mangoes and a Pomelo. These little villages are not like most in Mexico or El Salvador. You can tell the people take care of their village because there is absolutely no garbage anywhere and it is landscaped nicely.