Tahuata Island

There was a collective sigh of relief as we departed the very crowded Tahauka harbor with its ragged concreate docks and headed out to sea destined for Hanamoenoa Bay on the island of Tahuata.

Thankfully (still no AP) the passage was only a short 8nm through the Canal de Bordelais separating Tahuata and Hiva-Oa and when we arrived in this picture perfect anchorage there were about 10 other boats enjoying the location but with plenty of room to spare. We found a spot of sand to drop the anchor in the clear the blue waters and immediately relaxed. 

Within minutes we were all in the water enjoying our first swim in 5 days. The visibility in the water was excellent, well over 60 feet so the anchor could be clearly seen.

A clichéd beautiful white sand beach lined with coconut trees was at the head of the bay with gentle waves lapping its shores, tempting us to go ashore and explore. The crew of a Finish boat advised us that there was a hermit living onshore and that under no circumstances should we give him alcohol as he turns a bit mad.

Amber was first to go ashore, swimming the ¼ mile to the beach. I watched closely for the hermit through the binoculars but could only see a wisp of smoke from a small fire that gave away his existence.

Later in the afternoon Katya, Amber and I went ashore again and walked along the beach, the girls collecting shells. As we neared the end of the beach a young man came out of the trees and greeted us. We introduced ourselves and he introduce himself with his Marquesan name, which I cannot pronounce, and his English name, Stephen. We had a conversation which was very easy given his English was excellent. He invited us back to his cooking area where he offered us some fresh vegetables and we promised to bring back some things that he would like. He seemed like a pleasant man with a bit of a wild eye sometimes and was a bit cagey about his past but we felt relaxed and enjoyed listening to his explanation of the area and how he survives. I think a hermit is a bit of an exaggeration since he appears to welcome many cruisers and provide them with fresh vegetables and even prepares authentic Marquesan style meals to many boaters. He also has a mobile phone which he asked us to charge when we went back to the boat. His premises are very basic with a home-made table, day bed and fire on which he cooks his meals. He sleeps under a small shelter, has no electricity, not even a solar light, but does have running fresh water from a reservoir further up the hill although this does run dry for a few months a year and he asks other cruisers to bring him water if possible.

The following day we brought him a selection of foods in exchange for the vegetables that he had given us including a large jar of Nutella as he had requested chocolate. He had not asked for any alcohol so we avoided having to decline a request.

Stephen had prepared a snack made out of an unpronounceable boiled root vegetable and gave us fresh coconuts and showed us how he made the milk from the coconut scrapings. We were all very impressed by his cooking and thought he was a very social fellow but wondered what his life story was that bought him here.

Tim and Lindsey relaxing....perfect definition

In the late afternoon Stephen asked if we could take him out in the dinghy to go spear fishing. I was glad to oblige and we set out just around the headland. Stephen was in the water only about 5 minutes before he came up with a beautiful blue-green parrot fish and later two other species. We took them back to his camp and he prepared the fish, Amber helping him gut and fillet, and cooked them on the open coconut fed fire. The fish were delicious. Tender, succulent and beautifully tasty with the slightly smoky flavor. 

Hanamoenoa bay is certainly a place where you can relax for a few days or even weeks with the swimming, snorkeling, walking on the beach etc, but it was time to head on again.     

Hiva-Oa

         

Unfortunately, it was time to move on – we had to check in to French Polynesia before the customs boat arrived and gives us a ticking off for not following the correct procedure and a $200 fine.

The passage to Hiva-Oa is only 40 miles and our decision to visit Fatu Hiva first paid off with a nice beam reach with 2-4 foot seas at 7 knots to our destination catching a small tuna along the way – sushi tonight.

Oh no! civilization and crowds. We could not believe the number of boats that were packed, stern anchored, into this small harbor, hardly a boat length between each boat and with a reasonable amount of surge coming in from the open sea. We managed to find a spot about 50ft from the harbor wall in 20 feet of water, quickly taking out the stern anchor in the dinghy to set it before we drifted into another boat.

We all looked at each other and sighed, although the surroundings were magnificent this anchorage was far from paradise but it is one of the only places we can check into the country and get Internet to order the new autopilot, do laundry and purchase some more food. We agreed to get this done as quickly as possible and head back to paradise.

The following morning, we met Sandra, the representative from Tahiti Crew, who would be helping us check into the country and obtain our duty free fuel voucher. Sandra drove us to the Gendarmerie where we completed the paperwork for our entry, got our passports stamped and left to have a look around town and see what it had to offer. 

We were pleasantly surprised by the selection of food and by the prices, which were of course higher than Mexico but not as expensive as we had expected, unless you wanted to purchase alcohol which was extortionate - $62 for a small bottle of Gin, around $70 for a bottle of rum and beers at $3 a bottle.

The town had a salon de the where we managed to get some slow internet to check out our options for a replacement autopilot and have a meal off the boat – chicken curry!  Atouna is the town associated with the harbor and is about a 45-minute walk from the docks and can be cut short if you walk across the beach at the head of the bay. Atouna has a few modest grocery stores, a post office and a bank where we withdrew some French Polynesian Francs (approx. 106 FPF = US$1). We purchased more baguettes and some ice cream as a treat and walked back to the boat through the tropical rain.

The high mountains covered with rich green vegetation that surround the harbor ensure that the harbor gets it fair share of rain, sometimes torrential and other times a drizzle but mainly torrential so we enjoyed showering outside as often as possible to save on water as we either have to make our own, which I would not be doing in this crowded anchorage or carry it from the docks in jerry cans, not something I relish.

The harbor facilities are as you would expect in such a remote place, pretty limited. The dock itself, although concreate is not a place you can tie up to with the boat and even with the dinghy it can be hazardous due to the sharp edges and hidden objects below the water that will hold onto your anchor and not let it go. We watched several people each day having to dive for their dinghy anchors and one boat ripped their dinghy on some iron bar sticking out of the dock. The water is a muddy brown from the river run off and with 30 plus boats each emptying their holding tanks into the harbor it is not a place you want to swim never mind the local warnings of aggressive sharks in the area. As you cannot tie up to the dock you have to fill your fuel tanks with jerry cans, not that easy a task in the surge that comes into the harbor. All in all it is not an ideal place to complete your land chores and if I was doing all this again I would consider checking into the country in Nuku-Hiva, but I have not been there yet.

The island is supplied by several ships, one of which, The Aranui 5, came into the harbor while we were there. About 1/3^rd of the sailing boats had to move out of the harbor to let this supply ship come cruise ship enter the harbor. We watched it disgorge its goods and then slip out at 3am with lights engulfing the harbor.

Many of the other cruisers rented cars and took guided tours of the island or horse rides in the mountains but we just wanted to move on to another beautiful anchorage and swim again. Sandra, the local clearing agent was wonderful and drove us into town on a few occasions and helped answer many of our questions.

Having completed all our tasks, parts ordering, laundry (extortionate pricing but still glad to pay) provisioning and purchase of a local SIM card for the phone we departed after four days head for the island of Tahuata.

Arrival in the Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia.

The moment of our arrival had been on our minds ever since our autopilot packed up and we knew that sleepless days and weeks were ahead of us. We had celebrated the sight of land when we were still about 12 hours away from dropping the anchor. Now that we were actually in a bay where the anchor could be dropped it was a great relief but this did not overshadow the sheer magnificence of the anchorage with its towering mountains and volcanic rock formations, lush tropical vegetation and clear ultramarine waters.

 

The anchorage of the Bay of Virgins, and its town Hanavave, on the north eastern shore of Fatu Hiva is not that large, probably capable of holding 15 boats at max but 10 comfortably. We had seen two boats leave as we approached the island and now we slowly moved through the anchorage looking to choose a suitable spot to anchor. Dannielle, a French sailor, kindly provided some advice on the local obstacles and we dropped out hook in 80 feet of water, more than we normally like to anchor in, and settled down to make sure we were secure before relaxing.

Now that we could relax we took in the breathtaking beauty of this place which more than lives up to its reputation as being one of the premier cruising destinations in the world. I had seen many a sailing magazine with pictures of Fatu Hiva tantalizing readers to far flung destinations and now we were here, a dream realized.  We sat in the cockpit and for the first time in nearly a month our muscles relaxed. No longer did we have to act against the rolling motion of the boat. No longer did we have to cling on to a hand hold to move about the boat and tonight we can sleep.

Fatu Hiva is the southernmost island in the Marquesas Islands and although not a port of entry we chose it as our point of landfall because it is remote and we did not want to make landfall in a relatively busy place as we wanted time to unwind and recover from the passage. It also makes sense to come here first as any passage from the northern islands would mean that we would have to sail to windward.

We stayed aboard Sarita for the rest of the day, tidying up and enjoying a stable boat. A large rain shower passed by and we took advantage of the fresh water to wash as much of the salt off the boat from the passage which in places was caked on several mm thick and had started to make the stainless railing oxidize.

We lifted the dinghy from the foredeck, where it is safely stored during long passages, put it into the water and put the small outboard motor on for the short journey to shore. We could not wait to see how our legs would react to land after so long at sea.

 

We tied the dinghy to the substantial concrete wharf and stepped ashore although we felt no effects of being at sea. We walked up the single paved road, past a church, school and small shop where we were greeted by a local man asking us if we wanted some fruit. We had heard that the locals were very friendly and offered visitors fruit and so we took up offer and followed him to his house where his son was carving bone jewelry. WE were given a whole stalk of bananas and a very large bag of pampelmoose, a grapefruit like fruit which is very succulent and not as bitter as a grapefruit. Quite delicious. We thanked the family profusely and said we would be back the following day to give them some suitable gifts.

We walked further up the road looking at the well cared for gardens with bright tropical flowers and were then stopped by a middle aged local man on a bicycle who introduced himself as Jean. He spoke little to no English but we used our poor French to make ourselves understood. Jean kindly gave us a brief tour of some parts of the village and suggested we watch him and others from the village carry out their boxing practice. 

We walked back to the dock, smaller children approaching us for gifts, not in a harassing way but gently. We returned to the boat and came back at 3pm to watch the boxing practice where Amber joined in with the warm up and was then invited to put on the gloves and spar with the French Polynesian Boxing champion. It was wonderful to see them all enjoying themselves but taking it very seriously. 

Earlier Amber and Katya had met a girl called Catherine who wanted them to come and play football with her so we wondered down the street and the girls joined in with the informal game on the dock, kicking a very worn ball along the concrete and up against a large rock wall.

The villagers seem very family orientated and friendly, coming to introduce themselves. One man who had just arrived off a boat counted how many we were and gave us five fresh baguettes which we devoured being the first fresh bread we had had for a month and boy was it good.

The water here is a beautiful shade of blue, crystal clear and quite the perfect temperature: enough to be refreshing but not too warm like the sea of Cortez. We swam about the boat looking at the wonderful scenery.