Ua Pou west coast and Tahuata

19th - 24th October 2017

Leaving the main harbour of Hakahau we turned west with a lively easterly breeze pushing us along. Having spent ten days in the one place it was time for a change of scenery. We’d heard good reports of two bays on the western side of the island from  fellow  French cruiser Allen, who spends weekdays anchored in the main harbour while his wife teaches Spanish at the school. But come the end of class on Friday afternoons they head over to the west side for some R&R.

   

It was only five miles until we rounded the north-western headland and sauntered down to Hakahetau Bay for the evening. The bay looked lovely and there was a hike to a waterfall that we’d earmarked for the following morning

Alas, we never make it ashore as a westerly swell rolled into the bay making for a decidedly uncomfortable anchorage and getting ashore was just not possible.

So come mid-morning we pulled up the hook and cruised another six miles further down the coast. We motored into Baie de Vaiehu which is snuggled under the lee of  Cape Punahu and figured it would be pretty protected from the elements. The sea floor gradually came dowm to a respectable fifty feet below us but bullets of wind were hooting down the mountain sides, so that earned it a black mark and off we went again.

There was one more anchorage on the list and once we turned into the bay it was as calm as a cucumber. No wind and no swell. Being the only boat  there we took up  the premium position in the dead centre of the bay. This would be home for the next few days while Liam got on and finished the fiberglass repair to the underside of the bridgedeck.  In case you are behind on your reading see the previous post as to why he has taken up this novel pass time.

Baie Hakaotu was a lovely anchorage with a small rustic home on the foreshore set back behind a few straggly banana trees. A pair of colourful outriggers graced the pebbled beach sitting high above the waterline. We  were convinced  that the place was abandoned  until the following day when two middle aged women rowed past and waved.

They spent hour after hour out in the bay fishing while the unrelenting tropical sun blasted down on them. So I sent my trusty runner out with a bag of  choc- chip cookies, peanuts and a couple of cans of icy cold sodas. In their broken english it was apparent that they much appreciated the gesture.

Time to get down and dirty.

GWTW’s in house Mr- Fix-It spent hours cogitating  about the work that lay ahead of him. He would only get one chance to do it right as the marriage of fiberglass and resin make a formidable team that once joined would not want to part company any time soon. At least that’s what we hoped.

The repair was not going to be easy in anyone’s books. Liam would be emulating Michel Angelo painting the sistein chapel but trading lying flat on scaffolding for lying flat in a constantly moving dingy. The result would probably not look like a piece of art but so long as it stayed up where it belonged we’d be very happy campers.

And so without further a do the fashionista donned his black and white attire and armed with the tools of his trade, set to work.

First up was a little bit of grinding. It was every boatwife’s nightmare watching all that nasty itch inducing powdery fiberglass dust float through the air coating anything and everything that dared get in its path.  But hey, who are we to complain in the name of progress.

As for his nibs, well he had a challange on his hands alright. It’s pretty tricky knowing at what point to stop grinding. He sure as hell didn’t want to get carried away and go right through to the other side and into the anchor well. He would’ve most definitely been crying in his beer if that’d happened and pounds to peanuts there would have been a fair amount of cussing thrown in for good measure.

Once the business of grinding was successfully over the next phase was a bit of a race against the clock. After the dinghy was unlashed from its position under the trampolines, brought back to GWTW’s rear end and temporarily tied up, my boy bounded up  the transom stairs and into the cockpit. Within minutes the scene out there had taken on the look of the TV series “Breaking Bad”.  Our normally pristine cockpit  now closely resembled a backyard meth lab. Jars, tins and all manner of toxic smelling liquids were spread over the outdoor table.

My kitchen scales had been seconded and instead of weighing meats and poultry they were now laden with pieces of biaxial matting stacked up to get the “gram to resin ratio” mix just right. Plastic measuring jugs, paintbrushes and rollers added to the sinister looking assortment of wares.  Mixing up the resin and getting back up to GWTW’s underbelly to plaster down the matting before the hardener  started to go off was no mean feat, but in his perfectionist style Liam did it with aplomb.

Now it was a waiting game for a day to see if the repair cured satisfactorily. Mind you the true baptism of fire would come when we headed out to Tahuata in 48 hrs time. Sixty five miles of ploughing east into medium sized waves for just over twelve hours would show which way the cards  would fall..

During the passage across we were like cats on a hot tin roof flinching at every loud noise we heard, praying that the repair job was holding its own. Thankfully the end result was good. There appeared to be no further signs of damage which as you can well imagine was a great to relief to both of us.

We stayed on the island on Tahuata for a couple more days, once again enjoying the beauty and tranquility of Hanamoenoa Bay. We also had the opportunity of catching up with new friends and  fellow  SSB  radio Poly-Mag netters, Mike and Shelly from “Avatar”. We’d spoken at length over the airwaves  of late and at last we got to meet them  before  our wakes parted and we headed further south to Hapatoni Bay and it’s tiny village of friendly people.

   

   

Our time in this majestically beautiful island chain was rapidly coming to an end but we were saving the best for last.

The most talked about and photographed bay in the Marquesas was next on out list.

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Chill ’n in the Marquesas. Hanamoenoa Bay,Tahuata

4th – 8th August 2017

I totally omitted to mention in the last post that as we approached the Marquesas after 18 days at sea the sight of lush green hillsides and the smell in the air was nothing short of sensory overload. The beautiful aroma of jasmine and frangipani was so heady that it just took our breath away.

No sooner than we’d dug the anchor in and downed a glass or two of bubbly we had a visit from one of the other boats anchored in the bay. Including us there were now four boats two of which were the Norwegians Sansipapp and Kairos both of which have kids on board.  We’d been in contact with them all the way across from the Galapagos  and at last we’d got to do a face to face.

They had kindly rocked on over to invite us to a “movie night by dinghy” on the beach. As dog tired as we were we accepted the invite gladly. It would be nice to have some company other than ourselves for a change.

    

In our experience kid boats are always very well organised and these guys were no different. They’d printed out colour flyers to hand out to each boat with the movie title, start time and what to bring, meaning bug spray, a snack to share and whatever you heart desired to drink. It all sounded good and after a few hours siesta we hopped into the dinghy and headed ashore.

By the time we arrived the big movie screen was already set up. Twinkling candles led the way up the sand  to the “dress circle” seating area which of course was the designated area that the dinghies had to be dragged to. We opted for more comfortable  and stable seats rather than the tubes of our trusty stead and brought in our deck chairs to sit on. Hanging between a couple of palm trees, the movie screen was anchored down with ropes. Below it sat a  mall projector connected to a hard drive with a UE boom speaker  blue-toothed to it providing the sound.

The chosen movie was Ice Age 5 which of course is child and adult friendly and it was one from the series that we hadn’t seen. before.  It was  a fun night in a family environment watching the movie and catching up with  the other cruisers and their kids, to share the  highs and lows of our collective passage experiences .

Hanging out on such a perfect beach under the stars with the gentle sounds of waves lapping at the sands, we couldn’t think of a better way to spend our first night  at anchor in the South Pacific.

    

Over the next four days we spent more hours asleep than awake. We felt like we’d been hit by a truck and jet lagged to the max at the same time. Waking up at all hours of the day and night our internal clocks were totally screwed.

We also had the sad task of burying our dear little gecko Gaz, who passed away two days before we arrived. Eighteen days without an ample supply of bugs was just too much for the little guy.

    

We found a suitable plot under a shady palm tree and laid him to rest, his small grave marked with a toothpick cross and a coconut.  He’ll  forever more enjoy endless sunsets and a beautiful outlook over the bay. Not a bad spot for a seafaring gecko to end up.

The following Tuesday we decided it was time to mooch 10 miles north to the island of Hiva Oa and complete our check-in formalities with the local Gendarmerie. We also needed to visit the doctor as Liam’s eye, which took a hit from a rope on day six during our passage, was not improving at all.

Hiva Oa: Atuona, Tahauku Bay

The reports we’d read and heard from other cruisers re the harbour and it’s prevailing swell were not overly complimentary. The harbor is small and shallow at it’s head so most of the monohulls deploy stern anchors to keep their bow aligned into the swell which makes for a more comfortable life. But for the rest of us who are not set up with a stern anchor configuration the down side is that there’s not much swing room available behind the protective breakwall until someone vacates their spot.

So after anchoring just outside the harbour we contacted our arrival agent Sandra from Hiva Oa Yacht services. She told us that the lunch break on the island was from 1130am to 1430pm so we would not be able to check-in until after that time. Having explained about Liam’s eye she  then said that we should go directly to the doctor and, in true french form, worry about the formalities tomorrow. So that’s exactly what we did.

Our visit to the only doctor on the island,was surprisingly quick given we had no appointment ,and very affordable at just 3,600 CPF or $36 USD. He prescribed different antibiotic drops from what we’d been using as well as some cream and explained that if things did not improve within 5 days to come back as there may be the possibility of having to see a specialist in Tahiti. So off we trotted, drugs in hand hoping that this would put an end to the woes of Liam’s accident. Time will tell.

So for now we’ll hang here in Hiva Oa for a bit and catch up on reconnecting to the outside world.

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