Well here we are on
the move again. 540 miles ish from Nuku Hiva to the Tuamoto island of
Fakarava.
The Marquesas were fabulous, all very mountainous,
old volcanos to be precise. WE had a scary drive on Hiva Oa, so slipperry and
next to a precipice that for safety sake I turned around, not my normal gung ho
driving style.
The bay of Virges in Fatu Hiva was magnificent as
was the walk to the waterfall, hard going but worth it.
Then a rendevous on the island of Tahuatu, where
the local danced, sang and made music, well rehearsed but fantastic. We heard
that you could swim with Manta Rays, and indeed some of the boats were in the
right bay when they appeared, we werent. oh well.
Then onto Nuku Hiva where the anchorages were
reputed to be spectacular and there was a bay full of hundreds of small
whales, bit like bigger Dolphins. We werent disappointed. On arriving at 0600
local time we were welcomed by about 20 of the whales. Harbour was great with a
good if slightly roly anchorage, being easter though the few restaurants were
mostly shut. We then went to another bay, locally known as Daniels Bay, after
the guy who used to live there. It is under some cliffs over 3000 metres high,
quite amazing and when we anchored we had approx 8 to 10 manta rays swimming
around the boat, amazing to see, they feed like basking sharks, ie plankton with
a wide mouth for filtering the plankton out of the water. Gentle creatures but
apparently they can collectively drown a shark.
We said good bye to Anna, and Dain. Anna joined us
in the Galapagos and hasnt had too much sailing experience, but loved the 3000
mile sail from Galapagos to Marquesas. Dain has been on the boat since St Lucia,
so three months, bet he will find it lots cooler in England.
Now onto the Tuamotos, you will no doubt never have
heard of them, ditto Marquesas. They are very old atolls, apprantly the old
volcanoes, like the Marquesas, in several million years sink into the ocean, but
the coral that has grown around them stays, creating a lagoon. Its pretty
exciting going into the passes, which are very shallow and strewn with coral,
we hope to get into Fakarava safely in the daylight on Friday, thats the
plan.
Joihn