The wind whistles down the hills into the anchorage. Looking at the topology as we approached the anchorage it is easy to see why. We anchored in sand in the Bay of Virgins, Fatu Hiva although the sea bed is mainly rock. The surrounding vista is stunning. Everything is very green with palm trees lining the pebble shore and sloping down to the edge of the rock and the sea.
The volcanic island is softened by the green blanket of vegetation. On the shore there are a few buildings and a football pitch which was in use when we arrived here yesterday. Looking ahead and upwards to the summit, through the gap in the huge rock formation ahead, one can see the serpentine, jagged edges at the top. Goats wander along the sloping, grass covered surface of the cliff. These islands have a lot of wild animals, the result of the abandonment of plantations following droughts. Sheep, pigs, horses, donkeys and cattle are feral.
Two nights running there has been torrential rain and we have had to empty the rib before we can lower it from its davits. With the noise from the rain, the gusting wind and the swinging boat, we did not have a good night. The incredulously beautiful scenery more than compensates.
The small finger, that Dick trapped between the outboard and the wheels on the rib, way back at the beginning of February while at Isla Canas in Las Perlas, finally lost its nail.
A local man approached our boat and offered us fruit, taking from a bag two huge grapefruit for which he asked for sweets in return. The grapefruit were so sweet they could have been taken from a tin, had we not known otherwise. He also offered us some frozen fish for which he took a carton of orange juice. We offered him all sorts of items before we made a deal. The fish was frozen so he had most likely acquired it from the community store. It weighed over 2Kgs when defrosted and provided us with two good meals.
Around 17.30 that evening, just as Moe and Bev were preparing to go ashore for a meal, a motor boat arrived and wished to tie up to their mooring buoy. Unfortunately being quite close to the buoy we had no alternative but to move.
The sea bottom in this bay is mainly rock with small pockets of sand. We couldn't find the sandy patches and tried unsuccessfully to set the anchor while the light was failing rapidly. Eventually, on the fifth attempt the anchor was set and the boat made secure. Moe and Bev climbed into Brown Eyed Girl's dingy and went ashore. It was now almost 7pm and quite dark. Although I had satisfied myself that the boat was safely anchored, I still slept fitfully. Rising at 5.30 to prepare the boat ready to leave the bay at 6am I noticed that the motor boat had already left its mooring. The wind had continued to gust though out the night though not as fiercely as the previous night when the spray was being driven horizontally across the bay.
Leaving the anchorage we raised the mainsail and a gust of wind caught the sail and wedged a batten between the lazy jacks. The only way we could release it from this trap was by dropping the side of the sailbag and physically adjusting the lazy jack.
We sailed to Paumau on the north side of Hiva Oa on a beam reach which was very lumpy and uncomfortable, taking nine hours to cover 52nautical miles, anchoring in the bay which was quite exposed to the swell and using a drogue anchor to hold us into the swell rather than the wind. The boat ride ashore next morning through the swell to the dockside and a twenty minute walk along the road took us to a site where five of the best tikis in this archipelago are located. On the way back to the beach we bought some apples from a small shop, the only fresh produce available. Spotting a local man we asked where we could buy grapefruit. He disappearing for a few minutes returning with a sack of 11 grapefruit, a bag of lemons, two mangos, nine avocados and a pineapple but would accept nothing for them, not even money. He gave us a lift back to the dockside in his 4-wheel drive vehicle.
After lunch we left Paumau which was not at all suitable for swimming and sailed to Hanaiapa Bay just eleven miles along the coast. The scenery once again is stunning. The steep slopes from the waters edge are green and dotted with goats. Ahead there is a beach and a couple of buildings without walls, adjacent to a football pitch with goalposts. Above along the rugged, serpentine summit ahead, tall trees which look like pines, soften the ridges. Palm trees, as in most of the other bays, grow behind the beach and also from the edge of the sea up the hillside. Depending on the
height of the hills, the palm trees may grow to the top or perhaps just a third of the ascent.
We left this anchorage after supper and made passage to Vaipaee Bay on Ua Huka. There is very little wind so we motor at about 5knots. The approach unlike the other islands we have seen is naked volcanic rock without the usual clothing of grass, trees, shrubs and maquis. Great plateaus confront us. We anchor in the bay at 7am. Around 9.30 we take the rib ashore and walk to the village, past the pretty church and on to the museum. We stop at a shop and buy some green vegetable which we hope is similar to spinach. On the way back, a local man offers us sweet grapefruit and tells us that there is to be at wedding today at 4pm and afterwards a great reception in the vicinity of the football pitch near the beach. All the folk in this valley are related. We pass huge, elevated, shallow structures where the copra is being dried. A pitched corrugated roof has been pushed back to allow the sun to access the coconuts.
We move on a couple of miles to Haavei bay which has a sandy beach bordered with coconut palms. Another WARC boat arrives minutes before us. The water is warm and very blue. Nearby a large flat rock is the breeding ground for sooty terns. Surprisingly it isn't covered with guano.
Next morning we set sail just before 8am for Baie de Controleur, on Nuku Hiva, a distance of only 29 nautical miles, There was some naked rock at the entrance to the bay but mainly it was covered with maquis. Close to the end of the long bay, the vegetation became similar to other bays on other islands with what appeared to be large plantations of coconut palms. Taking the rib ashore, we managed to find potatoes.
I hoisted Dick up the mast in the morning and he checked that all the screws were OK. A small motor boat approached at quite a rate and we waved our arms in an attempt to get the driver to slow down. As soon as they realized that we had a man up the mast they reduced speed dramatically and did not increase it again until they were almost out of the bay.
Motor sailing to Taiohae, just six miles away, a couple of dozen small dolphins passed us by, obviously on a mission. Moments later, a half dozen frolicked around the hulls.