Hiva Oa, Tahuata, Ua Huka, Nuku Hiva and Ua Pou, Marquesas, French Polynesia ( Leg 8, Part 1)

( 1^st to 9th Sept 2022)

What a fabulous first day! (apart from the dinghy outboard pull cord breaking just as Shawn was going to go ashore to pick everyone up!!) John, Sue, Camie, Patrick and Jeanine joined us this morning and once extra shopping had been put away and luggage had been taken down to the cabins we left the harbour for our next destination. We motored through the area where we had found the Manta Rays several days before and although they weren’t where we expected them to be, we did manage to find 3 or 4 and drift with them for a while, watching them, taking pictures and just enjoying them. The downwind sail to Tahuata was done on headsail only, with everyone taking a turn on the helm with some instruction from Shawn to get a feel for the yacht and to get an understanding of the instruments and how to use the auto pilot. We had some good winds for the short crossing which bought with them some fairly big waves so it was a baptism of fire right from the get go, but we all arrived intact and with no breakfasts lost

This was one of the bays we had already checked out last month and decided it was a great spot for a BBQ, so we all went ashore and set up camp for the afternoon and we had a superb time drinking rum punch, finding and drinking fresh coconut water, making fire, eating, relaxing, getting to know each other and playing a short game of boules/patonque/bocce ( Andy, Jane, Mike and Moira…..you were missed! Lol)

That night was very rainy..the most rain we’ve had since we arrived in French Polynesia, and it continued on and off all morning so we had a very relaxed morning sitting around drinking tea/coffee and chatting like old friends. The weather had dried up and the sun was shining again by the time we finished lunch so we moved around to Baie Hanamoenoa where some went snorkelling along the coast line to the beach whilst others went straight to the beach on the dinghy.

After dinner, we set off at 20.30 for our crews first night sail. Everyone was allocated a shift on an overlapping rota, so there was always 2 crew on. They all did very well keeping watch and following the course and we arrived in Baie Vaipee , Ua Huka at around 09.15. It’s not the prettiest of bays – the water is brown as the entrance is very narrow and choppy which churns up the bottom, but it is dramatic with giant red cliffs either side. We weren’t sure what we were going to find when we went ashore (Sue stayed on board), but knew there was an Arboretum somewhere near the village. The people here were very friendly and welcoming and the grounds of their homes were very well looked after. We decided to walk to the Arboretum (Jeanine stayed in the village) having been told it was around 3km away and after some time, a vehicle stopped and the very cheerful lady driver asked where we were going. When we told her she offered us a lift, so John, Camie and Ally rode in the cab whilst Partick and Shawn sat in the back of the open truck. The drive went on and on as we chatted to the lady and we were all silently wondering how on earth we were all going to get back to the village! Eventually she pulled over and we all got out, thanking her for her kindness. The Arboretum is unmanned, although the trees are obviously tended to every now and then, but the grounds are a little untidy with no labelling to tell visitors what the trees are. There are hundreds of different tree species here that are used to replant areas that get destroyed by goats and horses and it soon became very evident that many of them were fruit trees. Suddenly, we were all like kids in a sweet shop, picking mangoes, limes, grapefruit and lemons. Shawn had read in a couple of blogs that you could pick your own fruit and so we had come prepared with bags which we filled so much that they were very heavy and we had to decant some into backpacks to lighten the load. Once we were done, we started walking back towards the village hoping to catch a ride back, but passing vehicles were very few and far between and noone stopped this time. We took it easy and chatted as we went, all delighted with our haul! We met up with Jeanine and had a quick rest and drink, before walking on to the harbour, but not before Camie had stripped off to cool down in the river!

The following morning (4^th Sept), we sailed to Nuku Hiva, arriving in Taiahoe Bay at around 15.30. It was a beautiful sail with perfect conditions – sunshine, calmer seas and fair winds. We caught a fair sized Yellow Fin Tuna which Camie managed to reel in and she’s very certain she saw a hammerhead shark in the water as Shawn was filleting it. On the 5^th, we all went ashore where we bought fresh veggies at the market, visited the artesan centre and walked along to the Cathedral, which was in a very pretty setting. Shawn and Ally along with John, returned to Imagination with the provisions and the head sail we’d picked up having left it here for repair on our last visit, while everyone else walked up to the giant Tiki and gardens or used the wifi at the cafe on the quayside.

We all got up early on the morning of the 6^th to motor sail along the coast to Hakatea Bay taking in the gorgeous scenery as we went. This bay is stunning and has a river flowing out into it. We were all excited to go ashore to take a hike up to Vaipo Waterfall ( John stayed onboard). The dinghy ride ashore, however, turned out to be an adventure all of it’s own. There was a fairly large swell onto the beach, washing around and over a shallow area at the mouth of the river which is where we wanted to go, to leave the dinghy in deeper, calmer conditions. We tried to decide the best approach when Shawn decided to make a run for it during a lull in the waves and as we got in closer to shore, a big wave broke and washed over the back of the dinghy and then one caught the side, almost tipping us over. Ally and Camie jumped out to try and help manoever the boat into calmer water and then into the river mouth which thankfully helped. We tied onto a tree and climbed ashore where we put our walking boots/trainers on. Ally’s hiking attire was wet through (the water got much deeper as we went from the sea to the river) and Camie decided to stay in her bikini rather than put dry clothes over it. She ended up doing the whole hike like that…hilarious! We paid a fee to a very welcoming lady in the very pretty palm tree fringed village just off the beach and we set off, following a route that Camie had managed to download from the internet. We were all totally blown away by the sheer beauty of this place…lush and green with breathtakingly massive vertical mountain peaks. The route took us through many different terrains, dry dirt tracks, swampy, muddy areas, rocky paths, beautiful green foliage “tunnels”, across rivers using bolders or fallen trees as bridges and sticks as balancing aids and through ancient royal stone ruins of “pae pae” and “tohua” ( raised meeting points and festival sites) – the one thing they all had in common was the stunning scenery. Vaipo is the highest waterfall in French Polynesia at 350 metres high and before we got to it we could see it in the distance falling from the top of one of the vertical cliffs. It looked very much like a scene from Jurassic Park! After 2.5 hours, we arrived at the bottom of the falls and, although it was a pretty area, we were a little disappointed that we could only see a tiny portion of the falls themselves as they were mostly hidden behind the rocks. Camie and Patrick explored a little further and they and Shawn swam in the water which was “refreshing”!We had taken lunch with us so once we had eaten we started to make our way back to the village which took just 1.5 hours. After a short spell of beach combing, we now had to get the dinghy back out and over the waves – we were all prepared this time, mostly. We pushed the boat out and over some of the waves before some jumped in whilst others pushed out a little further before getting in. There was a lull in the waves, Shawn jumped in and got the engine started and then, there was a giant wave heading straight for us. Camie and Patrick threw themselves forward onto the nose and the rest of us ducked as the wave hit us and completely swamped us. I wish one of us had had a camera out at that point because we were a sight to behold….all completely drenched from head to toe, all in absolute fits of hysterics! We made it back to Imagination where John was waiting for us having watched the whole debarkle! We’d been back on board for about 10 minutes before we spotted Manta Rays swimming by. Camie was the first one in the water, followed by Shawn and then Jeanine and they spent 15 – 20 minutes in the company of these peaceful creatures – the perfect end to the perfect day!

The 7^th September saw us sail to Ua Pou. The sail was wet, wild and fast as we had up to 30 kt gusts helping us along with maximum gusts of 48kts as we got closer to the island and the winds were compressed by the land mass. We reached Baie Vaiehu and put the anchor down but the valley was compressing the wind creating gusts of 45+kts which was noisy and a little unsettling so Shawn decided we should move along the coast to try and find somewhere more protected. We battled against the strong winds on our nose and the sea spray blown from the surface of the waves, travelling at just 1.8 kts at times as we edged our way along the coast. We entered a bay to check it out, but space between rocks was a tight and we couldn’t make out what the bottom consisted of, so we went back in the direction we had come from…which was much faster with the wind behind us! We pulled in to a bay ( Hakaotu) just next to where we had started out which thankfully did offer more shelter from the wind. It wasn’t pretty, but it was a whole lot more comfortable. As the evening and then the night passed, the winds dropped and everything was much more comfortable and peaceful. The following day was spent on anchor with everyone relaxing on board and some going snorkelling after lunch. Shawn spent time late morning and into the afternoon trying to troubleshoot issues with our cockpit cooler with Ally assisting as and when necessary and she also made repairs to one of the canopies that had been damaged with the high winds. As we finished dinner that evening, locals living on the beach blew a conch. We also have a conch, so we blew back. I think we surprised the natives as they blew again and we responded again, leading to several minutes of communicating using different rhythms and length of blows. We all felt we’d made a connection even without seeing the island dwellers. On the 9^th, we thought we’d move along the coast to a village where we could go ashore and explore a little and as the anchor came up, we heard the conch being blown from the shore line again, so we blew back …what a fab farewell! The bay we wanted to visit was unsuitable so we had to anchor in another small, uninhabited bay ( Hikeu) which gave us all a chance to relax ahead of our 3 night crossing down to the Tuamotus islands.

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