Day 85: Hiva Oa to Tahuata, Marquesas – 31/03/10

We are up quite early as there is a water tank to be filled and a bit of tidying to be done.  Paul from WCC is joining us for a few days as he has some time off and wants to explore some of the islands.  He calls us from the quay and Mike goes to pick him up, armed with all the water bottles and jerry cans so that we can immediately put him to work filling them.

When they return, Paul empties all the containers into the tank which actually fills it and they return to the quay once more to refill them so that we have spare water to empty into the tank as we use it.  Once all that is stored away into one of the spare cabins, Paul and I set about scrubbing the cockpit using the salt water pump – I cannot believe how filthy it is, but Paul is an excellent and strong scrubber and makes quick work of it.  In the meantime, Mike has been on the computer and has heard some good news from the manufacturer of the pump.  They think it is just some seals which have gone and these are available as spares.  We now need to get them send to someone either in the US or UK who is coming out in the near future.

We set off around noon, heading for the nearby island of Tahuata, literally 10 miles away.  Mike normally doesn’t bother getting the sails out for such a short distance but the wind is quite strong and he fancies a proper sail, so we give Paul a quick lesson on which bit of rope does what and up they go.  It’s a brisk sail over and with winds of up to 30 knots which allows us to sail at 8.5 knots and arrive in just over an hour.

Photos:  A lovely new anchorage

The anchorage is beautiful with crystal clear water and a strong breeze, unlike the anchorage we were in at Hiva Oa.  There are twelve WARC boats including us anchored here, almost half the fleet.  I cook us some lunch, having an argument with the pressure cooker in the process.  The little pressure knob refuses to pop up and lock into position, thus creating the correct pressure to cook, until Mike, in his usual ‘Mr Fixit’ manner, taps it with an empty beer bottle and up it pops.  It about 3.30 by the time we eat!

Some of the crew from Ronja arrive to tell us that they are trying to get everybody together for a beach party in the evening, so we decide to have an afternoon nap (any excuse) beforehand.

While we are napping, Paul goes into the water and starts scrubbing one of the hulls.  I wake up just before 6 pm needing a cup of tea.  Mike shows no sign of moving so I get up and put the kettle on.  The sun just disappears over the horizon and I miss the famous green flash which for once is not hidden by clouds.  As we lunched so late, I just fry some plantains for Mike and Paul to eat with honey and I have a banana.

Mike is concerned about beaching the dinghy at night as the lifting mechanism on the outboard regularly plays up, which is not so dangerous during the day, but a bit dangerous at night – we can’t afford to be without a dinghy, so we decide not to go to the beach after all.  This suits me as I am a bit of a wimp as far as beaches at night as that’s when all the nasty bitey things come and get you, or get me at least.

However, when John and Graham arrive in their dinghy to pick Paul up, they tell me that there were no bitey things last night (so that’s my concern dealt with) and that they will give us a lift in their dinghy (so that’s Mike’s concern dealt with).  We get changed, grab a bottle of wine and hop in with them.

The moon is just coming up when we arrive, and a large wave helpfully pushes the dinghy up the beach a bit.  We walk along the pristine white sand and I suddenly scream and jump into the air as I see what I think are rats running down the beach to the water.  They actually turn out to be very large crabs, scuttling out of their holes and running across the sand.  Coming in the opposite direction are huge hermit crabs, as large as my fist, and desperately looking like they need to find bigger shells to live in.  Mike picks one up and he throws out all his legs in order to try and grab Mike’s fingers but he is put back on the sand before he is successful.

Photo:  Huge hermit crabs lumbering up the beach

We reach the roaring fire, and to be fair, there are no bitey things, possibly because the fire is keeping them away.  There are about 18 of us round the fire, and the lads keep it going constantly by bringing dead palm branches over. 

Photo:  Keeping the campfire going

Sitting on pieces of driftwood, we sing to accompany Patrick from Ronja on his ukulele, Mike and I swigging Sauvignon Blanc from a bottle – very civilized.

Photos:  Mike and I sharing MY bottle

Suddenly there is a commotion.  One of the other lads has been trying to hack into coconuts with a machete and chops his finger off, right at the base.  The poor lad.  He is immediately taken off the beach to one of the other boats where among the crew are a nurse and doctor who manage to stop the bleeding then Paul helps sail him back to Hiva Oa where there is an infirmary.  How things can change in an instant.  The party breaks up soon after that, and we all go back to our respective boats, a sad end to a lovely evening.

Thanks to Bev for the photos.  I forgot to take my camera.