I have a bad night’s sleep. Well actually, I sleep very well once I get to sleep - it’s the getting to sleep that’s the problem. The wind is howling again and I am worried about the Danish boat behind us and get up to watch it for a while which only makes me worse as I can now see just how close it is swinging near us. I know it is further away than it looks but it is so difficult to judge in the dark. After about half an hour watching it, with nothing drastic happening, I go back to bed, and eventually fall asleep.
Expecting to wake up in agony after yesterday’s hike, I am pleasantly surprised to find that there are no after effects whatsoever – it must be all that constantly bracing myself when sailing that has kept the old leg muscles in good working order. Anyway, whatever the reason, I am pleased.
Tucanon has already left when I get up so there are just three WARC yachts left in the bay including us. Mike and I are sitting in the cockpit when we suddenly notice a yacht in the distance. Mike gets his binoculars and peering out to sea announces that it is a cat – Malikalalou? They are due in around noon according to Rolando’s estimation. Mike immediately gets on the VHF and calls them – and Rolando answers. Forty minutes later they are in. Sara and I jump up and down waving to each other, Mike welcomes them in with a few blows on our foghorn and Rolando gets down to the serious matter of anchoring in a bay where the wind and the already anchored yachts are all over the place. He has to put the anchor down about four times before it settles in a position that seems safe.
We leave them for a while to organise themselves then take the dinghy over to say hello. It’s so good to see them both. Sara feels the same way as me about the long passages (ie that they are a necessary evil) and suffers with sea sickness quite badly, so we whinge to each other and compare notes. I discover that Rolando is quite the sweetheart and lets Sara sleep eight hours straight each night, does all the cooking and deals entirely with any fish that they catch. I feel quite hard done by!
We give them a ride over to the village as they have to check in with the gendarmerie and show their passports. I get rid of our rubbish and we walk through the village pointing out the point of interest – the one and only shop – now shut even though it is before noon. We find the building where the gendarme should be but looking through the window we can see that it is totally devoid of any furniture. Strange. Rolando asks a local where the guy can be found and we are directed to his house, so that’s where we go. Mike and I hang back not wanting to confuse the issue – two passports and four people – and eventually the process is complete apart from Rolando and Sara being required to return to his house tomorrow with some alcohol, preferably rum!
We return them to their boat, having arranged to join them tonight to eat some of the huge (one and a half metre long) spearfish which they caught a couple of days ago.
We have a light lunch (light because we want to leave room for Rolando’s cooking which we know to be excellent) then head off for a nap. Only Mike is successful though. Jutta and Jochim come over with our cool box and hairdryer (they borrowed them to defrost their freezer) and a couple of hours later when I open the cool box to put my hairdryer away I discover another six cans of beer for Mike, which is really sweet of them. Mike gets on the VHF to thank them but they are in the middle of their afternoon nap.
It rains a couple of times in the afternoon and the late afternoon clouds make the light in the bay totally magical. I take even more photos of the same views. It is just so stunning.
We go back to Malikalalou around 6 pm. I have some photos for Sara of our trip to North Seymour in the Galapagos (her photos accidently got deleted – no names to protect the innocent) and she has some of the penguins on Isabella, an island we didn’t get to visit).
This is the second time I have been on Malikalalou and once again, it serves to remind me how beautiful Jeannius once looked. Not that she looks bad now, but she certainly isn’t 18 months old any more, and Rolando has added some nice touches. Also I am envious of all the lovely food Rolando has brought back with him from Lebanon when he was last there – all sorts of goodies – wonderful honey, nuts, spices – I just wouldn’t be able to stop myself from gorging on it if it was all on my boat, but Sara is beautifully slim.
We celebrate their arrival into the Marquesas with a lovely bottle of rose wine that they were saving for the half way point of their passage but which they never got around to drinking. Rolando prepares two dishes for us from the spearfish; a cerviche and barbecued steaks. Both are excellent.
Just as when we last saw them, time flies, and before we know it, it is 11 pm and we need to be leaving as we are leaving at 6 am in the morning to head back to Hiva Oa. It is really weird saying goodbye to people you really like, not knowing if you will ever see them again. Sara and Rolando are taking a few years to travel around the South Pacific and unlike us on our 16-month circumnavigation, they will really see it. We leave sadly, and head back to Jeannius with a goodie bag – Sara has given me sea sick tablets, spices and two huge pieces of their spearfish – and lots more drinking water. There’s hardly room in the dinghy for us! Bye bye friends and take care on your travels.
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