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We timed our arrival with our friends on Kini Popo at the pass at Raroia just perfectly and only had about 2 knots of current against us as we transited the pass. We followed the channel about 1.5 miles south to the anchorage in front of the village where one other boat was anchored. This was our first atoll, and we were immediately surprised by the fact that people live in this remote place. The village was very small, and it is hard to imagine there are more than about 100 people that live here. But, they have a small store with supplies and had just gotten internet access (although it is dial up speed).

Everyone ashore was extremely friendly, but especially the kids. When school let out and on the weekend, the kids liked to play at the quai and swim in the water. They all wanted to know our names and begged us to come play with them. One day they got their hands on a couple of paddle boards and piled on to go visit the boats. While Mike was on shore, a couple of girls about 10 years old approached on a paddle board and wanted to come aboard. I was in the middle of cooking something down below and told them maybe later. The next thing I knew, they were on the boat next to us running around and having a great time.

Because we were so close to the pass, we wanted to dinghy back to the pass to do a drift dive. The pass isn’t too deep here, and since we hadn’t really figured out how to dive the pass, we decided to snorkel and free dive it rather than pull out the scuba tanks. We invited a couple of other boats to go with us, piled in a few dinghies and headed out with our gear.

As I mentioned in the previous post, the large amount of water that flows in and out of the lagoon in an atoll through the pass with the tides creates a very strong current. So, if you snorkel or dive in the pass at any time other than slack tide, you are going to drift quickly with the current. We were hoping to time our dive with the incoming tide or flood, but when we arrived it was still ebbing flowing out of the lagoon. We decided to jump in anyway.

As I was putting my mask on and about to jump into the water, I heard our friend Dan say, “Nobody panic, there are a lot of large sharks.” That isn’t really something you want to hear right before you leave the safety of the dinghy and jump in. But, I jumped in anyway. Immediately I saw several 6-7 foot sharks hovering around. We would later identify them as grey reef sharks. We all stayed in a group and were floating with the dinghies. Each dinghy had one person holding onto a line attached to the dinghy. We quickly realized that the sharks were just a little curious but not otherwise aggressive. We all kept an eye on them, but none of them got close enough to make us fearful.

We had jumped in the water inside the lagoon and started drifting toward the pass. As we got closer to the pass itself, the current started picking up speed. Soon we were ripping through the pass. Mike and Dan made numerous dives down about 30-40 feet, and the view from the surface looked like they were flying in outer space as they quickly passed over the reef below. We saw tons of reef fish and sharks, but the highlight for Mike was when a school of wahoo passed right by him just outside the pass.

The drift through the pass was so quick that when we reached the outside of the pass, we all jumped back in the dinghies to head back to the starting point inside the pass and do it again. In all, we made about four trips through the pass. But, the craziest part happened on our second pass through.

As we got through the pass to the other side, we drifted a bit into the open ocean where it was much deeper and we couldn’t see the bottom. At first we just saw a couple of grey reef sharks, but very quickly as we got deeper, more and more sharks appeared. Suddenly there were 20-30 sharks circling below us. And, a few wanted to get a closer look at us and headed up quickly toward us from the deep. I think we were all thinking the same thing when Dan said to the group, “Everybody out of the water!” We all got back in the dinghies with our hearts pounding and a rush of adrenaline. Our books tell us that the grey reef sharks are sometimes aggressive and dangerous. I don’t think anyone really wanted to test out whether or not that is true.

After our fun time at the pass and the village, we decided to head across the lagoon to check out some of the other motus. The reefs in the lagoon were very visible and easy to avoid. We reached the other side of the lagoon just in time to watch a beautiful sunset and take in the palm fringed motus in front of the anchorage.

We did some exploring the next couple of days, including seeing the Kon Tiki monument. If you’ve read the Kon Tiki book or seen the movie, Raroia is where Thor Heyerdahl crashed Kon Tiki into the reef after crossing the Pacific. We also visited a pearl farm a short distance from our anchorage. There were only a few guys working on stringing some small oysters together. Apparently, later in the year Chinese workers come to do the grafting where they insert the grains of sand into the oyster to make a pearl.

We were also joined in the anchorage by Manatee (a different Manatee from the boat we helped take through the Panama Canal last year) and our friends on Ivadel who pleasantly surprised us when they showed up. With four boats, there was definitely enough people for a party, and we made a big bonfire on the beach with drinks, snacks and even some s’mores.

Mike and Phillipe made friends with one of the pearl farm workers named Ludo who offered to help them try and catch some coconut crabs ashore. The coconut crabs are huge land crabs that primarily eat coconuts. We’ve heard they are delicious, but are yet to try them. Ludo explained that you need to set up a trap to catch the crabs by breaking open some coconuts and tie them to the base of a tree. Then, you return at night to hopefully grab them as they are feeding. You have to be careful grabbing them and putting them in a bag, because their strong claws could take off a finger. Mike, Phillipe and Ludo made a couple attempts to catch some but came up empty handed. They did find a couple of smaller ones, but they weren’t big enough to keep. We’ve heard that there are lots of the crabs on Tahanea, so the boys plan to try again in a different atoll.

Overall, we had a fabulous week in Raroia. It was a great first atoll to explore, but we wanted to head to Makemo. Kini Popo and Ivadel decided to come with us, so we would continue the party heading west.

~katie

p.s. I sound like a broken record, but I’ll post photos and video of our dive with the sharks when we get to Tahiti.

We spent a few more days in Hanamoenoa diving, snorkeling and playing on the beach before moving on. We decided to visit the small village of Hapatoni farther south down the west coast of Tahuata with our friends on Kini Popo. The villagers of Hapatoni are famous for their wood and bone carvings, and we wanted to check it out.

We anchored about a half mile away from the village at Hapatoni in an anchorage called Hana Tefau. The anchorage at Hana Tefau is beautiful and tucked away with steep cliffs full of palm trees, mango trees and lots of other tropical plants.

On Sunday morning, we dropped the dinghy in the water and headed over to Hapatoni. Lots of villagers were out walking down the main road as church had just let out. Several of the people motioned for us to come over and talk to them. An elderly woman appeared a bit exasperated trying to communicate with us in French and found a woman named Sarah who spoke some English.

Sarah invited us to come down the road with her to an open air market area. There was no market going on, but a few locals were hanging about. We learned that the Aranui 5 supply ship was in Vaitahu, the next village over. The Aranui is an interesting ship, because it is part cargo ship and part passenger cruise ship. It comes around to the various ports in the Marquesas every three weeks. The locals look forward to the Aranui not only for the supplies it brings, but also so that they can sell their goods to the passengers. This afternoon, the craftsmen from Hapatoni were going to Vaitahu to lay out their wood and bone carvings for the Aranui passengers to buy.

Several of the locals hanging around the market area had their goods with them preparing to head over to Vaitahu in a few hours. They unpacked several tables worth of items for us to look at as a couple of the women started playing their ukuleles and singing for us. We learned that they play and sing in church and had just come from there with their instruments.

The carvings they laid out were amazing. There were rosewood bowls, sandalwood carved ceremonial items, carved necklaces made from cow bone and intricately carved swordfish bills. Mike found a carved bone necklace that he really liked that was carved in the shape of the Marquesan symbol for a fish hook with a tiki symbol carved in the side. We don’t buy too many “souvenirs” in our travels, but this was a good purchase. Not cheap, but unique and perfect for Mike.

As we walked back down the main road, we were greeted by another woman named Rose who invited us to come down the road to her home. We had asked about buying some breadfruit, and she had a breadfruit tree at her house. (We had been wanting to try and learn to cook breadfruit after having it at a restaurant in Nuku Hiva.) The Kini Popo crew also wanted some fruit, and Rose was happy to oblige. Soon we were loaded up with breadfruit, starfruit and mangos. We asked how much Rose wanted for the fruit, but she refused to accept any money. With hugs and kisses around, we thanked Rose and headed back to the boats with our haul.

We spent the afternoon snorkeling around the rocks of the anchorage and looking at our plans for the next stop. We wanted to go to what is probably the most famous of the Marquesan islands, Fatu Hiva. From Fatu Hiva, we planned to go to the Tuamotos. So, we needed to figure out two things: (1) What was the best way to do the upwind sail to Fatu Hiva; and (2) Do we need to fill up with gasoline (for the generator, dinghy and dive compressor) before heading out. After a bit of evaluation, we determined we needed to stop at Atuona on Hiva Oa to fill up with gas and get a better angle on the wind to get to Fatu Hiva.

We had heard the anchorage at Atuona was crowded and not that great, so we were trying to avoid it. We had no idea what a hassle it would turn out to be! We arrived in Atuona the next afternoon to find that the Aranui 5 was at the dock. Atuona is a small harboar, and when the Aranui comes into Atuona all of the sailboats have to move to give this big ship enough room to get in and out of the dock. So, many of the sailboats are pushed back toward shore in a very crowded configuration while others anchor just outside the harbor in the wind and swell.

We headed into the harbor and flagged down some cruisers in a dinghy. They told us that the Aranui was scheduled to leave at 4 pm, about two hours from now. We considered anchoring in the outer harbor, but it was crowded and a bit rough. We wanted to make sure we could get to the magazin for some provisions and fill up on gas at the Mobil station before they closed, which we assumed was around 5 pm. We were planning to head out early the next morning.

Kini Popo was about 30 minutes behind us, and we called them on the radio with an update and to make a plan. When they came close to the harbor, they would launch their dinghy, and Dan #2 and Michelle would pick me up. Dan #1 would stay on Kini Popo and Mike would stay on Adagio both doing donuts in the sailboats waiting for the Aranui to leave so that the boats could race in and anchor inside the harbor.

Dan, Michelle & I started up the road into the village of Atuona to get provisions first. It is about a 6k walk, and we were able to hitch a ride about half way up the hill and found a ride back to the dock. The magazin in Atuona was even better than the ones in Taiohae, so I was able to pick up veggies, some nice frozen pork chops and a few bottles of wine.

Back at the Mobil station by the dock, we filled up all of our jerry cans of gasoline and bought some baguettes. By the time we accomplished all of this and loaded all of our goods into the dinghy, the Aranui was finally pulling away from the dock. It was about 5:30 pm and the sun was starting to set.

We left Michelle on the dock, and Dan raced me out to Adagio to help Mike anchor. As the Aranui was headed out of the harbor, a long line of sailboats was headed in and Adagio was first. I had to quickly jump on board or we were going to get run over by the boats behind us. I learned from Mike that for the last three hours he had been jockeying for position with the other boats outside the harbor. Apparently there were some pretty aggressive moves going on. As soon as the boats filtered in the harbor, they all seemed to drop anchor at the same time every which way all over the place. It was what our friend Dan would describe as a “shitshow.”

After an exhausting day, we decided to go into town for pizza that night and to get to sleep early. At first light we had the anchor up and were on our way to Fatu Hiva. We had a nice ride all the way to Fatu Hiva. As we started to get closer to the anchorage, Dan, who was ahead of us, radioed us with a message…”If you lost the Aranui, I found it for you.” The Aranui was now in Fatu Hiva! Aargh!

Our frustration at following this big ship subsided as we got closer to the anchorage at Hanavave, also called the Bay of Virgins, and we got our first glimpse of this iconic place. But, more on that next time…

~Katie

p.s. Trying to get pictures posted with the extremely slow hit or miss internet access in FP is pretty frustrating. Eventually, I will get some pictures up! But, it may not be until we get to Tahiti.

Hanamoenoa Bay on Tahuata has become quite a popular anchorage since we arrived. There were initially just two other boats when we showed up, and now there are nine! It’s been fun getting to know a few of the boats here, and we have been invited to sundowners on different boats each night we’ve been here.

Our first day here we started the party atmosphere by throwing our beach chairs, a cooler of beer and some frisbees in the dinghy and heading to the beach. We set up camp under the shade of some palm trees to admire the beautiful view. Soon our small party attracted several other boats as others beached their dinghies or swam in to join the fun. We made some great new friends and had a nice day.

Dan (on Kini Popo) had two friends joining him who were arriving in Hiva Oa by plane. The anchorage at Atuona on Hiva Oa was only 10 miles away. We had heard the anchorage there can be crowded and difficult. Since Dan’s windlass still wasn’t working, Mike volunteered to go over with him. One of them would stay on the boat doing donuts in the outer harbor while the other launched the dinghy and went to pick up his crew.

Since Mike and Dan were going to be gone all day, Ben and Molly from Ripple invited me to go diving with them. Another boat in the anchorage loaned them dive gear, and they wanted to check out the reef around the anchorage. I happily agreed and we made a plan to dive from Adagio, as our boat was right above the beginning of the coral.

Their loaned dive gear didn’t have compasses, and I was the only one with a dive compass. That made me the leader underwater and responsible for getting us back to the boat. If you’ve read my previous dive adventures, you could see why this is pretty funny. Anyway, we descended and were amazed by all the colorful fish and interesting coral.

I was trying to lead us in a bit of a circle so that we would end up back at Adagio. As we were in the last turn, I was beginning to wonder if I had gotten us completely lost, as I did not see our boat or the anchor chain. I turned around and kind of shrugged at Molly to let her know I was unsure where we were. But, we kept going a little further in the same direction and the anchor chain appeared right in front of us. I was pretty proud I had navigated us right back to the boat underwater.

Mike and Dan returned that afternoon with the new crew of Dan #2 and Michelle. Unfortunately, one of their bags didn’t make it and they were going to have to go back to Hiva Oa the next day to retrieve it. In the meantime, Mike and I decided that instead of trying to get provisions in Atuona, we would try to see what we could find in the little village of Vaitahu about two miles away on Tahuata.

We anchored in the deep bay at Vaitahu and headed to shore. It was just before 2 pm, and usually the stores in FP close for a couple of hours in the middle of the day. The magasin wasn’t open yet, and some locals sitting at a cafe hollered for us to come over. They had some pamplemousse and mango to sell, but they wanted $3 for a pamplemousse and $10 for a small bag of mangos, which is ridiculous. Or, they would trade us some fruit for a bottle of whiskey, which we didn’t have. We told them we would think about it and moved on.

We started walking up the main road mainly to kill time waiting on the magasin to open. We saw a man getting in a pickup with his wife and adorable baby daughter right under a huge mango tree. Mike went over to him and asked if we could buy some mangos. The man, Oliver, jumped out and started loading up a huge bag of mangos for us. He wanted $10 for 20 good size mangos, about 5 times as many mangos as the guys at the cafe. We agreed, and then Oliver asked if we wanted pamplemousse and banana. He told us to jump in the back of his pickup and he would take us up to his farm.

We didn’t know what we were getting into as we went round and round up the mountainside with some of the most amazing views of the ocean below. We stopped at a property full of fruit trees, and Oliver went in search of fruit coming back several times with pamplemousse after pamplemousse and two huge stalks of freshly cut bananas. He then came back with a small cow on a rope who he started feeding some over ripe mangos. It was funny seeing the cow slobber the mangos eating the pit and all.

As we headed back down the mountain, we stopped at another property where Oliver dumped several buckets of the over ripe mangos to feed more cows and fill up their water trough. While we were waiting, he hacked into some green coconuts for us to drink, and we got to snap some pictures of our boat in the bay below. (I’ll post pictures when I get wifi again!)

Oliver offered to give us a ride to the magasin and wait for us, helping us get all of our bags in the dinghy. He also stopped along the way and picked us some papayas. We bought some canned goods and a few other staples at the magasin and headed back to the dinghy. In total we paid Oliver $40 for the 20 mangos, 12 pamplemousse, 2 huge banana stalks, 3 papayas, the coconut and the ride. I think we made out pretty good! I would say that we would have trouble eating all this fruit, but if you know Mike you know he eats a ridiculous amount of fruit. We might have to share some bananas though, because those are the ones to that are going to be hard to eat all of if they ripen at the same time. There must be at least 50 bananas!

We returned to Hanamoenoa and looked for a sandy spot to drop anchor among all the other boats. We still had some daylight and decided to snorkel around the boat. The water is still very clear, and there are lots of fish. We had a huge manta ray swim right by the boat!

Mike dove down about 30 feet and sat on the bottom next to a coral head. He made the noise that he calls the snapper call. He’s used it to great success spearfishing, although we weren’t spearfishing here due to ciguatera concern. Anyway, as soon as he made the noise, a six foot black tip reef shark came charging toward him to investigate. As soon as Mike made a move to head to the surface, that shark took off. Mike wondered if it was a coincidence. So, of course he did it again! And, two more times the exact same thing happened and that shark came toward him out of nowhere. The reef shark had no intentions of harming Mike, but I told Mike no more snapper call here. We do not want to attract a bigger shark!

I think we’ll likely hang out in this anchorage for a few more days as it is really lovely and we would like to do more diving. We’ll update you again when we’re moving on…

Katie

p.s. I made some goat stew from the goat meat we got from Desiderata, and it was delicious!

We left Baie Marquisienne headed back to Taiohae on Nuku Hiva. Once we turned the point headed east around the island, it was an upwind slog motoring into wind and swell. But, it was a relatively short trip. Despite the conditions and the length of the trip, Mike was determined to turn his luck around at fishing and trolled two lines off the back. His perseverance was rewarded when both lines zinged at the same time and pulled quite a bit of line. We had two good size fish on!

It took some time to get both fish aboard with the rolly conditions, but we pulled in two really nice yellowfin tuna!

We circled around the inner part of Taiohae bay so that Mike could filet both fish in a bit calmer conditions, and I could get the fish into the freezer pretty quickly. Once we anchored, we headed into shore to see if we could catch any store open (it was too late) and check our email. As we were pulling up to the dock, we ran into our friends on Desiderata (who made us that awesome curry dinner). We offered to bring them some of the tuna we had caught, and they offered to give us some goat in return.

They had negotiated with some locals to purchase a whole goat from them. I was wondering how the locals got meat other than fish on the island, as all the frozen meat in the magasins is imported and quite expensive. You can buy frozen meat from the US and lamb from New Zealand, but it will cost you. I was going to buy a chicken breast in the store until I realized it was $16.

So, the locals eat the chickens, goats and pigs on the island. We also saw cows, but I don’t know if they are beef or dairy. I’m sure that some of the goats and pigs are owned, but we’ve heard that hunting on the island is big too, so I assume a lot of them are wild. Anyway, Desi had bought a whole goat for $50.

The next day we waited with Desi for the goat to arrive. I wasn’t sure how a whole goat gets delivered. But, a pickup pulled up and a woman got out with a large plastic sack containing the goat. It had been skinned and gutted (no head, thank goodness), but otherwise it was in one whole piece and had not been butchered. I try not to get too squeamish about where food comes from, but it looked a lot more like a goat than a steak or pork chop in the store looks like the animal it came from.

The next day we headed over to Desi to swap our tuna for some goat. They were very generous and gave us some ziplock bags stuffed with goat meat, and we gave them some big filets of tuna. Stuart had butchered the goat and even rendered stock from the bones. He gave me a nice portion of goat stock to work with. And, as a bonus they gave us some homemade mango chutney. I tried to get a few tips on how to cook the goat, as I have never done it. Julia recommended the pressure cooker as goat needs to be cooked quite a bit to get tender. I’ll let you know how it goes…

Meanwhile, we decided to have our own surf and turf meal aboard Kini Popo. Dan had some lamb chops defrosted that he had picked up at the magasin and suggested the combination with the fresh tuna. We added rice, veggies and some tamarind daiquiris to the mix and made a feast. You know the dinner is good when no one is talking and everyone is just focused on their plates.

While in Taiohae, we got the carburetor on the dive compressor cleaned out and some tanks filled so we would be ready to go when we found a new dive spot. We also got some chores done like topping up our propane tanks. This is apparently the only place in the Marquesas that has the US fittings for propane tanks. Even though we hadn’t burned through a whole tank, it just made sense to fill up while we were there. We carry a lot of propane compared to most cruising boats, but we also like to cook a lot.

We started planning the next leg of our journey. We intended to stop at Ua Poa and then head down to Tahuata. Dan’s friends were arriving in Hiva Oa in about 5 days, and we needed to make our way down there. After looking at the weather forecasts and conditions, it didn’t make sense to stop at Ua Poa. If we did, we were going to get hit with some nasty weather on the second leg to Tahuata. So, we made the decision to go straight to Tahuata, which was an 80 mile sail. We know that we will be back in the Marquesas toward the end of the season, so we will try to hit Ua Poa then.

The sail to Tahuata was pretty straight forward. We knew we were going to be heading upwind. We had roughly 15 kts of wind at about a 35 deg apparent wind angle. It was a little bumpy heading into the swell, but tolerable. We left just as the sun was setting and arrived the next morning.

The anchorage was picturesque with white sand beaches and clear blue water. After dropping anchor in what we hoped was a bit of sand amidst the rocks, Mike dove on the anchor to make sure it set. As he was in the water, I looked at the two catamarans already anchored in the bay. I immediately recognized Ivadel, who we had met over a year ago in Chiapas, Mexico. If you’ve been reading the blog since then, you might recall that they are a French couple named Philippe and Caroline. Philippe was previously an award winning baker in Paris and taught me and Katie (from Kya) how to make French baguettes.

I hollered at Mike in the water that I spotted Ivadel, and he swam over to say hello. We’re invited to drinks aboard Ivadel this evening. It will be nice to catch up, even if there is a bit of a language barrier. They have a little English, which I’m sure is still better than my French. But, it will give me a chance to practice what French words I do know.

We’re looking forward to exploring Tahuata!

Katie

The west side of Nuku Hiva is the dry, desert like side of the island. It is not well charted or frequently visited by cruising boats. So, of course we had to check it out. We left Daniel’s Bay and rounded the point heading North. As the wind and swell is generally from the East, the seas became flat and calm the minute we rounded the cape. It was as if we had discovered a whole different ocean.

On the charts and mentioned online by another cruising boat was a small anchorage up the coast called Baie Marquesienne. We weren’t sure at first if it was going to be big enough for boat boats to anchor with enough swing room. So, our friend Dan on Kini Popo headed in first to check it out and after a quick survey with the depth sounder it looked pretty good. But, given Dan’s windlass issue, we wanted to make sure his anchor wouldn’t get stuck.

Mike and I anchored Adagio in about 30 feet of water. The water was so much clearer than the southern coast that we could just make out the bottom. Dan idled Kini Popo just outside the anchorage as Mike threw on snorkel gear to check out our anchor and the bottom conditions. The bottom was all sand and looked to be good holding, so soon Kini Popo was anchored along side us.

With the clear water, we decided to go for a snorkel around the southern point of the anchorage and found some shallow areas just around the corner to anchor the dinghy and jump in. The visibility was great, and we saw tons of fish. Dan even saw a 3 ft black tip reef shark. The only down side were the jellyfish. Mike & I both got hit a couple of times by some small Portuguese Man of War jellyfish. They have some of the worst stings of all the jellyfish (although not deadly). They were small ones, so it probably could have been worse. I had one get stuck in the neck of my wetsuit and Mike had one wrap around his forehead. It took quite a few hours for the welts and redness to go down. Ugh.

The next day we decided to go for a hike onshore. Beaching the dinghy was challenging as it is steep and rocky. But, we wanted to get up on top of the ridge for what we rightly assumed would be great views. There are no trails as it is uninhabited, so we had to do a bit of scrambling and climbing. Closed toe shoes, long pants and a machete were a must, as we had to do some bushwhacking. We followed goat trails up the ridge as much as we could, but Mike had to pull me up some pretty steep climbs.

Once we reached the top, we had to walk across a lot of brush where the goats and horses had clearly been. But, across the brush we reached the overhang of the cliff above our boats and found the fabulous views we were looking for.

By the time we made it back down to the shore and were on our way to the boats, I think we were all physically pooped. It was a much more strenuous hike than the one we did at Daniel’s Bay. I was ready for a shower and relaxing with a cocktail, but despite being tired from the hike Mike was energized. He called the hike “soul cleansing.”

Our plan for the next day was to try and do a dive out at the point. Our tanks needed to be filled, so our first order of business was to get out the dive compressor and fill the tanks. We hadn’t been diving since Costa Rica, so it had been awhile since we’d used the compressor. Unfortunately, it did not start right away as it had always done on the past. Dan came over to help troubleshoot as he has the same dive compressor on board. After much tinkering, the boys determined that it was the carburetor which would need to be taken apart and cleaned. That wasn’t going to happen today.

Dan had two tanks with air, so I opted to let the boys dive while I just snorkeled at the surface. I know there are going to be a lot of other dive opportunities in the coming months. They had a fun time, saw lots of fish, a large sting ray and a giant grouper hiding in a small cave. I just did some free diving around some rocks in about 30 ft of water and waited for them to return. Luckily, there were no jellyfish this time.

Later that afternoon the boys took the dinghy out to try some fishing, but no luck. So, far we have not picked up any fish in the Marquesas. We hope our fishing luck will change soon! We’re going to head back to Taiohae to do some provisioning, work on the dive compressor and fill our propane. From there, we plan to head to the island of Oa Pua.

-Katie

What I like about waterfalls is that they are all unique – some are tall and fall over mountains, some are wide, some have enormous amounts of water flowing and others are just a trickle. But, to get to any waterfall, you have to go on an adventure into nature and often trek through difficult terrain. Your reward for such an exploration is the magnificent waterfall at the end.

We had heard from friends that made their way to French Polynesia last year that one of the things not to be missed was the hike to the waterfall at Daniel’s Bay (Anse Hakatea) just five miles from Taiohae. So, we made a plan with our friend Dan on Kini Popo to head over for a few days and find the waterfall.

Our first challenge was getting out of the anchorage. Since misery loves company, both boats were having problems with their windlasses (for non-sailors – the electronic thingy that helps pull up the anchor). We realized our problem a couple of days after arriving in Taiohae was the connection from the handheld controller to the windlass on deck. Mike was able to bypass the connector and wire it directly so that it still works.

Dan, on the other hand, was not so lucky. His motor was completely shot and would need to be replaced. So, in order to raise anchor, he would need to pull up over 100 feet of chain and the anchor by hand. This would especially be challenging since he is single handing and the bay way quite windy. We decided that Mike would go over and help pull up Dan’s anchor first and then just swim back to the boat as Dan was leaving the anchorage. It took the two boys both heaving on that chain for a solid 10-15 minutes before they finally got the anchor up. Luckily for Mike some friends we had met earlier were in their dinghy and gave him a ride back to Adagio so he wouldn’t have to swim.

The seas were a mess when we left the anchorage and we just motored for the one hour trip to Daniel’s Bay, but we were followed by dolphins almost the whole way which is always exciting. As we entered the bay, the seas calmed down and we got our first views of the dramatic cliffs and canyon. Early the next morning, we were able to catch some good shots of a rainbow against this backdrop just as some brief showers had passed.

We were told the hike was about 12 kilometers round trip, so we got an early start beaching the dinghy in the western lobe of the bay. There are several families who live in the valley, and you have to pass through their properties to get to the trail. So, we couldn’t blame them for selling tickets for $10 (1000 CFP) to get to the waterfall. Because of its proximity to Taiohae, I’m sure they have boats visiting here year round. This is also where they shot one of the Survivor seasons (not that I’ve watched it). I feel like we keep ending up somewhere that Survivor filmed. This happened to us when we were in Panama in the Perlas also.

Anyway, after buying our ticket we stopped at the first house we came to and met a very nice Marquesan couple who offer to prepare lunch for the hikers upon their return and also sell fruit from their trees. We made arrangements with them to have lunch on our way back.

The beginning of the hike is down a road past the various properties of the families who live here, which were impeccably manicured and full of fruit trees. A bit farther down became more rustic and finally turned into a narrow trail that was reasonably marked. We had to zig zag across the river a couple of times and through several streams. There was one stretch of the trail that had so many mango trees that fermenting, rotting mangos littered the trail giving off a sweet, rancid odor. The rotting mangos also brought hordes of gnats. We also passed more archeological ruins which apparently cover the island.

At one point we stopped and got a glimpse of the waterfall across the canyon. It is incredibly high, but we could tell at this distance that there wasn’t much water flowing. We are at the end of the dry season and the rainy season hasn’t really begun yet. Other tales we had heard of this hike were of fast rushing water and muddy trails. But, the trails were dry now and we hiked over many dry creek beds. So, we were reasonably prepared for the spigot to have been mostly turned off on the waterfall.

Regardless of the lack of water, the scenery was impressive and well worth the hike. The steep canyon walls loomed over us as we entered the center of the canyon as we approached the waterfall. White tropic birds glided above us as we walked through the greenery below. We got to the pool at the end that required us to swim across in order to see the waterfall. However, even on the other side, you could only see the very bottom of the falls as the rest was obstructed from view by rock formations. There was a second pool you could swim through to get underneath the falls. But, it looked stagnant and mosquito ridden, so we opted not to do that one.

One our way to the final part of the hike into the valley, we had come across a sign that said to beware of falling rocks. This was no joke. Just as we had swum across the pool closer to the waterfall, I heard this whistling sound and then a plop behind me as a rock about the size of a baseball had fallen from several hundred feet above us and landed in the water about 20 feet away. That would have done some serious or permanent damage if it had hit us. Yikes. From then on we kept looking up while in the canyon.

Our cruising guides said that round trip the hike should be about 5 hours. About half way back on our return, we realized it had only been about 3 hours. We’re pretty fast walkers and without the muddy trails, it was not too difficult a walk. We assumed our lunch wouldn’t be ready yet, so we stopped to take in the scenery high up over the river. Of course, Mike doesn’t do well with sitting still so soon he was off the trail trying to make his way down to the river. After successfully navigating the climb down, he motioned for Dan and I to join him.

We slowly climbed over boulders and tree limbs and through the rotting mangos until we got to the river. We saw some small falls upstream and made our way through the cold water to check them out. We had some fun playing in the river cooling off for awhile and then climbed back up to the trail to make our way out.

Lunch was waiting for us when we arrived. We had green mango salad, roast pork and breadfruit with fresh squeezed juice. It was great. With our few French words and their few English words, we were able to communicate with this fun couple and their teenage son who was home from school. Apparently all the high school age kids on Nuku Hiva go to boarding school in Tahiti. The kids are currently home for Easter/Spring break. We wanted to buy some fruit, which they were willing to sell, but what they really wanted was to trade for a pair of board shorts for their son. Mike though about it and agreed to part with some shorts. When the mom heard this, she started loading us up with pamplemousse, mangos, oranges and limes. Mike made a quick trip back to the boat and returned with the shorts. The son was ecstatic. Mike says it was worth giving up the shorts (which were pretty nice) just to see how happy the kid was. I imagine it is difficult to buy and import that type of thing here.

We returned to our boats and found an Australian boat anchored in the bay that we had met in Taiohae. Dan invited us all over for sundowners on his boat that evening. It was the perfect end to a beautiful day. You never know what you’re going to find when you set off to find a waterfall.

-Katie

We made it to Nuku Hiva! Now that we have arrived in the Marquesas, I thought I’d do a little summary of our passage…

Number of days: 26
Nautical miles: 3559
Departure port: Puerto Lucia, Ecuador
Arrival port: Taiohae, Nuku Hiva
Hours we ran the engine: 5
# of times we ran the water maker: 4
Last day we saw a ship after leaving Ecuador: Day 4
# of times we were buzzed by a helicopter: 3
# of fish we caught: 3 (1 yellowfin tuna, 1 dorado, 1 skipjack) # of times we saw dolphins: 3
# of audiobooks listened to: 7
# of French lessons listened to: 16
Highest wind gusts: 37 kts
Biggest seas: 20+ feet
# of days with rain/squalls: about 5 but squalls were brief
# of things that broke: 4 (spinnaker pole, boom vang, staysail sheet, block for reefing line on boom) # of hitchhiking birds: 2
Most # of flying fish that committed suicide on our boat in one night: 5 # of flying fish that hit Mike in the chest: 1 hahaha
# of days we flew the spinnaker: 1
Boxes of macaroni & cheese consumed: 3 (probably the most we have eaten since college) Packets of tuna eaten: about 20
# of hard boiled eggs eaten: 2 dozen

The sight of seeing the South Pacific islands rising out of the sea after almost a month was breathtaking. Mike woke me at sunrise this morning to come into the cockpit to see Ua Huka that we were passing to starboard. It was an amazing sight to see this massive volcanic island rising out of the sea in the middle of nowhere. Granted I was still half asleep at the time, but it was still fair to say I was speechless. The towering verdant hills stared down at us as we silently passed by on our way to Nuku Hiva. I was more than a little sad that we did not stop at the island even for a little while to admire it. But, Nuku Hiva awaited us, and a few hours later we were gliding into the bay at Taiohae and relaxing for the first time in 26 days.

Overall, I think we both feel a huge sense of accomplishment having crossed an ocean ourselves in our modest 41 ft boat. We had read others’ reports of their crossing that claimed it was relaxing and meditative, that they set their sails in the trades and didn’t have to adjust them for three weeks. That was unfortunately not our crossing. For the most part we had consistent winds that let us sail the entire trip. We adjusted the sails as the wind strengthened or lessened and only had to jibe a couple of times toward the end to keep our course. The biggest challenge of our crossing was the sea state. For almost the entire passage we had confused seas with a strong cross swell. The messed up seas tossed us about and forced us to shorten sail in order to minimize the flogging of the main sail. It also made moving about the boat more challenging and tiring, often making it difficult to sleep.

I certainly had my good days and bad days on the passage. There were days I thoroughly enjoyed just sailing and the peacefulness of being on the water. There were other days that I was tired and not feeling 100% when all I wanted to do was get off the boat. There were more good days than bad, and I think doing this on our own confirmed again what a good team we make together. We’ve arrived at the magical islands of the South Pacific and I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything.

-Katie

Trying to power a 30,000 pound boat across an ocean using only the wind is a challenge. I believe sailing includes the Goldilocks principle. There is usually too much wind or not enough wind and rarely the perfect amount of wind. But, you have to find a way to make the boat move regardless of what imperfect amount of wind you are given.

After several days of high winds and big seas, we were looking forward to the forecast that said the wind and seas would be calming. Well, they did calm right on schedule. We still had roughly 15 kts of wind, but it was coming from directly behind us. So, the apparent wind was down to 7-8 kts. The biggest challenge with light winds from behind, especially when there is still some swell running, is how to keep the sails full so that they don’t flog. When the sails start flogging, the whole boat vibrates. It is not good for the boat or the sails and has the potential to break something with all those forces at work.

So, we went to work trying to figure out the right sail combination. With the lighter winds, we set up our asymmetrical spinnaker, which is a light wind sail like a kite or parachute. We set it once, and then the wind picked up to 20 kts. So, we took it down, set the pole and went back to wing and wing. Of course, as soon as we did that the winds dropped and we were flogging like crazy. So, down went the pole and the spinnaker went back up.

As we were sailing more downwind, we had to mess with the spinnaker for a while to get it t stay full. We kept letting out the tack which helped but wasn’t perfect. We studied it for a few minutes and concluded that the problem was that the main sail was blanketing it. So, we put two reefs in the main to shorten sail and let more wind get to the spinnaker. That worked. We got a good hour out of it before the winds kicked up over 20 kts again. Down went the spinnaker and up went the pole again.

Just like last time, as soon as we pulled down the spinnaker the winds dropped to about 12 kts. Ugh. We lived with the inadequate wing and wing set up for a while until we couldn’t stand it anymore. Mike called it a flog fest. We tried setting the spinnaker one more time, but sure enough, as soon as we got it set there was too much wind and it had to come down. We reset the pole and wing and wing set up. In order to try and stop some of the flogging of the main and potential damage, we put a third reef in the main. (Our jib already had a reef in it due to our pole incident.)

We looked at the wind, our sails and the seas. There should have been enough wind to keep us from rolling and flogging as much as we were. But, the problem now appeared to be a strange cross swell. There was a regular swell from the south east, but you could see a periodic perpendicular swell that when it met with the regular swell created a washing machine effect which rolled the boat violently causing the sails to flog.

I was lamenting all of the work we had done that day putting the sails up, taking them down, and then repeating it over and over. Mike gave me a sly smile and said, “that’s sailing!” When on my next watch, exhausted from the day’s work, I started thinking about how sailing is a good metaphor for life. Sometimes things work out, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes you have to repeat things over and over to get it right. And, sometimes you just plan mess up, have to start over and apologize for what you screwed up (which was me the following day when I accidentally jibed the boat while trying to heave to – a big no no!). So, if you want to experience life’s necessities of patience, perseverance and determination in a tangible, visceral way, just go sailing!

And, just like life, sometimes in sailing you need a little luck. The next day in our second day of lighter winds and the strange cross swell, we needed a little luck to lift our spirits. I was down below and was just about to ask Mike in the cockpit how it was going when we heard the fishing line zing on the reel. Mike had just dropped the line in the water a few minutes earlier. We hadn’t fished at all when we had the rougher sea conditions. We slowed the boat as quickly as we could and Mike went to battle with the fish. As much line as was peeling outs we knew it was a big fish.

Mike finally got it to the surface and identified it as a dorado (mahi mahi). It took two of us to get it around to the side of the boat and get it in a position Mike could gaff it. That sucker put up a fight! Mike got the stringer in it and cut the gills so it wouldn’t bleed all over the deck. When we finally got it on deck we estimated it at about forty pounds. It was close to four feet long! It didn’t fit on the filet table, so Mike had to filet it on the deck. We got all the meat in the freezer, which we estimated at 15-20 lbs. That will certainly feed us the rest of the trip. And, we had a delicious mahi mahi dinner that night.

We’re now about six days out from the Marquesas. We’re at that point in the marathon when you passed the half way mark awhile ago, but you can’t quite see the finish line yet. We are anxious to arrive and begin our French Polynesian adventure.

-Katie

I guess we spoke too soon bragging about our luck with the great weather. A few days ago the seas started to build making it a pretty bumpy ride. It wasn’t just that the seas were big, but that they were often confused coming from different directions and sometimes steep leaving large troughs. Then, the clouds started to fill in and we had two full days of squally weather.

The squalls are usually short lived. You can see them coming on the horizon as low, black clouds with visible rain. They also show up on radar as a rain band. Looking at the radar is sometimes the only way you can adequately tell what direction or how fast they are moving. As the squally weather was all around us, there really was no way to avoid being hit periodically. So, out came the foul weather gear as we prepared to get wet.

By Saturday we had been seeing the winds sustained in the 25 knot region. We triple reefed the main and just put out the staysail. We would move along at about 6.5 knots and be prepared for higher winds when squalls hit. We’ve learned that the leading edge of a squall is where the highest winds are. As I said, you can see it coming, so during the daylight especially you can be prepared for it. The squalls brought us winds in the 30-35 knot range. I think the highest gust we saw was 37. That’s quite a bit of wind.

Our Hydrovane dutifully steered us through the mess. Whoever was on watch did have to keep a sharp eye on the wind though. When the wind gusted over 30, and especially when we got knocked a bit sideways by a swell, the Hydrovane would struggle to keep us on course and wanted to round up into the wind. A quick grab of the wheel to help the Hydrovane get us off the wind was needed a few times.

By Saturday afternoon we had the biggest seas we’ve seen on this passage. Some were at least 20 feet. It’s hard to even comprehend how big the seas are until the boat is on top of a wave and you look down into the trough below which is at least one story down. It was a wild ride to go up and down the swell. At times we got thrown around a bit, and more than once a wave pooped the cockpit. By Saturday night Mike and I were both starting to feel a bit fatigued. (Je suis tres fatigue. We have been practicing our French!)

The seas are still confused this morning but not as big as yesterday, and the wind has settled in around 23-24. The forecast says the wind and swell should start to back off around midnight tonight and we will have a period of calmer weather. I hope so!

Other than managing the boat and watching the weather, the last few days have been uneventful. After the spinnaker pole mess, we kept saying we do not want to break anything else. So, uneventful is good. I remember reading summaries in Latitude 38 in years past of boats that made the puddle jump. They always listed all of the things that broke or went wrong. We did not want to be one of those boats.

When on night watches by myself, it’s easy to let your mind wander. I was thinking about what surprised me most so far on this passage. I think I’m still surprised most that there are birds at sea this far from land. When there is nothing else to look at but ocean, birds are interesting to watch. We’ve had two hitchhiking birds. The one that stayed the longest was a brown booby who landed on the rail at the bow. He showed up one morning and stayed over 24 hrs. I guess he was tired.

In a break in the clouds last night I had a couple hours of a moonless and cloudless sky revealing the most stars you can see with the naked eye. But, last night was a treat as I saw multiple shooting stars in a short period of time. One of them was the brightest I have ever seen. It was low in the sky, got really bright and then flamed out a few seconds later as it streaked eastward. A meteor?

We’ve got 1450 miles to go. We are estimating about another 10 days or so depending on conditions. We are definitely on the home stretch and that feels good. We can’t wait to see the islands pop out of the ocean on the horizon for the first time. So exciting.

-Katie

Hello from the middle of nowhere in the vast Pacific Ocean. As of this writing it is about four hours into our eleventh day at sea. With the exception of the sea state, which at times has been quite confused with steep short period waves making it less comfortable on board, the conditions have been quite amazing. This westward sailing super highway we are on called the south east trade winds have been extremely steady and reliable in the mid teens to low twenty knot range. Our points of sail have been either beam reaching or running the majority of which has been the former.

As I write this we are beam reaching in 16 knots of wind making about 6.5 knots over the ground. So the journey has been quite amazing so far with one exception that we experienced yesterday.

It was late afternoon and we decided the conditions looked nice to start running wing on wing for the rest of the day and night. After we rigged the pole, set the jib to port and adjusted the hydrovane to keep the wind aft of the beam on the port side we took our nightly showers in the cockpit and started heating up dinner. The sun was just going down and we were excited to enjoy our meal while watching a beautiful Pacific Ocean sunset.

The problem was that we wanted to maintain as much of a westward course as possible which required us to set the hydrovane to keep the wind very close to just aft of the beam.

The hydrovane, which is a self steering device that uses the angle of the wind with respect to the boat to steer a course, has been such an amazingly reliant piece of gear since we left California that we have developed tremendous confidence in it’s abilities. In fact we are trying to come up with a name for him/her because it is like having an extra crew member on board. The first two possible options I have come up with are either Rocky or Mo Cushla (not sure about the spelling of the second one which is from the film Million Dollar Baby and means “My Darling”). Katie thought we needed a French name since we are going to French islands, but she liked Rocky too. If you are so inclined, leave us a comment with any suggestion you might have for a name. It would be fun to hear what others come up with.

Anyway, back to the story of our first calamity at sea. The makers of the hydrovane say that the boat must not be over powered for it to steer a proper course. We have experienced this in the past. We’ll have the vane and the sails set to steer the course we want according to the current strength and direction of the wind, then the wind increases in strength and the game starts to struggle to hold the course. Then an adjustment or combination of adjustments must be made to correct the issue.

Usually we have some time to make the adjustment when this happens and it’s not a big deal. In this case, we had a double whammy. The wind gusted suddenly to 25 knots and veered up higher on the nose at the same time. As a result, because we set the hydrovane to keep the wind very close to just aft of the beam, this sudden change caused the wind to move just forward of the beam so quickly neither we nor the hydrovane, because it became suddenly over powered, were able to react in time and the jib was back winded. This caused the spinnaker pole to snap in two very quickly and the jib to begin flapping angrily in the wind. Our wonderful sunset dinner plans had been destroyed in an instant.

I was devastated because this meant that we no longer had an effective way to sail with the wind aft of the beam without setting the spinnaker which I only use in light wind situations that we weren’t likely to have. Crippling our down wind sailing options could add days to our crossing which wouldn’t be the end of the world I guess, but I also really enjoy down wind sailing. Its the reason people always wish sailors “Fair winds and following seas”.

It took taking the time to have some dinner and reflect before I came up with an idea that might enable us to still use the pole and resurrect our down wind sailing abilities. Our spinnaker pole is telescoping which means it’s length can be adjusted. When it broke we had it adjusted out almost as far as it would go and it broke very near the telescoping end. So I decided to use the hack saw I had on board to cut out the broken portion and then re-insert the remaining portion of the telescoping end back into the pole. We wouldn’t be able to extend it as far but it could still work. By this time it was dark and my repair job would have to wait for daylight.

Daylight came, and with a bit of work with a c-clamp used to correct the out of round condition of the damaged end, I was able to re-insert the telescoping end back into the pole. By the way, Katie always says that I have too many tools on board the boat. This time I think she was glad that I had a c-clamp on board. After the repair, the only thing left to do was try it out. We put it up and it worked perfectly to about 90% of it’s previous capacity. What an incredible relief it was to have our down wind sailing options resurrected.

Lesson learned. Don’t sail so close to calamity without someone at the helm ready to react within seconds.

In the end, the price we paid for a bad decision wasn’t too bad after all.

Mike.