Exploring the West Side

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