Just to the north of Raiatea is the smaller sister island of Tahaa with a single barrier reef surrounding both islands. We motored along on the inside lagoon, which was well marked with red (land-side) and green (reef-side) buoys. We chose Baie Haamene on the east side of Tahaa after reading about the Hibiscus Yacht Club in the guidebooks. After tying to a mooring buoy in front of the restaurant, we went ashore to walk around before dinner. We had the restaurant all to ourselves and the owners of over 25 years, Lolita and Leo, cooked a feast of fresh-grilled Thazard (Wahoo), skewered vegetables, salad, pommes fritzs (potato fries), taro, and creme brulee for dessert.  We bought some Tamanu Oil, which Lolita makes from the nuts of a Tamanu tree. It’s used for healing cuts, burns, insect bites, sunburn, acne, eczema, etc., and has a pleasant aroma.

Island Tour–We took a half day tour of the island that included stops at a pearl farm and a vanilla farm.  Our guide, George, drove us and explained the process of farming vanilla and growing cultured pearls.

Vanilla Farm Tour
Tahaa produces 75% of the vanilla that comes from French Polynesia and the vanilla grown here is know for its very high quality. There are over 100 ‘greenhouse’ farms spread throughout Tahaa. What they call greenhouses are just netting for keeping out birds and insects. They also reduce the need to weed around the plants. Inside are neat rows of the vanilla orchid, each with its own concrete trellis. Ground-up coconut husks are used as mulch and help keep in the moisture around plants. When the flowers appear, the caretaker pollinates the plant by hand–one flower produces one bean. Mass produced vanilla orchids in places like Madagascar and Mexico rely on bees to do the pollination. That was the way it was done in Tahaa when the plants were outdoors, but they get much higher yield and quality by doing it by hand. When the vanilla beans turn yellowish, they are picked and are ready to be sun-dried ocw.upc.edu. This process takes a few weeks since the beans are placed in the sun for only 1 hour per day. When the bean turns brown and is limp, it is ready to be packaged. A package of 6 beans of this high quality vanilla costs $20US. We bought 2 packages of vacuum-sealed beans, and a fifth of Vanilla Rum.

Black Pearl Farm Tour
The pearls found in the South Pacific are internationally recognized as a specific variety and given the designation as the “Tahiti Cultured Pearl”. Tahaa has several pearl farms.
The process of farming cultured pearls is fascinating and here’s what I remember from the tour:  An oyster can make pearls naturally when a foreign body, such as a grain of sand, gets inside. The grain of sand slowly grows as the oyster coats it with a substance called Narcre, also known as “mother of pearl”. The color can be black, white, pink, green or combinations. Natural pearls are rarely round and it takes a very long time for the pearl to get big (12mm and up). Cultured pearls start by implanting a nucleus inside a mature oyster. The nucleus (see picture below) comes from oysters found in the Mississippi River. They are machined to be perfectly round before implanting them in the oyster’s sex organ (oysters can change back and forth between male and female). The oysters are then placed in mesh cages that are tied to a structure near a reef in 2-4 meters of water. The oyster continuously coats the nucleus and after 18 months, the oyster is carefully opened up and the pearl extracted. The same oyster can be used for many cycles of this process and an oyster that produces a high quality pearl usually continues to produce high quality pearls. Pearls are priced by size and quality. For size, 8mm is considered small, 12mm is medium, and 16mm is large. For quality, class C has more than 2 flaws and is not round, class B has 2 flaws and is round or teardrop, and class A has 1 or no visible flaws when viewed by the naked eye, and is round or teardrop. A 12mm class A cultured Black Pearl costs around $1,000US from a pearl farm, and of course the price goes up with middle-men and the further away you get from French Polynesia.

Our next stop in the leeward Society Islands, Raiatea has nice inner lagoons surrounded by a barrier reef. We entered through Nao Nao pass at the southern end, another easy pass with little current. We decided to anchor near Nao Nao Island after reading about the good snorkeling there. It took a few tries to set the anchor due to the sharp drop-off of the sandy bottom—50’ to 8’ within a boat’s length, and within another boat’s length we’d be grounded. So we dropped the anchor and backed up to dig it in, then I dove in to take a look and saw that there was only 15’ of chain laying on the sandy shelf before it dropped off steeply.  We put out more chain and I was able to dive down and, after many free dives, move the anchor and chain another 15’ on the shelf, then we dug it in and were satisfied. There was only 1 other boat in sight and no village within earshot, so it was a very peaceful anchorage. In the morning, we took the dinghy to the south-west side of Nao Nao Island and snorkeled along a reef for a few hours. There was considerable current so we walked along the beach and drift snorkeled back to where the dinghy was parked. The snorkeling was excellent and the coral very alive, probably the best we’ve seen in the Society Islands.

After snorkeling, we went back to the boat and up-anchored so that we could reach our next stop by mid-afternoon—an archeological sight about 10 miles away called Marae Taputapuatea. Once again, the anchoring was tricky since most of Baie Opoa is deep. We found a relatively small sandy shelf that was 20’ below the surface surrounded by deep water. It took 2 tries until we were satisfied that we had enough chain down to hold us and I snorkeled above the anchor and observed the chain zig-zagging around a few small rocks on the bottom (a plus for holding, a minus for anchor retrieval). We then took the dinghy ashore to explore the marae.

About Maraes—
Ancient Polynesians used maraes for ceremonial social and religious activities. Marae varied slightly from island to island, but were all rectangular and imposing in size. The outer wall was made of stone. Inside, a raised platform was used for human sacrifices during religious ceremonies. Tables made of wood, called fata rau, were used for whole pigs and large fish as offerings to the gods. The remains were eaten by the priests and other privileged people. When tribes battled, many maraes were destroyed by the victor. Carbon-14 dating revealed some maraes to be built during the 12th century, but the Marae Taputapuatea was constructed in the 1700’s. Capt. Cook observed ceremonial activities when he visited Raiatea in 1769. The Bora-Bora and Raiatea marae were thought to be the most important and influential within the Society Islands.

We up-anchored from Moorea at 5pm for a 90-mile over-night sail to Huahini, the first of 4 leeward islands in the Society Island archipelago that we will visit. We motored until the final 20 miles when the wind picked up. A fringing reef extends more than a mile off the south and west coasts of Huahini. Within 2 miles, the depth goes from over 4000’ to 200’, creating world-class waves for surfers. We entered Avamoa Pass, which is wide and deep, but nonetheless a bit intimidating with the huge waves breaking on both sides of the pass. The village of Fare is just inside the pass and we tied up to a mooring buoy just off a nice sandy beach. The current was strong but another cruising couple saw us coming in and jumped in their dinghy to give us a hand tying to the buoy.

Fare
The village of Fare has a big grocery store, bank, post office, and a few restaurants and food trucks. The Huahini Yacht Club is on the waterfront (they call it a yacht club but it’s more like a hotel/restaurant). We spent 5 days relaxing on the beach, paddle  boarding, playing ukulele, playing foosball at the yacht club, snorkeling, and shopping. Marvalyn, who also joined us for a few days in Mexico, flew in to the small airport in Huahini and will be with us for 10 days while we visit Raiatea, Tahaa, and Bora-Bora.

Ukulele Jam Session with the locals

We motored 30 miles from Marina Papeete, including a stop at the fuel dock in Marina Tiana to top off the tanks, to an anchorage in Moorea. In the Tahitian language, the name Moorea means “yellow lizard”. The tall peaks and beautiful scenery rivals what we saw around Fatu-Hiva in the Marquesas. Mt. Mouaroa, shown below, is famous from sailing stories and also as the backdrop in the film version of South Pacific. A shallow, fringing reef surrounds Moorea and the passages are well marked with buoys. Once inside the lagoon, the water is calm. We anchored in 30’ of crystal clear water in Opunohu Bay on the north side of the island.

Stingray City
A 30-minute dinghy ride from Opunohu Bay is a sandbar known as Stingray City, located near Taotoi Pass. We arrived a few minutes after a tour boat anchored there so the stingrays and sharks knew it was feeding time. With our snorkel gear on, we jumped in the waist-deep water, anchored the dinghy to a coral head, then swam around the stingrays and black-tipped reef sharks. This was our first up-close encounter with stingrays so it was fun seeing and touching them. They glide so gracefully in the water and are used to humans feeding and holding them. Jacintha has now swam with Whale Sharks near La Paz, Sea Lions near Isla Partida (Mexico), Reef Sharks in Rargiroa (Tuamotus), and now Stingrays in Moorea. The underwater pictures were taken with a GoPro Hero.

We spent 5 days in Moorea, and most of the time we just relaxed, snorkeled and enjoyed the beautiful scenery that surrounded us. Here are some pictures….

From our anchorage, we drove the dinghy 15 minutes east to the Moorea Hilton. After tying up to the dock, we checked out the over-the-water bungalows and relaxed around the pool, all for the price of buying a few (very expensive) drinks!

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Boat Repairs–The saying that cruising is fixing your boat in exotic locations rang true today! 

Macerator Repair
A macerator is a pump for discharging water or waste overboard. Our galley sink needs a macerator since the bottom of the sink is below the waterline, and today it stopped working. The motor would run but the water in the sink wasn’t draining. The pump is located under the sink in the engine compartment, and was not easy to access for removal. Once I got it out and took it apart, I could  see why it wasn’t working—10 years of accumulated hair and gunk was wrapped around the cutter and shaft cialis for women. As I rotated the pump by hand, I could also see bits of the impeller that were also broken off. Since I have 2 of these macerators (Jabsco 18590-0000) aboard, one for the galley and one for the holding tank, I had purchased a rebuild kit before leaving Seattle buy kamagra oral jelly. I also had an entire spare used macerator which came with the boat. I decided to swap out the broken one with the spare and even though it was used, I could see the impeller was good and the shaft spun easily. After reconnecting the plumbing and wiring, we turned it on and it worked perfectly well, even better than the old one. Next I took the broken pump and replaced the impeller (it was missing all the blades, which is why it wasn’t pumping anymore!), chopper, gaskets, and housing with parts that came with the rebuild kit. We downloaded a YouTube video for rebuilding a Jabsco 18590-1000 macerator, a newer version of the one we have. Ours is harder to rebuild because the DC motor had to be removed to access the impeller and the springs & brushes were not easy to re-install. After finishing, I packed it away with the spares without testing it because it should not be run dry, but hopefully it will work if ever needed.

LED Light Fix
Since most of the day was spent fixing the macerator and it was too late to go ashore, I promised Karen we would spend an extra day on Moorea to make up for it, then tore into another project. A broken LED strip light had stopped working about a month ago. We have several of these on the boat and the broken one was one we mounted to a yardstick and used as a portable light. They have 40 high-intensity LEDs on a 12” strip that provides a lot of light—I used it when working on the engine and Karen used it when sewing. I was going to throw it away but decided to take it apart to see what I could find. Besides the 40 LEDs, the light contains a dozen components—resistors, capacitors, diodes, inductors, and a 5-pin controller. I found that one of the inductor leads was broken off from its solder pads. The wire-wound inductor was far too small and fragile for my big soldering iron, but I noticed that shorting the 2 pads with a screwdriver caused the LEDs to turn on. The inductor was right next to a capacitor, and one reason for it would be to low-pass filter a signal to remove noise. An open would not pass the signal on, whereas shorting the inductor would remove the filtering function but still pass the signal on. I tried soldering a wire across the pads, but was unable to get a good solder joint, so I cut a piece of metal from a terminal eye and taped it across the inductor pads. And so (being in French Polynesia) VOILA, it worked!

Bilge Pump Re-build
Another boat project! While searching for the macerator re-build kit, I found 2 kits for re-building a Jabsco 36600-0000 pump. We have 2 of these on the boat—one for the shower pump, which rarely gets used since we shower on deck, and one for the bilge pump, which gets used more often for pumping surface water from the bilge. These pumps, probably 30 years old, are diaphragm pumps driven by a DC motor via a belt. The re-build kit contained a valve set, diaphragm, pulsation dampers, and belt. As usual, removing the pump was the hardest part of the job since it lives in a tight spot in the lazerette.  The entire re-build took about 3 hours.

The 2-day passage from Rangiroa to Tahiti was mostly motoring with maybe 6 hours of sailing. The seas were calm but we went through some squalls where the wind went from less than 10 knots to more than 20 knots in a matter of a few minutes. The last 25 miles we saw 12 knot winds directly on the bow so we tacked back and forth to reach the new downtown Papeete marina.

Marina Papeete is brand new and not officially open yet. The finger docks can hold 75 boats and replaced the old wharf where anchoring and backing up to a sea wall (Med-mooring) was required. The marina allowed a dozen boats from Jimmy Cornell’s Blue-Planet-Odyssey Rally (a 4-year round the world rally with awareness on global changes to the earth’s environment) to dock during their visit to Tahiti and also made an exception for us and a few others. Since the rally boats left, there are currently only 5  boats using the marina! After checking in, we had our first real indoor shower since Puerto Vallarta–2 months ago.

Papeete is the largest metro area in the South Pacific. After spending nearly 8 weeks offshore and in the Marquesan islands and Tuamotu atolls, it seams like a big city, and marina Papeete is located right downtown.

Central Market
A five minute walk from the marina, the indoor market has stalls for fish, fruit and vegetables, flowers, and handicrafts. They also have fresh bbq pork and chicken that’s sold by the kilo, french pastries, and beverages. We bought pamplemouse, mangos, cucumber, eggplant, rambutan, pastries, sugar cane juice, bananas, bbq pork, and a hula outfit for Jacintha.

Notre-Dame Cathedral
We attended a church service at the cathedral, built in 1875 and restored in 2005. All the windows are stained-glass and inside is lots of incredible woodwork. The huge pipe organ and choir in the upper deck were amazing to listen to. The service was in French so we had no idea what it was about, but the experience was wonderful.

Medical Care Outside the US
During our first dive in Rangiroa, I scraped my ankle on some sharp coral and broke the skin. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but in the tropics, an open wound and being in the water a lot are a good combination for infections. Sure enough, a week later in Papeete the cut became infected and my ankle was painful and very swollen. We found a local medical clinic and after checking in at an outdoor window, I saw a physician after a 30 minute wait. At check-in, all they wanted was my name and where we were staying, no question about insurance or long forms to fill out. The doctor prescribed antibiotics after the nurse treated the cut, relieving some of the pressure by squeezing some fluid out. The charge was a mere $70 plus another $45 for the meds, ointment, and dressing.

Boat Repairs
Papeete is a good place to fix anything that needs it. There are 3 chandleries plus an Ace Hardware store, all within a half-mile of each other and about a mile from the marina. The chandleries are not anything like West Marine or Fisheries Supply, but the basic items can be found. I borrowed another curiser’s bike to make multiple trips, saving me lots of time. There’s also some labor services available for welding and diesel engine repair. Here’s some of the boat repairs and work we did during our stay in Papeete:

• Replaced the Genoa furling line that was chafed badly
• Changed the Racor filter
• Added cleats on the bowsprit for the whisker pole fore guy-lines
• Miscellaneous work on the wind vane
• Changed the engine fuel filter (fixed the low-RPM problem we were having)
• Did laundry (the manual way!)
• Re-filled propane tank
• Cleaned the dinghy

Rangiroa atoll is the largest atoll in the Tuamoto Archipelago, and the 2nd largest in the world. It’s 44nm long by 18nm wide, so if you were in the middle, it would seem like you were in the open ocean, except there would be no ocean swell. We arrived at 4am after an overnight sail from Manihi, so we hove-to a mile out until daybreak. A large schooner was also waiting for daylight to enter the pass and we contacted them on VHF to verify when slack water was. Like many, this atoll is tricky to enter since the published times for hi/low tides are also affected by wind. On windier days, the atoll fills up with more water than normal, which affects the timing of the current entering/exiting the atoll, as well as the magnitude of the current. We followed the 100’ schooner in at 8am under power with the wind from astern and a slightly ebbing current. The waves were steep but this pass is wide and deep, and after 10 minutes we were inside the huge lagoon in calm water. We anchored in 35’ of water at a popular sight among 2 dozen boats.

Snorkeling at the Aquarium

Just inside Tiputa pass, there’s a small motu called Nuhi Nuhi, about an acre in size, with a single palm tree on it.  A reef extending off the southern side, called the Aquarium, is a great place to snorkel. We tied the dinghy to a mooring ball and snorkeled around for an hour. The current was strong because of the southerly wind, so we had some difficulty returning to the dinghy. We saw lots of tropical reef fish, a Moray Eel, and colorful coral.

Scuba Diving

The Tuamotu will be one of the best dive sights we will be visiting, and Rangiroa has plenty of dive shops. Karen and I did our last dive in the Great Barrier Reef about 2 years ago, so we didn’t need an easy, refresher dive. We did 2 dives on different days with a friendly dive shop called Eleuthera Plongee of Rangiroa.  Both dives started just outside of Tiputa pass and ended inside the pass, drifting along with the incoming current. The reef was very alive and colorful and full of tropical fish.  At 65′ we saw a white-tipped reef shark http://sto..t/female-cialis/. Jacintha stayed ashore and had fun hanging out with kids from  Bob the Cat, a Kiwi family on a 48′ Catamaran who we first met in the Marquesas (Dave the captain and some of his crew did the dive with us). I used a GoPro Hero3 camera on the dives to take the pictures shown below.

The Blue Lagoon

The Blue Lagoon is an atoll within an atoll. Located near the SW corner of Rangiroa atoll and about 20 miles from our anchorage, the Blue Lagoon is a shallow lagoon less than a mile wide that’s surrounded by reefs and small motus. To save time and effort, we took a tour that departed on a fast powerboat from the anchorage in the morning, and returned in the early evening. It included lunch (BBQ chicken, poisson cru, fried fish, fruit, cake and drinks) that was prepared and served on one of the motus they used as camp. The snorkeling inside the lagoon was fair, but the scenery and setting were ideal. Jacintha had fun wading in the water among lots of small reef sharks. The group of about 25, mostly tourists from France, also walked along a shallow reef to a neighboring motu called Bird Island to see Frigates and other birds. On the way back from the Blue Lagoon, the boat stopped at an area where there are lots of sharks. manta rays, and reef fish. We snorkeled around the black-tipped reef sharks for an hour. Most were about 4-5’ in length, but a few that we saw were 8-10’. They were called Lemon Sharks and tended to swim under us at around 10’ below the surface. The photos were taken from a GoPro Hero3.

Jacintha Snorkeling at The Aquarium

Final Day in Manihi
Our 4th and final day in Manihi was spent relaxing and snorkeling in the turquoise, warm waters. The crew from another Seattle boat (SV Scintilla—Chris, Chris, Marcus, Cindy) joined us in the anchorage and snorkeled around the reef with us. We spotted lots of different reef fish and a moray eel. Jacintha is very comfortable snorkeling now and doesn’t use a life vest anymore. We just need to keep a close eye on her as she likes wondering off while exploring the reefs.

Fixing Dinghy Paddle
When there’s no Home Depot, West Marine, or even a basic hardware store within a few hundred miles, you learn to be creative if you need to fix something. When we were in Hiva-Oa, we had our dinghy tied to the concrete wall while we were touring the island. The surge pounded it against the rough concrete and broke off one of the aluminum oar handles. We went a few weeks without fixing it and luckily didn’t need it, but if the engine would ever fail, having 2 oars would be helpful to get back to the boat. So today I finally fixed it.

Yesterday while walking around a remote area of Manihi atoll, we found a couple of 3’ long metal pipes, about a foot longer than the aluminum tube that broke off the paddle. I used a hacksaw to cut off the damaged end of the aluminum tube, then shoved the metal pipe inside the tube about 1’, leaving 2’ sticking out which made it the same length as the original paddle. I drilled through the tube and pipe and used a 1-1/2” stainless steel machine screw, locknut, and washers to fasten it. Next I slid on the plastic collar that has a hole where the paddle pivots against the dinghy when rowing. The diameter of the collar was larger than the pipe, so I cut some rubber (from an old bicycle inner tube) to wrap around the pipe to make it fit tighter. Next I drilled through the pipe using the holes in the collar as a guide. On the end where your hand would be when using the paddle, I wrapped some more rubber inner tube around the pipe to make it a more grippable handle. Then I used rescue tape, which stretches and bonds to itself, to cover all the joints between the collar, pipe, and aluminum tube to cover up any sharp edges.. The whole project took about 90 minutes and now the paddle is strong and usable again.  Will try it out today when we go ashore to snorkel and gather coconuts!

Coconut Gathering
While anchored in a remote part of Manihi in the Tuamotus, we got serious about coconut gathering! We found a tree that was not too tall that had lots of young, green coconuts. Armed with a climbing harness, 50’ of rope, and a machete, we returned the tree with high hopes climbing to the top and hacking off cluster of coconuts. I tied an old coconut that was on the ground to the rope and tossed it over a branch near the top and pulled myself up. While holding my weight, I was able to twist off 3 or 4 coconuts before I had to lower myself back down to rest. My second attempt to climb up was less successful and I ended up on the ground on my back as the rope slid down the branch (obvious now from the photo). We found a long stick nearby that was perfect for reaching the coconuts from the ground. I broke off branches to make the end ‘V’ shaped and used it to push against the coconuts until they fell down. This method was far easier than climbing up, and I was able to drop another 9 coconuts. After jumping in the water to cool down, we chopped up one of the coconuts and enjoyed the refreshing coconut water and then ate the soft coconut meat. The remaining 12 we took back to the boat for future consumption.

Another Tooth
I was relaxing in the hammock reading on my Kindle and Jacintha decided to join me. While she was climbing in, her very loose tooth got bumped and fell out! This is her 2nd tooth to come out on the boat trip. The tooth fairy stopped by overnight and left her 500 French francs (about $5 US).

Misc. Boat Projects
During our stay in Manihi atoll, we did some boat maintenance. A thick, green layer of algae had formed along the waterline and a good scrubbing  was needed to remove it. I also cleaned and waxed most of the hull above the waterline while floating alongside in the dinghy.

During our Pacific Puddle Jump crossing, a water leak had developed in the head. The floor was constantly wet with saltwater, which we thought was from leaking chainplates or a thru-hull fitting, since the deck was constantly wet. At anchorage I discovered the leak was actually coming from the toilet intake, so I dug out a gasket from the head rebuild kit and that fixed the leak.

Karen finished modifying the dinghy chaps (canvas sun protection) that we had made for us in La Cruz. There were 2 cutouts for the oar on the port side that were missed, so she cut the circles and lined them with vinyl, the same way the others were done. We then fit the chaps onto the dinghy.

I spent 2 hours free-diving to clean the boat bottom, scraping the barnacles off the propeller and hull. It was the first good cleaning since La Cruz, Mexico. I noticed the bow thruster zincs were gone so will replace them at the next stop.

Nuku-Hiva is the administrative center of the Marquesas, with air service to Tahiti. We had a nice 28 mile sail here from Ua-Pou with just the main and genoa and Ian doing most of the steering. We dropped anchor in Taiohae Bay–a large, fairly well-protected bay on the south side of Nuku-Hiva. A small cafe next to the dinghy pier had wifi and is where we spent a considerable amount of time uploading pictures from the 23-day crossing and our visits to 3 other islands. They had refreshing orange, pinapple, pamplemousse juice, french baked goods, chicken and fish, coffee, etc, so we sat and ate and drank and used wifi.

In the evening, we went to an outdoors children’s native dance/drum competition.  Kids from several islands dressed in colorful outfits and performed haka dance which combines dancing and chanting. There was food cooked on outdoor BBQs so we ate dinner while watching the performance.

Nick caught a ride to the small airport on the north end of Nuku-Hiva, where he boarded a flight to Tahiti.  He booked a room in Papeete for 1 night, then will fly to New Zealand for a week before heading back to England.  Nick was with us for a week in Mexico, the 23-day crossing to French Polynesia, and 12 days in the Marquesas. He and Jacintha bonded well and he really lightened the load on Karen and I. We enjoyed having him aboard!

One evening we went to a native dance show that was inside a building near the anchorage. A dinner of Marquesan-style food was served prior to the dancing, which was a nice variety as shown in the pictures below.

We spent 2 days at a quiet bay called Taioa (also known as Daniels Bay) just 6 miles west of Taiohae,  The highlight was a trek to a waterfall with the crew from Family Circus. The hike took 2-1/2 hrs each way with river crossings and rocky terrain, but was well worth the effort. The 250-meter high waterfall was at the end of a narrow, steep canyon. The deep pool of cold water was refreshing after the long hike. The top of the falls wasn’t visible since it cascaded down several rock faces and you had to swim around some large boulders to reach the area where the water fell. On the way back we stopped at one of the few houses and bought fruit  (mangos, pamplemousse, coconuts) from the owners, who asked what we wanted and then picked them off their trees. The couple are relatives of a well-known man Daniel, who passed away a few years ago and to whom the bay was named after.

We up-anchored and motored back to Taiohae Bay to provision and re-fuel in preparation for our next venture—a 3-day passage to the Tuamotus, once called the Dangerous Archipelago. The atolls there have lagoons surrounded by fringe reefs and  are only about as tall as  coconut trees, so you don’t see them until you’re 5 miles away. There’s usually 1 or 2 passes to get inside the atolls and timing is very important because of the strong currents.

Hi from Apropos anchored on Ua-Pou island, our 3rd stop in the Marquesas. We left a very crowded but fun anchorage on Hiva-Oa mid-day yesterday for the 75 mile sail to Hakahau Bay on Ua-Pou, where there are only 2 other boats anchored. Our guidebook says this is one of the most “dramatic” islands with the tall rocket-shaped rock formations around the bay. We arrived at 7am and plan to stay here 2 days, then on to Nuku-Hiva, our final stop in the Marquesas, and Nick’s jumping off point.

The beauty of this place (and the fact that we’re in the South Pacific) makes the pain endured over the past 24 hours worth it! As we up-anchored yesterday, we fouled the prop with a line from the wind vane (capt’s mistake) just as the anchor was aboard. Being in such a crowded anchorage, we quickly dropped the anchor back down to keep us from drifting into any of our neighbors. I dove down and after 10 minutes was able to free the line from the propeller shaft. In the process, my hands, arms, and back got bloodied from scraping against the razor-sharp barnacles on the hull (there was a lot of chop so the boat was bouncing around a lot). Then for the next 12 hours we motored and motor-sailed through confused seas to get to Ua-Pou. Confused seas with little wind are a bad combination because the boat rolls a lot, making it difficult to sleep. We shortened the watches to 3-hours and used the electric auto pilot to steer since the engine was running. We poled out the genoa and had the main up until the wind went below 5 kts, then lowered the main at 4am. About 30 minutes from the bay a squall came through and soaked us, so we arrived tired and wet. But hey, like I said, we’re in a beautiful anchorage now in the South Pacific and the past 24-hours are in the past… We decided not to go ashore and just relax on the boat and swim in the water. Going to shore means preparing the dinghy (uncovering, inflating, and lowering into the water) and lowering the engine from the stern brackets down into the dinghy. Our 2nd day here was full of rain showers. Karen did laundry and had the clothes drying on lines and every time they were almost dry another shower came through. We collected lots of fresh rainwater running off the bimini and from atop the dinghy cover and Jacintha had fun playing with the water. The entire bay turned a muddy brown from the water runoff from ashore. The swell coming through the anchorage got worse and overnight our anchor alarm went off. At 3am we only had 8’ of water under our keel and were getting closer to a rocky shore so we up-anchored and moved to deeper water. This was the first time we drug anchor and had to re-anchor. I think it was a combination of bad holding (sounded like the chain was scraping on a rocky bottom) and the large swell and wind. We woke up tired to a very steep swell coming into the bay and decided it was time to get out of there!

Hi from Apropos in Hiva-Oa. We up-anchored from Fatu-Hiva at 7am and set sail for the largest of the Marquesan Islands, Hiva-Oa, the official port of entry. We sailed in light winds most of the way and arrived at 5pm to a full anchorage with a dozen boats, many of them from the Pacific Puddle Jump rally who we are friends with. Chris and Heather from Family Circus stopped by in the evening to exchange stories of our crossings. Jacintha was thrilled to see her two good friends and they played in the “v-berth club” while the adults talked in the cockpit. Family Circus is a fast Catamaran and did the crossing in 19 days and they’ve been in Hiva-Oa for a week so gave us lots of good information–where to find wifi, banks, pizza, tours, etc. We plan to spend about 5 days here before moving on to the next island. Tomorrow we will visit the Gendarme, the official who checks you into the country, then go to a bank to get some French francs and explore the town, which is a few miles from the anchorage. The only gas station on the island is next to the anchorage so it’s easy to hitchhike a ride into town.

We did the official check-in with the gendarme so we’re now legal and can stay in French Polynesia for up to 90 days. Afterwards we walked around the small town and found an internet cafe, small grocery store, hardware store, and a few restaurants. We bought some french baguettes and ate them with butter, cheese, and prochiutto for dinner. Today we went on a full-day tour of Hiva-Oa. Our guide Pifa, who also works as a fireman, grew up on Hiva-Oa but spent time in the states and spoke English. He drove us in a 4-wheel drive SUV from the south end of the island to the west end and then the north end along narrow winding roads that were mostly dirt and rock (felt like we were back on the boat!). We stopped at a recently discovered solitary Tiki that dates back to 50AD! At another Tiki sight from the 1800s there were a half dozen stone Tikis along with other stone arrangements and Pifa explained what each one symbolized as well as some historical facts about the site. He then lead Nick and I through the beginning part of a Haka dance, the ancient warrior dance that’s still performed at dance festivals throughout French Polynesia. Another stop was at the house of one of his Uncles (Pifa’s grandfather had 20-some kids and he joked that half the island were his cousins). The courtyard had mango, starfruit, banana, lime, pamplemousse, and breadfruit trees. We sampled some homemade vinegar and salted limes. A short distance down the road he stopped the truck at his cousins house and came out with cups of frozen mango juice and fried banana bread. The road continued along the coastline going around beautiful bays. Between the bays we were traveling on winding roads along steep cliffs many hundreds of feet above the sea. Much of the land we traveled through belonged to someone in his extended family. Hundreds of goats were on the hillsides or along the road. We stopped at one point where Jacintha got to hold a few-day old goat, and sit on an adult goat http://pong.uwstout.edu..ml! At the far north end of the island, where the road ended, we stopped at a house that cooked us lunch–fresh mango juice, plantain, breadfruit, fried banana, coconut something for appetizers; goat meat, raw fish (poisson cru), pig, and beef for mains. This was a great sampling of Marquesan style dishes with all locally grown/raised/caught ingredients. With full bellies, we drove another hour before stopping at a nice bay for a swim. We had fun playing in the waves, and Pifa cut some fresh mangos and a young coconut for us to enjoy. While we were drying off, he taught us how to make a fish on a fishing pole by weaving a coconut palm leaf. I’m sure I left out some things, but that gives you a taste of the tour, which began at 9:30am and we returned at 5:30pm. Pifa then even offered to take us to his Uncles restaurant for Pizza, and picked us back up at 7:00pm (we just had enough time to dinghy to the boat and turn on the anchor light). A dozen other Puddle Jumpers who we knew were also there so we joined them at a big table for dinner. Jacintha fell asleep soon after eating and had to be carried away. Pifa drove us back to the anchorage where we managed to launch the dinghy in the dark (with a sleeping Jacintha) and motor back to the boat for a great night’s sleep.

Compared to yesterday’s all-day island tour, we had a more relaxing day today. The highlight (for me anyhow) was getting a tattoo. When I planned this trip over 5 years ago, I had in mind I would get a tattoo in the Marquesas, in the traditional symbolic style they are known for. I discussed what I wanted with Pifa (our island guide) while we were at his uncle’s pizza restaurant and thought more about it overnight. Pifa picked us up in the morning and drove us to his cousin Piu’s tattoo shop and translated to him what I wanted. I chose a band around my upper right arm with Polynesian symbols–sailboat, my 3 kids, Karen, safe voyage, Marquesan cross, sharks teeth, and the sea). Aside from the sailboat, the other symbols are harder to recognize, but make sense once you know what they are. Karen took pictures during and after and the whole thing took about 2 hours. We also did some much needed boat cleaning today, then took the dinghy to the pier where there was a food truck cooking meals. Jacintha had a hotdog and fries, and the adults shared 2 huge plates of coconut shrimp with rice. The food truck shows up here once a week and a lot of locals and a handful of cruisers stopped by for dinner. We were thinking about moving on tomorrow, but the grib (gridded binary wind info) files show better winds on Sunday, so we may stay here another day. The anchorage is very crowded with 1 or 2 boats arriving daily, and few leaving! It’s a lot of fun since we know about half of the boats and exchange stories with them about our crossings. Everyone puts down a bow and stern anchor to reduce swing and allow boats to anchor closer together. We had never used a stern anchor before, but bought one (along with 50′ of chain and 100′ rope) when we were in San Diego so are glad to finally make use of it.