last time we left you we had just arrived and checked in to the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia after an epic sail half way across the Pacific from Panama. This time we will show you a little bit of the Marquesas that we have seen so far.
First impressions …. amazing! This really is a wild, beautiful and unspoilt place. They are some of the remotest islands in the world and the wildlife and sea life has been wonderful to behold. This is the stuff we dreamed about doing for all those years and both of us wake up in the morning and have to pinch ourselves when we remember where we are!
Truth be told though, we haven’t done a lot since we got here! having checked in at Atuona, the next day we tracked down the one sailmaker in these islands at the local boat yard and delivered our Genoa to be repaired. It would take a couple of weeks for this to happen, he seemed to have a lot of work piled up form all the other boats arriving also with ripped sails!
The anchorage in Atuona is not the best from a comfort point of view as a large swell comes in to the bay almost continuously and all the boats spin around in the light fickle winds. What feels like a large percentage of the time then, you find the boat side on to the swell and Azimuth starts what we like to call her “death rolls” where she wobbles violently from side to side with things on counters going everywhere. Not a lot of fun.
So whilst we waited for the sail to be repaired, we decided to go 10 miles round the corner to the island of Tahuata ana a wonderful anchorage in Hanamoenoa Bay. Many other boats had the same idea as us, so it was busy, but that didn’t really retract from the ambiance of the place.
And so that has been our home for the last three weeks apart from a couple of small side trips.
For one of those side trips we thought we would head down to another island called Fatu Hiva where there is another spectacular anchorage. To get there is a 48 mile upwind sail. All we had was our hank on jib because the Genoa was in for repair. We tried and failed to get upwind at the required angle that day, so instead we sailed around Tahuata. We were glad we did, it was spectacular!
We dropped the anchor about 2 miles from where we started in a a place called Vaitahu. This had the promise of a shop and a little restaurant too. When we entered the bay the winds were wild! 25 knots were blowing off the huge ridge at the back of the bay. The next day we looked at taking the dinghy in to see the town but we were defeated by the swell and the strong winds. The landing dock was rough concrete and we didn’t want to damage the dinghy anymore than it already was!
So we headed back to Hanamoenoa Bay instead!
After another side trip to Atuona to go and collect our sail, we rendezvoused back at Hanamoenoa to finally meet up with our friends on Coral Moon and catch up again after being apart for a month and a half. Their trip across the Pacific had been very eventful. One of the rigging wires broke on the mast about 1000 miles from the Marquesas which meant they had to drastically reduce sail and slow right down. It was horrendous for them. The sea state and slow speed meant the boat was rolling all over the place. This started to have a bad affect on the rest of the rig and Mark noticed that the wire opposite the one that had already broken was starting to fray too, meaning more anguish for them. Whilst they didn’t doubt that Coral Moon would eventually make it, they didn’t want the nightmare of losing the mast.
At some point late one night, they noticed that a large superyacht pop up on AIS about 16 miles behind them, almost on the same course. Mark radioed them, explained his situation and asked if they could spare some fuel so that Coral Moon could motor the last 200 hundred miles or so to the Marquesas.
They agreed and they recorded this amazing video of doing a fuel transfer at sea in jerry cans on a raft. Mark is on the raft, handing the cans up to Donna on deck. The conditions were horrendous. Middle of the night, squally, and Coral Moon is experiencing death rolls side on to the swell. What an amazing effort from all involved!
They transferred 150 litres of diesel in total and that meant Coral Moon could motor all the way and drop anchor in the North of Hiva Oa.
In the two weeks it took us to get our sail repaired, whilst we sat in Hanamoenoa relaxing, Donna and Mark organised for two new rigging wires to be made in Tahiti. Donna got on a plane from Hiva Oa and collected the wires returning back again a few days later and then they fitted the new wires at anchor.
An amazing effort!
So when we met up, it was great to catch up and relax for a few days together and swap stories about are trips across the pacific. We went to the beach and chilled and they managed to capture my epic canoe fail when trying to launch from the beach! Well it was quite wavy ok?
We also got to swim with Manta Rays again. This time there were 6 of them in the water. Mark took this video
Finally we got itchy feet and decided to head North to the island of Nuku Hiva. It was an overnight sail from Tahuata, about 90 miles. The wind was fickle for the first few hours but then it settled down for a lovely sail. Here’s some shots of our approach to Nuku Hiva, Anaho Bay. Its another amazing anchorage, but that will have to wait for the next post!
Catch you next time as we explore more of the Marquesas
Transferring the fuel across that looked like good seamanship but a bit doggie. I would have liked to have done what you are doing 40 years ago but not today my bones would not put up with it. Seeing some great places. 1960 we laid off and used lifeboats to ferry passengers and crew ashore some islands going in with lifeboats were fun with the swell.
What amazing videos and photos! Looks very special, if a little tricky to navigate! Keep them coming……..