Arrived on Nuka Hiva

Thursday 3rd April

We arrived to Nuka Hiva this morning at dawn, around 6 am. I couldn't see the land, which should be visible from 30+ miles away due to the heavy cloud and poor visibility. Also it was dark and moonless. About 5 miles off a high lump of land appeared out of the gloom, got the right island again!!

This place presumably has a flat runway for the airport, but everything else is either vertical or almost vertical with large water cut gulleys running down the sides. There is a lot of wooded land that we can see from the anchorage in the bay. This is a larger island and more developed than Hiva Oa, and very different in topograpy. It is more rugged and has black sand on the beach here. I would say that this island was created by many more volcanoes than the others we have seen so far. There are broken craters and rim walls everywhere you look. A real challenge to mountain bikers and hill walkers!

We are all very tired today due to lack of sleep. It was rolly and irregular on the crossing last night, some wind, up to 20 knots, but fluky, so we had to rig a boom preventer to stop the slopping main crashing around due to the waves rolling the boat. I took the 3-6AM watch for the landfall so am especially tired. To give ourselves a break we're off out to dinner this evening.

I worked on the watermaker this afternoon and, with some judicious re-wiring, I have it producing water again. Only on one pump though so 30 litres/hour, not the 60 that both pumps would produce.Another email to Italy to see if I can get both working. 1/2 a loaf is better than none.