Staying on Tahuata

Wednesday 2nd April

We have just had the most relaxing and enjoyable 3 days here. The first two were spent in a tiny bay indented into the island just to the south of Hiva Oa. We anchored here in company with another Jeanneau 49 from the WARC. Time was spent swimming, snorkeling and Shin had a dive. I lent him my tank as he does not have his own one. We all had a BBQ on the beach last night. No moon unfortunately, but an awful lot of stars about.

Today we both moved on to the largest town on the island, approx. 100 people. On shore we found a shop with much better prices than Hiva Oa! Not too dificult to achieve. Also there was a beautiful church with the best stain glass Madonna & Child behind the altar. As there was nowhere to eat, we all returned to BlueFlyer. On the way back to the boat we were called over by a fisherman to his boat. He had an engine problem, so I said I would return in 5 minutes. On my return he explained that he had a repaired fuel injection pump that they had just fitted, but the engine would not run. On checking it I found he had timed it to the wrong cylinder. During lunch we herard the engine fire up and run sweetly. Mission accomplished!

It is now 6.30 PM and we are sailing towards Nuka Hiva. We should arrive just after dawn to anchor in our chosen bay.

The island we have just left is called Tahuata and is simply the most beautiful spot you can imagine. The beaches are all immaculate white sand surrounded by stately palm trees, and the locals are so friendly too. The anchoring is excellent with good holding in the sand and we can go to within 100 metres of the shore. I hope the rest of the islands we will see are as good as this one. Hiva Oa was not nearly as good.