April 1 Friday
We visited the island of Tahuata and stayed at Hanamoenoa Bay. This was beautiful clear water and we did some snorkeling and rested for a couple of days.
On the Sunday morning we went down to a bay that had a church because we had heard that the singing is something not to be missed. When we got there it started raining extremely heavily and the dingy dock from reports of others is quite dangerous in rough weather so we decided to stay on the boat.
With the heavy rain the river running into the bay soon bought rubbish, logs and brown water so we went back to the bay we came from.
The next island was Ua-Pou which we sailed to overnight arriving about 7:30 in the morning. The bay of Hakakau had small village and some shops where we got some provisions. I purchased a card to access the internet, $5 or an hour. It was very slow. Later that day we discovered a free wifi at a local library/new agent. After a few hours a few more of the rally people joined us, all for the free wifi. Then the owner of the library/news agent turned off his internet as we were all taking up too much of his bandwidth and nobody was buying any of his French magazines.
We do miss Starbucks, not for the dishwater they call coffee but for the free wifi.
Next island was Nuku-Hiva. We intended to go to Mataohotu Bay because it was given a pretty good rating in some guide information we had received from the rally staff. However the winds were a little low and we would not have made it until dusk or maybe after that. Going into these bays late in the afternoon is not wise because you cannot judge the depth of the water in front of you and the charts are not that accurate. So we did the prudent thing and stopped at a much closer bay in this case it was Controleur bay. This was a large bay with plenty of room for the 8-10 yachts present. We had a great happy hour that extended until late on Wishanger II. The next day we were treated to a swim with several large manta rays.
The next day I tried to help one of the other yachts get their outboard working. It had no spark. We were not successful in getting it going so lent him our spare electric outboard motor that we bought with us from Australia. They were very appreciative and today dropped off 4 bars of chocolate to me. Somehow they knew I liked chocolate. This was like receiving gold.
About a week ago I succumbed to temptation and bough a small bar of Toblerone. It looked so nice in its familiar packaging. After leaving the store I opened the wrapping. I did not need a knife to cut it, I needed a straw to drink it. Very bad choice of a treat. I should have gone for the ice cream.
Today we had a short motor to Taiohae Bay where all the yachts in the fleet are to rendezvous tomorrow for the skippers briefing and prize giving for the previous leg. We were welcomed by several dolphins. Two of which baby dolphins swimming with them. We are getting very low on water and had the water maker running as we motored to Taiohae Bay.We tried to pull up to the fuel dock but were waved away because it was closed from 12:00-2:00pm.
We anchored temporarily as we intended to go back for fuel at 2:00pm. Within a few minutes it was pouring down with rain. We set up a tarpaulin to catch the valuable rain water. While doing this the wind swung round 180 degrees. We were getting very close to another yacht that had a stern anchor so it did not swing in the wind like us. Judging by the whites of the owners eyes and fear on the crews faces, it was time for us to bid a hasty retreat. So we hauled up the anchor and anchored further out in 60 feet of water. It keep raining and we caught enough water to fill the empty starboard tank. That is about 600 litres ( 142 Gallons). The tarpaulin was spread over the trampoline. It was almost raining faster than we could bucket it into the tank. There was a risk that the weight of the water on the trampoline would damage it, so we had to work fast.
You may wonder why this water is so valuable. To make 600 litres of water means that I have to run the water maker for 10 hours. We are not sailing, it is cloudy so the solar panels do not generate much power, which means that I have to run the diesel generator for about the same time to avoid running the batteries flat. So free fresh rain water is a real bonus. We can now fire up the washing machine tomorrow and do some washing. Fresh clothes and sheets, another real bonus, see how water flows in more ways than one.
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