Baie d’Haane, Ua Huka, Marquises, French Polynesia 3 Dec 2011 08S55 139W32
I think I left you at Thanksgiving. We were in Fatu Hiva. My computer had died (that wound has not totally healed, but I’m working on it). After we sailed to Tahuata where we spent a little under a week, Frank caught a cold somehow (tis the season even here). So it was a lay low week, with few excursions and lots of school. Then yesterday we’d planned a quick two-hour sail to the north side of Hiva Oa, but the east winds had shifted slightly north of east, turning our desired anchorage into a windy rolly lee shore. A little disappointed, we sheeted in the sails and turned north for a full day sail to Ua Huka. We attempted the same trip last year, and on arriving were forced on to Nuku Hiva by a healthy swell and winds (just south of east). We were thinking the same thing may have been in store for us yesterday, but the slightly north bent to the wind was enough to make this anchorage more comfortable this year. We arrived just after sunset – enough light to see for anchoring, but otherwise only the silhouette of a very intimidating looking coast was visible.
It is a dry rocky dramatic coast. At the mouth of the bay where we’re anchored now, there is a huge rock – Logan says it’s an island since there is a little vegetation on it’s tippy top. He also declared that it looks like the California Channel Islands here, a mix of Ana Capa, Santa Barbara Island and San Miguel. I have to agree there’s a bit of California in this view. That one big rock at the bay entrance reminds me of Morro Rock, only it’s not connected by a causeway to land. But here, just behind the ominous looking California-like coast, there lies a stereotypical volcanic rimmed tropical paradise with a giant, lush, verdant, swooping, palm-tree-filled valley. On approaching yesterday, you could almost see a line between the tropical island landscape behind – where the peaks in the middle of the island wring the water out of the clouds – and the rocky fingers of hostile coast in front which are left parched. They are some tall peaks, so they must do some serious wringing. The cliffs at the edge are home to millions of seabirds; the rats must be content with the coconuts in the valley behind, leaving the perilous cliff nests alone. After all, what good is a fresh egg if you can’t wash it down right away with some coconut milk. So the seabirds flourish here like nowhere I’ve seen since leaving New Zealand’s Chatham Islands.
We’re hoping for a quick shore trip today, but the landing looks rough, and the weather report is now predicting that the fickle wind will shift to just south of east and pick up a bit tonight. Such a shift (and increase) could be unpleasant at midnight, so we may just haul anchor and head over to Nuku Hiva at noon. We’ll be in the Marqueses for awhile, and it’s a short sail back here. So with a better forecast for longer northeast winds we could spend a little time here. Also, we have a dear friend arriving in Nuku Hiva on December 8. It’s our first visit from a stateside friend onboard, and a first visit from my side of the aisle (the U.S. side), since New Zealand (when my mom came in January, and my dad and Betty in February), so I’m pretty excited. We’re nearly there Leo! And my goodness, we’re nearly at the end of year-two! I’m not quite sure when that happened (I guess sometime after year-one).
xoxomo