" A LADY TRIP " Sailing around the World, ( presently in " Fatu Hiva " the Marquesses Islands , South Pacific,)

A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Tue 30 Mar 2010 19:00
MONDAY 29th  MARCH  2010
 
06.30hrs  The skipper was first to appear on deck,
shortly after we got going on the computer, sending and recieving emails, ( early morning post )
By the way, there is no time adjustments for summer / winter down here, so now we are just -8.5 hrs  to Ireland and the U.K.
Skipper spoke to son Paul back home on the sat phone, He is still very upset over the death of his friend " Dave O 'Flynn "
Dave died from an Astma attack while on a buisness trip to Hong Kong,  R. I. P.
 
Still lots of sad news from home, " Murray O' Leary " , Architects seem to be in trouble, and also " Howard Holdings "
Leah keeps saying that 2012 is too early to come home, maybe she is right................
 
09.30hrs,  We hauled the 2 anchors, this took some time as the stern anchor had wrapped around another anchor chain,
We untied ourselves from " Dreamcatcher" and Aileen held the boat inside the harbour while Donal and Skipper lifted the rib out
of the water, not easy with only one derick working, but we managed, Donal did most of the hauling while the skipper did the puffing and the panting.
 
10.30hrs  We had everything all shipshape so headed out to sea on a S.E. course to " Fatu Hiva "  a small Island just about 45 miles away.
the wind was Easterly , blowing 18 / 24 knots, so we put 1 reef in the main, and just used the Staysail, along with a helping hand from the
engine, so we averaged around 7.5 knots
Beautifull sailing conditions , and also sailing in that beautifull deep blue water again,, magic, pure magic.
 
1400.hrs  A light lunch of the lovely cold belly pork , served up by Donal, ( sometimes he proves very usefull, he really does, really, despite his size )
A few naps later and we are almost at our destination, Oh my God, !  the view is spectacular. The sheer rock formation and vegitation, is
something to behold. not to mention the light and shade on the mountains, Sooooooo   lovely
 
The flying fish around here are huge, the size of Mackeral, and plenty of them around. popping out of the sea and skimming across the surface
for approx 200m at an amazing speed before popping back into the water again. ( they must think that " A  LADY " is a big predator )
 
17.00hrs We dropped anchor in the " Bay of Virgins "  just outside the village of  Hanavave,
Skipper went for a swim, while Aileen and Donal went ashore to survey the scene,
 
18.30 hrs we were joined on board by Dave and Sue from  " Voyageur" for a G & T , and stayed for the Lasagne dinner ,
This was prepared by the Skipper, and included Carrotts, and Mash,   ( I think the standards are slipping )
The carrots are grown locally and are just beautifull.
 
An early night after a great and interesting day.
 
 
Signed   Stephen Hyde,    ( skipper )