Anaho Bay, Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands

We have been anchored in this large, idyllic bay for a week now. As our new friend Guy aboard 'Street Legal' says, "We’re stuck in the vortex of Anaho Bay" & can't seem to leave. There are 3 white sand beaches, large rock spires on the surrounding mountains, numerous coconut palms & coral reefs. There are no roads into here & no real development so it is nice & quiet. There are 3 other boats here: 2 from US and 1 from UK. Interestingly, one US boat is from Hilton Head, SC & the other is the brand new 65' motor sailor, Convergence, belonging to the chairman of West Marine. Convergence is a state of the art vessel. We toured the yacht & were impressed by her technology (including lots of solar panels to power a washer/dryer & dishwasher!), as well as her aesthetics including beautiful interior cherry woodwork. You can read about it in the front of the 2004 West Marine catalog. They sailed from Santa Cruz, CA with 3 children on board including 4 year-old twins.

Bob’s side note for boat enthusiasts: This tour also gave me the perfect opportunity to bend the ear of the chairman of my favorite toy store (and largest boat supply store in the world) about my last order. We had ordered $400 worth of goodies while underway via FedEx priority service with S&H cost of $184. When we later got word from our local friend Rose - whose address we are using - that our package was in, we were thrilled. Imagine our disappointment when we found the package contained only a few plastic wire ties worth $5.00 and a freight charge of $92 on top of it! After a, hmmm, “strong” email from me to Claudia, the order taker handling the order at West Marine, she insisted the package in total was already delivered and signed for by Rose. As it turned out, the shipment had been split in parts from two of their warehouses. Claudia, had simply split the total charge between each box and that’s why the first one was for $92. Whew! I had several emails up the chain of command to get the low down and luckily found that this cost us no extra. Claudia just wanted us to have our wire ties pronto even if it cost her company an extra $77 for the separate shipment. Unfortunately for us, Claudia is curiously no longer employed by the company. And as it turns out, Fed Ex is to blame now for the delayed package which is awaiting us with Rose. Now after telling the chairman my story with emphasis on the excessive shipping and handling charges, he remarked, “Well how do you expect us to make any money”.

With the company of Anne & Peter gone, its nice to report that we have found that our cockpit is like a front porch of another era where neighbors come by to visit with no need for an invitation. The cruising community is definitely a friendly one as we have always read. Our social life has included a beach BBQ with other cruisers & dinner onboard Althea with our new friends Guy & Anika and many boat side visits.

We have spent our time snorkeling & checking out the colorful fish on the reef, swimming, & exploring ashore. And, Bob has found this to be a nice location for an office for working a bit. We continue to enjoy the free local culinary treats that we get straight from the trees: limes that are very similar to key limes, small sweet bananas & pamplemouse (huge green-skinned grapefruits). Teiki and Louise are very generous! We have also had a local goat dish which was quite good. In fact, there are lots of mountain goats in this bay - they seem to hang on the rocks that drop very steeply into the bay. We tried our 1st local lobster at lunch in a beachside village after a good hike across the mountain where we also visited an ancient archaeological site of Hikokua This was a cultural gathering place & festival site complete with tikis (statues of gods) and large rock pits that were built for storing food as well as people to be sacrificed.

We are still savoring the ahi tuna that we bought filets for $2 a pound in our last anchorage, a much better value than the local Hinano beer which is actually $2.50 a can - from the grocery store! If we wanted free seafood, we could have taken advantage of an offer from local fisherman for the octopus they speared on the reef. As Bob had note in his cruiser’ fishing boat, the octopus is killed when the fisherman bites into his face – just as we saw these guys do it. Yuk!

Our cruising community has extended to include other boats on a regional radio net known as Polly-Needs-Ya (read Polynesia). The net is essentially like an internet chat room for boats cruising across all over French Polynesia. It comes on the single side band radio each morning. This net allows yachts underway to check in with their position; weather updates from afar, reports on anchorages, & miscellaneous info like which black pearl farms are best to visit.

We now plan to leave Anaho Bay tomorrow to go back to the main town of Taiohae to pick up our spreader, mail, & laundry. We will then be underway to possibly one more Marquesan island, Ua Pou. We will then make a 3-4 day passage to the Tuamotos which is a large archipelago of coral atolls. These atolls were formed from submarine volcanoes that grew to the sea’s surface before sinking & leaving a large ring of coral & sand with lagoons in the middle; the tallest site to spot from sea is a coconut palm. We look forward to good snorkeling & clear waters. After exploring those atolls, we hope to make it Papeete, Tahiti in time for the last part of fete which coincides with Bastille Day. The 3 week celebration includes traditional Polynesian dancing & music competitions.

Signing off for now....Courtney