We have  sailed the 50 nm up to Hiva Oa to check in with the Marquesan authorities we spent a few nights in Atuona on Hiva Oa, the main provincial centre and a French military outpost in the Southern Marquesas.

Glenn and Chris enjoying some great tradewind sailing on the way up to Hiva Oa

Hiva Oa is a much larger island with a sizeable town and a number of small villages, it feels like a metropolis after the small sleepy delights of Fatu Hiva. But once again we have been met with nothing but  friendly helpful people. After the difficulties experienced in Ecuadorian Galapagos the ease of check in with the local Gendarmerie who handled both customs and immigration came as something of a pleasant shock. The young female gendarme handled all the formalities, quickly and hassle free, gave us our permits and both the guys their exit documents and wished us a pleasant stay in their islands, explaining what we needed to do as we sailed across French Polynesia and when to apply for our visa extensions. How officialdom should be, pleasant, free of fear or threat and there to serve the people.

Glenn has now left us to return home to Canada and flew out of the small but modern airport on Hiva Oa. Chris flies out next week and Trish flies in to resume her adventures a day or so later.

I really miss her and it will be great to be together again but she would have hated the pacific crossing with its continuous rolling and lack of sleep.

Remember she is really a Sloth and needs at least 18 hours sleep a day!!!!

Chris and I have sailed the few miles over to Tahuata and another  beautiful bay, this time with a long sweep of golden sands.

Curious alone at anchor in Hana Moe Noa

Although we are on the leeward side of the island out of the prevailing winds the pacific swell is constant and to get ashore we had to take the dinghy and anchor off the beach just outside of the breaking waves, dropping over the side of the dinghy to swim ashore.

This was the first beach that I have ever  been on that did not have some form of manmade rubbish in the form of plastic bottles, old fishing line, nets, flip flops, etc. Not a single piece of flotsam or jetsam, not a single discarded coke can or plastic bag. Bliss.

Chris who is not a great swimmer and after his encounters with sharks and other creatures of the deep has developed even further his healthy respect for things that he cannot see beneath the waves.

On our return along the beach I pointed out a small, baby, (18 inches long) Black Tipped Reef Shark swimming around our feet, Chris’s first comment was....where’s its mother???????? and proceeded to swim to the dinghy like Mark Spitz on steroids and Red Bull and shot out of the water and into the dinghy like a Trident missile from a nuclear submarine........No chance of getting him to clean the hull tomorrow!