Safe arrival
Fleck
Sat 10 May 2008 19:28
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Date 10th May
Position 10:28S 138:40W
The Bai de Vierges, more commonly known as
Hanavave bay, after the settlement here. The bay was originally the Bai of
Verges (penises) but the missionaries were displeased and changed the name
to Vierges (virgins).
Arrived here late yesterday after the usual 'why
arn't we there yet?' adventures with acceleration zones, and calms around the
Island.
Found many old friends her: Gaviota, and Margarita
from Isabella, and several other familiar looking yachts including UPS: part of
our raft in the Panama Canal. There are relatively few yachts in the Pacific
campared to the Caribbean, but also fewer anchorages, maybe we will continue to
meet up.
This anchorage leaves me struggling, yet again, for
superlatives. Huge cliffs all around us stretch up into the clouds, very
verdant, and then there are these remarkable rock formations which so impressed
the natives! There are also very strong gusts of wind, poor holding on
a rocky bottom, and 9 boats very close together, on the shelf of shallow water
which drops dramatically away to 80 meters about 100 metres
offshore.
Quote from the Lonely Planet Guide: Fatu Hiva is
the Island of Superlatives: the most remote, the furthest South, the wettest,
the lushest and the most authentic.
There are indeed no shops here, and the natives
will trade fruit in exchange for useful stuff. I havn't been through this
process yet, but will stick to tinned fruit I think rather than exchange my
spare genoa sheets (Conny, you don't need to know how much yacht ropes cost) for
some bananas.
Looking forward to a four hour hike to a big
waterfall tomorrow, then we all have to troop off to the next Island and confess
that we came to this little paradise without clearing into Polynesia first of
all (to avoid a sail in the 'wrong' direction).
Last night slept for a very long time, it wasn't so
much the absence of rollling as the almost complete silence: a sailing boat
sailing is actually very noisy, even with the mainsail stowed away! Could also
have been the effect of my first can of beer!
Cheers
Richard
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