09:48.25S 139:01.8W

We arrived yesterday after a very lumpy 3 hour motor against the waves.  We had intended to come the day before, however the conditions were considerably more turbulent and we weren’t up for that much of a fight through water that thinks it is in a washing machine.

We had been warned that this is a difficult anchorage for a number of reasons.  It is rolly, but nothing compared to what we experienced in Galapagos or Panama so no problem there.

It is crowded.  Ah.  Not something we like at all.  Apparently so crowded that the form is to put  out a stern anchor.  The procedure for this on Tashi Delek was as follows:

1.   Motor into the harbour and choose your spot. 

2.   Motor out of the harbour to sort yourselves out.  This involves getting second anchor out of locker and onto the back step along with chain and rope.  Attempting to put said anchor and chain into dingy because this is standard practice and what we had rehearsed the day before.  Failing due to the dingy bouncing up and down in the swell.  Changing to plan B.

3.   Leave anchor, chain and rope on back step.  Get normal anchor ready at the front.

4.   Motor back into harbour and chosen space. 

5.   Drop front anchor.  Keep dropping at a speed that matches the boat speed so that there is a slight tension on the chain.  This prevents the nose of the boat from swinging to one side or the other and thumping someone else.  Go about 20 metres further than you need to. 

6.   Drop anchor off the back.

7.   Motor forward dropping chain and then rope off the back while picking up at the front.

8.   Stop.

9.   Using one of the back winches pull in the rope on the back anchor until both it and the front anchor chain are under tension.  At this point both anchors should be dug in and the boat more or less held fast between the two.

10.               Check.

11.               Wait.

12.               Check position again.

13.               Wait.

14.               Check again.

We had not put a stern anchor out for about four years so we thought it sensible to have a bit of a practice.  This we did yesterday in the calm of the sandy bay we were in then.  What we learnt was that it was much better to do it by putting the anchor and chain in the dingy.  Dropping the anchor as normal, rowing the dingy 20 metres or so behind the boat, lowering anchor over the side, rowing back and then winching in as above.  Therefore reverting to Plan B which we had tested but found more difficult than Plan A was a little concerning.  We were delighted therefore that all went very smoothly in the end.  We were very glad that we had spent a few hours practicing.

We rowed ashore which was another epic due to the swell and surf bashing the dingys against the concrete dock but we survived and used a stern anchor for the dingy to hold it off the concrete.  Finally we set off for the one hour walk into town and within five minutes were offered a lift.  Excellent.

As before the town is immaculate and pretty.  We reported in at the Gendarmarie armed with every document we could think of and ready to say that we had only just arrived from Galapagos.  The charming lady gave us one form to fill out, asked for a copy of our passports and the boat registration, stapled the form closed and told us to go to the Post office on Monday, buy a stamp and mail it to the customs office in Tahiti where we will be reunited with it to complete the check in.  Took fifteen minutes.  Fantastic. We do have an easier time of it though because we are an EU boat and this is French Polynesia.  The Aussie, NZ and US boats all have to pay a bond and jump through a few more hoops to register.

We had been advised which supermarket to go to and in no time were in heaven due to the bakery (croissants, baguettes, pain au chocolat), fridge containing Brie, Emmental, Camembert, freezer with New Zealand Lamb, beef, chicken and prawns and delicious (we know because we have now tried three different sorts) pate’s.

The first baguette!  This is taken by the village green.

Photograph taken and Mike gets stuck in….

Even better the garage on the dock has a 7am delivery of baguettes so we can have fresh daily.

We walked back to the boat along the coast and felt we had done some decent exercise for the day.  Our planned and largely prepared chicken stir fry went by the board as we set about the pate, cheese and baguettes followed by fresh pamplemousse and coconut.

Then it all went a bit wriggly as the small boat next to us lurched our way and came within a couple of meters of us.  No one on board.  Then it swung back again.  Then straight back towards us. We could see that his stern anchor had come loose.   Of course it was dark. Then it started to rain, very heavily.   Engine on, deck lights on, head torches out, anchor locker open, snubbing line taken off, 3 or 4 meters of chain dropped at the front so that we fell back a bit.  He then could swing and miss us.  Hopefully.

But it could be us dragging so we checked our position.  Checked again.  No, definitely him.  Our problem was that if we moved too far backwards our stern anchor would become less secure so in solving the problem of this guy moving about we could create another problem of us moving about.  Fortunately it wasn’t long before he came back.  He tightened up his stern line and we all went to bed.

We took him a baguette from the garage this morning to say ‘Hello’ properly and have a bit of a chat.  Just as we were thinking about going back into town it all happened again.  Guess what – he had already left so we were dealing with an unoccupied boat again.  This time the only thing was for us to drop further back and that meant moving our stern anchor further back. 

1.   Drop more chain at the front while moving the boat backwards.

2.   Take in on the stern anchor rope until you reach chain.  Keep pulling.  Yes it is heavy.  This is Mike doing this bit by the way.

3.   Keep pulling.  Nothing. Stuck.  Sinking feeling.  We have also heard that there is so much rubbish on the bottom here, including metal grates from earlier harbour walls, that anchors are regularly fouled.  That looked like us.

Mike rowed out and got hold of the tripping buoy.  This is an orange float on a thin line down to the anchor.  It shows where the anchor is sitting and if you pull on it, it usually lifts the anchor from a different angle.  Mike pulled.  Nothing moved.   Pulling harder is rarely the answer because whatever is dug in will only dig in further and harder. Sometimes pulling in another direction helps.  Not easy with a 42 foot yacht in a confined space with the front end anchored to the bottom but this we did.  And then we were on top of the tripping buoy and pulling again.  And up it all came!  Phew. 

By this time the other chap was back so he moved his chain and stern anchor a bit and said he was thinking of leaving.  We encouraged him in this course of action.  He has gone.  All very amicable but we are glad he has departed.

We are back in place now and settled.  Then the very large boat on the other side of us swung across.  Their stern anchor had shifted after over a week of holding them in place.  They have now gone as well!  By this time we had decided we would forego the fantastic island tour we have heard about, leave the laundry for another week or so and go back to the entirely calm and peaceful anchorage we had been in.  But then a couple rowed over, said they had heard we were asking about the island tour, they did it a few days ago, it was amazing, the lady who organises them is sitting on the dock ……..  Half an hour later we are booked for Monday and have handed over our laundry so we are here for another couple of days.  Fingers crossed we have no more shenanigans.

Footnote.  When we rowed across to meet Marie-Jo the tour and laundry lady we dropped the dingy stern anchor as usual and were unable to get it back up again.  This is in relatively shallow water but in spite of every trick we could think of it was well and truly fouled on something.  Line was cut and we will need to buy a new one.  Grrrrr.