Nuku Hiva - One problem after another.
Nowornot Web Diary
Robert (Bob) Parry and Ann Parry
Tue 2 Aug 2011 20:52
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We arrived in Nuku Hiva on Friday 22nd July. Our
passage from Galapagos was much longer than we had hoped. Half way through the
trip, the wind became light and veered more to the east. We motored for about
five hours before our motor overheated. Bob tried to remove the water pump
but one of the bolts (the most inaccessable one) had been burred when it was
replaced in Turkey and he could not get it out. We decided to leave it until we
arrived and so we had to sail into the anchorage. Taiohae Bay is
horseshoe-shaped and surrounded by rugged mountains. Once in the entrance, the
wind varied from 0-20 knots and from any direction so it was a bit of a
challenge. The island is spectacular and the bay is very beautiful.
      Adjacent boats at anchor often face completely
differnt directions.
We went ashore to the gendarmes to do our clearance
but we were too late to pay our bond. As non-EU citizens, we both have to
pay the cost of an airline ticket to our own country. This is
calculated by the government and is refunded, minus about 3% & bank charges,
when we leave. It will be refunded in cash, only local currency. Our bond was
about 2,300AUD for the two of us. We passed the bank on the way to the shops so
we went in to ask about the procedure and also to get some local money. No, we
could not pay with USD. If we used cash, it had to be local money and we HAD to
have the ATM receipt. They preferred that we use a Visa card. We withdrew some
local money from the ATM but the denominations were quite large. He went into
the bank to exchange some of the notes for smaller denominations. He had to hand
in the receipt from the ATM and his passport: lingering French bureaucracy.
Multiple copies were made of both; we thought the whole procedure was
overkill.
I have not mentioned the swell that enters the bay
or the katabatic winds that burst down into the bay from the mountains. Suffice
it to say that getting into and out of our dinghy with the yacht rolling heavily
and slamming down hard into the swell when we swung stern to the swell was a
harrowing experience. Saturday was market day so we wanted to go in to replenish
our supply of fresh fruit and vegetables. We looked out to see that our dinghy
had just flipped over in a gust of wind with the outboard attached. Saturday
afternoon was spent pulling the outboard apart, cleaning out the salt water and
reassembling it.
On Monday morning, we fronted up to the bank with
our Visa cards. The teller spent about one and a quarter hours typing into the
computer and filling out forms in quadruplicate. I presented my card for payment
and, to our surprise, it came back "Abandon Debit". Bob then handed over
his card and the transaction went through. We later found that the NAB had put
through both transactions, so we had paid twice. Head office in Tahiti would not
allow the bank to refund the money. Our bank had to do it. Just another hassle,
especially as internet options are limited and the system we are using involves
buying a prepaid card that can be used only at the post office. In theory, we
can sit outside the post office 24/7 and use it but in practice, that is not
always the case. While we were paying our bond, other cruiseres arrived with
cash but no failed to collect an ATM receipt. They had to make another
withdrawal. Cash with no receipt was unacceptible.
The gendarme told us that our customs declaration
could be used to buy duty free fuel. When we went to the one service station to
buy fuel, we were told that we had to have a form of authority to buy fuel. Form
was only available from the yacht agent who was closed until 4th August. At
least we were charged local prices.
Bob and Jerry from the Canadian yacht "West by
North" worked on the engine on the Sunday. We had already established that the
shaft of the water pump was not turning. When they finally managed to remove the
pump, they found that the key on the shaft had worn considerably. When we had
they engine serviced in Turkey, they removed our Perkins water pump that was new
in 2007 and replaced it with a Volvo pump. Luckily, we still have our old
Perkins pump and we put this on. So far, the engine seems to be OK. Fingers
crossed.
The supply of fresh fruit and vegetables is very
limited and expensive. People must grow their own or rely on frozen, imported
veges. The pamplemousse (grapefruit) are very good and bananas are OK as well.
We baulked at 15AUD for a small watermelon.
There are no sedans on the island.
Everybody has a 4 x 4 of some description and none of them look
to be older than about 5 years. We have heard that the islands are heavily
subsidised by the French so perhaps that is why people can afford these
expensive vehicles as there is no industry on the islands- no mining, no
agriculture, no manufacturing just a few passing yachties. In the Galapagos
there were only taxis : people were significently poorer and their housing was
say 4 rooms block and tin roof construction. Here the housing is say 6 - 8 rooms
as detached houses with vehicle accommodation on individual blocks. The
population here seems to very well attached to the French governmant teat.
With so few kilometers of road on the island the vehicles will probably
never need new tyres.
 Car park at the post office The quality of the
vehicles was not that of a poor island community: all SUV or 4WD Dual cab
utes.
On Saturday, we headed for Danial's anchorage. We
were checked out by three manta rays as we anchored. The bay was
presented very favourably on cruiser sites on the net so we were disappointed to
find that there was still enough swell to have us rolling again. Anchorage is in
the eastern arm of the bay and there is a walk to a water fall from the head of
the western arm. You have to wade through the creek and then walk for an hour or
so. When we went exploring in the dinghy, a lot of waves were sweeping through
and the landing place in the western arm was very rough. Next day was calmer but
we awoke to find the boat filled with no-no flies. They are small biting insects
that can cause painful sores and bad reactions. We decide to head back to
Taiohae Bay. At least we had managed to scrape a few barnacles off in the calmer
conditions. We were disappointed to leave as it is a very pretty
abchorage.
 There should be an entrance down
there.
 There it is!
 Easier to see now.
 Spectacular scenery inside Daniel's
Bay.
 The entrance from inside the bay.
   Outside the bay. Geology not unlike Cappadocia only
green.
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