Having torn ourselves away from the beautiful island of Fatu Hiva we headed to Hiva Oa to visit the gendarmerie so as to check in.

The bay of Atuona was fairly stunning by normal standards but a bit of a let down after the Bay of Virgins (spoilt or what!) It was also quite busy with boats so we had to use a stern anchor which was fun trying to organise in the dark!  

 

Not much to do / see at Atuona ( main town on the island ) apart from buy and eat fresh baguettes and then hike to the local cemetery to visit Gaugain and Jack Brell (apparently a "famous" Belgian singer -  Anyone heard of him?? ) graves. Great view and worth the hike in the sweltering sun.

 

Checking in was a complete delight after the beauracy of Panama. Lovely French gendarmerie, Mike was trying to surpress a grin as he lied outrageously about the amount of alcohol we have onboard. Lets hope we don't get spot checked as some of our friends have been. Also as we are part of the EU (the maroon passport still has its uses!)  we do not have to pay the $2000 bond that all the non-EU sailors have to pay whilst they visit French Polynesia. Ha ha.

 

We spent a couple of  days chilling in the bay of Hanamoenoa on the island of Tahuata, a beautiful white sandy beach surrounded by fruit trees (lemons, mango's, pampelmouse). The fruit is simply dripping off the trees. We explored a few of the local villages by tender and then decided to sail overnight to Nuka Hiva to catch up with friends.

 

We are now anchored in Daniels Bay on the island of Nuka Hiva and again, another truly stunning anchorage in a protected bay. We are surrounded by towering cliffs and there are plenty of balck tip sharks and turtles in the bay so lots to look at. This was where American survivor was filmed so one of Daniels relatives is trying to re-build the settlement that they demolished!

 

Its been brilliant to catch up with our friends from various different boats and last night we all headed ashore to cook freshly caught crabs and the local breadfruit on a beach fire whilst drinking rum :-)

 

Tomorrow morning we will hike to the worlds 3rd tallest waterfall at the back of the valley and then we will head to the next bay round to re-provision at the main town before heading off to the Tuamotus via Ua Pou. Sounds like Mike has plans to buy the entire bakery as I have refused to bake anymore bread after his comments about rogue crusts concussing whales!!!.