Haavei Bay, Ua Huka Island, Marquesas
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Fri 11 Apr 2008 20:53
|
08:56.616S 139:35.703W
On Tuesday (4/8), we sailed the fifty-five miles
northeast from Hiva Oa to the island of Ua Huka. Ua Huka is the smallest
inhabited island, and also the one that has many more goats and wild horses than
people on it. The guidebook indicated that there were two decent
anchorages and some interesting archeological sites as well as a small museum
and lots of wood carving. Sounded good to us.
We approached Hane Bay on Ua Huka at about
three in the afternoon. It seemed a little rough as we approached, but we
thought it would be calmer as we moved further into the bay.
There were no other boats there. Normally, an empty bay is delightful, but
in this case it seemed more a sign of a bad anchorage than an invitation for a
night of quiet solitude in a lovely bay. We proceeded into the bay and
dropped the anchor. Hmmm....we were bouncing. A lot. It felt
like we were still sailing. Upwind. We looked at the beach and
saw there was a stone wharf, but the waves were crashing on it.
Hard. Don't think landing the dinghy on that wharf is going to
happen. We were both quiet for a minute as we stood on the deck hanging on
to the rigging as we bounced.
'Ok, so we could leave here and go the other
anchorage.'
'Ok.'
I don't remember which one of us said what, but the
decision was easy and we pulled up the anchor and left the bouncing bay in
search of calmer waters.
A few hours later (by this time it was nearly 5:30
and darn close to sunset) we arrived at the second and last 'good' anchorage on
Ua Huka, rounded the rock islands that supposedly provided protection in the
anchorage (picture below) and dropped the anchor again. No other
boats in this bay either. The bay was very narrow, but deep.
After putting the anchor down and about sixty meters of
chain, the gusty wind pushed us toward the shore such that the boat
lay only ten or so meters from where the waves were crashing. The waves
were crashing and we were bouncing. Pretty much like the previous bay,
only now the crashing waves were closer to the boat, the winds were higher and
there was a menacing looking rock wall not too far over to the side. Oh
good and now it's getting dark. This would be one of those rare moments
when you wish desperately for a few hours or maybe a whole evening and night on
solid ground with a comfy couch to sprawl on and a giant TV to stare at
while you completely zone out with not a care in the world and certainly no
worries that your house is going to self-destruct with you in it on a rocky
shore seven or eight thousand miles from home. Yes, I'm exaggerating, but
we did wish hard for calm water.
We talked briefly about sailing through the night
to Nuku Hiva, to an anchorage we knew to be quite large and relatively easy to
maneuver around in the dark, but in the end we decided we were too tired, the
sail would be too long and anchoring in the dark would be too risky. In
the end we stayed, and bounced and rolled through the night. I had no
ambition to cook an elaborate or even a semi-elaborate dinner in the moving
galley, so Don, believe it or not, suggested that we eat one of our emergency
meals - Kraft macaroni and cheese. Yum. We feasted like kings
on high carb, fast infested, unidentifiable cheese and macaroni. It wasn't
half bad.
The next day we were up bright and early (couldn't
sleep anyway), chowed down breakfast, pulled the anchor up and headed the
thirty miles west to civilization and the biggest island in the Marquesas, Nuku
Hiva. We are here now in Taiohae Bay where there are restaurants, high
speed internet, an airport and lots of other boaters. More on our Nuku
Hiva adventures in a day or two.
Anne
|
