09:21S 140:06W

 

The beautiful and rugged islands in the remote Marquesan chain continue to impress – each anchorage, impossibly, is more spectacular than the last.  We’re now anchored in Hakahetau Bay on Ua Pou which is flanked with amazing tall spires (1200m) jutting up seemingly forever into the azure sky.  Ua Pou has the highest mountains in the Marquesas and the anchorage is nothing short of dramatic. 

 

We had a fantastic sail from Nuku Hiva to Ua Pou today, leaving after coffee and croissants and arriving before afternoon tea.   It was one of those memorable sails – wind just forward of the beam, flat seas and consistent 15 knot trade winds.  Halfway across we hooked a huge mahimahi- we know it was huge because it came alongside as I was slowing Bandit down so David could reel it in.  As we were getting excited about fresh fish for dinner the line broke and the mahimahi lived to fight another day.  Earlier we’d caught and released a small tuna.  Oh well.... looks like frozen tuna (from the freezer) for dinner tonight. 

 

We had a lovely night and morning in Nuku Hiva catching up with friends, internetting and skyping – always a treat in these islands where internet is hard to find and, when you do, painfully slow.  With a four day/night sail to the Tuamoto Islands looming we replenished vegetable supplies.  As it wasn’t market day there wasn’t much around but we did find a woman selling bok choy, beans, cucumber, avocado and peppers – the most green veges we’ve seen since arriving.  For a tiny bagful we forked out $15.  Oh well – we did have cheap provisioning in the third world for a very long time.