08:56.95S139:28.69W Arrived in the Marquises

Zoonie
Fri 15 Jul 2016 00:18

We have Baie de Hane, Ua Huka all to ourselves. Goats grazing on the rocky ledges around us stopped mid chomp for a look at this solitary yacht arriving to anchor.

The area is neatly manicured and a dead level football pitch tells how seriously the game is taken here. Four by four pickup trucks pass along the road that clings to the hillsides and in the curve of the caldera a fine stand of palm trees sway gently in the breeze. Rooftops of a few homes confirm we are not the first, nor will we be the last.

It is lovely to be rocking gently on water that is not flying past but just plopping against Zoonie’s very foul hull. Apart from the orange stain there are millions of tiny muscles and barnacles clinging on. We will scrape them off at our next anchorage tomorrow, but today we relax.

3670 miles in 30 days one hour and five minutes, our longest journey under sail yet. The South Pacific has been kind and Zoonie her usual comfortable and keen self. We are indeed fortunate.