Thank God its Friday
Nakesa
Sat 23 Jun 2012 17:18
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Thank God It's Friday
Yes it is the end of another gruelling week, after
taking our leave of our friends on Barracca and Morning Glory
on Monday night we motored early Tuesday morning to Hiva Oa and to the
anchorage at Atuona to 'check in' (better late than never). We radiod our
arrival and got collected in a shiny brand new land Rover to go into town. Our
'ride' however turned out to be an agent and on finding that we were European
passport holders she informed us that we didn't need her but gave us a lift to
the police station anyway. Checking in took 10 minutes..very
simple.
We then decided to look around the town..this took
the next 10 minutes but it was a neat and clean place probably little chnaged in
many years save for the roads and pick up trucks. Then time for a local beer..it
was only 1100 and too early for lunch! This was expensive $16 for 2 beers and 2
soft drinks. We decided to head straight for lunch. To begin with the restaurant
looked a little half hearted and the service was a bit non commital but when the
food arrived we relised we were back in a French colony...superb! We befriended
a family from California on the next table, the husband Chris had the local
tattoos all up one leg! The family were from a beautiful classic schooner we had
seen in the bay at the weekend and we agreed to meet for dinner the next day.
Then back into town for a vivt to the Gaugin institute which included a
reconstruction of his house on its original site. It was fascinating as the
village is stilll recognisable and the spirit of the place is the same. We had
to follow this by a climb up to the graveyard to see his grave and then the
50 minute walk back to the anchorage....quite a busy day by our standards!!
Wedesday we stayed aboard for school in the morning and i worked on the self
steering. After lunch P and i walked into town to shop while the children played
aboard there was a lot of excitement about dinner with our new friends tonight
as they had an 8 year old daughter that Atlanta had got on very well with. This
meant VHF calls every 5 minutes to ask if we were nearly back! I re visited the
Gaugin museum to read his letters etc. I marvelled at the single mindedness to
give up life as a stock broker and try and make a living painting andthen to
desert family and live in Tahiti and The Marquesas..although this clearly had
its benefits! Back to Nakesa and then straight out for dinner. The schooner was
beautiful and our hosts, Chris and Holiday could not have made us feel more
welcome. Dinner was sushi and sashimi which was better than any restaurant
...... we stayed late in the evening putting the world to rights. The
female members of crew had 'boat envy' on their return due to the large saloon
and dayroom....sorry Nakesa, the boys were more loyal.
Thursday morning was spent getting fuel. This
involved waiting whilst a long and ever increasing line of pick ups were served
first. It took 1 1/2 hours! We were in 2 minds about leaving and hoped to see
our friends again..but as lunch approached yesterday evenings talk of the
hotel on the hill took priority and we scaled a very steep road too find a
delightful resort with a lovely restaurant for lunch. Again lunch was stunning
and the children swam in a small pool. On our return to Nakesa a neighbour had
put out a stern anchor which compromised our own position swinging (I hate stern
anchors) and so we needed either to move or go.... however running out of water
made the decision for us as we couldnt make water in the bay due to tiny
organisms blocking the filters... we decided to go back to Tahuata. As we were
leaving Adante came in after a 24 day crossing from the Galapagos.
Night in the bay was lovely.
And so Friday, Atlanta and I dinghied to Tahuata
for bread first thing, then back for school, boat jobs, a bow repair due to a
swinging anchor hitting it and some polishing..also an emergency clean up after
some red paint leaked from a rusty tin all across the cockpit. Lots of swimming
and snorkelling (saw a big shark) and Lost and dinner of BBQ pork, a family
favourite!
What a hectic week!
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