Hanamoenoa Bay Again, Tahuata Island, Marquesas
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Fri 11 Apr 2008 20:49
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09:54.500S 139:06.294W
On Sunday (4/6) we sailed northwest (happily a nice
beam reach) from Fatu Hiva back to Hiva Oa Island, with plans to re-enter
civilization in the town of Atuona and the bay of Tahuku. Unfortunately,
when we arrived just outside of Tahuku Bay, we saw that a big supply ship had
arrived and the some of the many sailboats there had to anchor outside of the
protection of the breakwall and they looked none too comfortable bouncing around
in the surf. After a quick discussion, we decided that comfort and safety
were more important than the internet and civilization, so we diverted to
our old friend, Hanmoenoa Bay on Tahuata Island (site of our first Marquesan
swim and white sand beach).
We had a quiet evening with a marvelous sunset
(below). That night, while Don was sleeping and I was reading in our
cabin, I heard a strange noise, like someone had bumped into something metallic
on our boat. I turned off my reading light for a better view outside, and
peered out the hatch on the back of the boat. The night was dark, no
moon, but I could swear I saw the shadow of a small boat with two people in it
quietly moving past the back of our boat. I whispered to Don to wake
him up, but by the time he looked out the hatch, nothing was there. I
thought nothing more about it and went to sleep.
The next morning in the midst of a baking frenzy (a
dozen banana nut muffins and two loaves of banana bread - all made in an attempt
to further reduce our 500 pound supply of bananas), I heard some
commotion outside and climbed into the cockpit to investigate.
Chinook, a non-rally American boat that was anchored next to us throughout the
night, had pulled up anchor and motored up next to our boat. At first I
thought they were just being friendly, wanting to talk to a fellow American out
here in the middle of nowhere, but no, they wanted to ask if we had seen or
heard anything the night before because their dinghy and motor had been
stolen. Ugh. Now it all made sense. I glanced over at our
dinghy motor, which was locked on the life rail on the back of the boat.
Sure enough, the motor was turned at a funny angle and the barbeque
grill's lid was askew. The thieves had most likely tried to lift our
motor and banged the grill in the process. Pretty darn brazen, given that
our cabin is in the back of the boat, it was only 10:30pm and my reading light
was on. Our dinghy was tied up on deck, so it was not accessible
either. Chinook was not so lucky. They had their dinghy and motor in
the water, simply tied to the back of their boat, thinking like we had, that
there was no way anyone would steal anything on this remote island of only 600
people. Wrong. It just goes to show that there are nasty people
everywhere, even in the middle of nowhere. Our dinghy was tied on deck
only because we had sailed a fairly long distance that day and don't like to tow
the dinghy behind the boat for anything longer than a five
mile sail. If it wasn't for that, our dinghy and motor would also
have been in the water tied, and not locked, to the boat. As a matter of
fact, the previous week when we stayed three nights in Hanamoenoa Bay, we did
not lock our dinghy. We are just lucky, I guess. Chinook said they
went into the village in the next bay to talk to the mayor and he indicated
that there had been some trouble with theft on the island lately. The
Marquesas are a tough place to be without a dinghy because there are no marinas
and very few wharves where a sailboat can safely dock. Without a
dinghy, there is no way to get to shore other than swimming - which could be
scary in a place like Tahuku Bay on Hiva Oa where the water is said to be
infested with sharks. And of course there is no place to buy a new
dinghy and motor here. Probably the closest place for that is Tahiti,
seven hundred miles away. They don't call this the middle of nowhere for
nothing.
After that disturbing news, we learned from Lady
Kay - who was also anchored in the bay that fateful night, but also had their
dinghy and motor safely secured to their boat - that Jackie's mom had
died back in England. Lady Kay has a crew of three; the captain
Michael, his wife Jackie and her daughter Carrie. Jackie and Carry were
going to try and get a flight out of Nuku Hiva as soon as Michael could get them
to the island sixty miles to the north. That would leave Michael alone,
with no crew to help him get the boat seven hundred miles to Tahiti, where
Jackie would re-join him. Bad news all around. We are hoping
that one of the rally boats with lots of crew will lend one or two of
them to Lady Kay for the six day trip to Tahiti. We'll see.
Not the best night in our beautiful Hanamoenoa
Bay. We decided to move on to a bay on the north side of Hiva Oa that day,
which would set us up for a trip to the northern Marquesas islands, Ua
Huka, Nuku Hiva and Ua Pou.
Anne
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