Tahuata

Tahuata

We left Fatu Hiva at about 6am, so we could arrive in good daylight in Tahuata. Tahuata is Hiva Oa's little sister, lying just 4 miles south of the south west tip of Hiva Oa. It is the smallest inhabited island in the Marquesas. Our port of call was to be Hapatoni. Our friends Katherine and Steve on catamaran Gemini Sunset recommended it, saying the village ashore was pretty and the locals friendly. Whilst they were there a couple of weeks previously, they had witnessed around 200 dolphins swimming around the large anchorage and said it was magical. Sadly, our experience was not to be the same...

As we approached the island, the winds became very fluky, so we furled away the genoa. This turned out to be a very good move, as we experienced some really strong gusts, up to 38 knots. The wind was funnelling down the steep slopes of the mountains and creating bubbling water all around. As we approached the anchorage, we could see the wind was equally strong in there. There were 7 or 8 boats at anchor, but strangely, they were all facing out to sea, with their back ends onto the lee shore (never a good sign). Steve was not really happy to anchor here but none of the boats appeared to be dragging so we decided to give it a go. As we passed one of the yachts, we asked what the holding was like. The man in the cockpit said it was sandy where he was but there was some coral around. The water clarity wasn't great and as we were in about 11 metres of water, we couldn't see the bottom. On dropping the anchor, it seemed to drag for quite a while before it finally took hold. This should have raised a few suspicions but we were both tired and felt things would be OK. Lynne donned her snorkel gear and went in to check the anchor. However, the water was full of tiny jellyfish and she was getting stung. She could also not see the anchor chain once it hit the seabed as the visibility was so poor. The wind was still gusty so we decided we would leave going ashore until the following day and settled down to an early night.

The wind during the night really picked up and was regularly gusting to over 20 knots. As we swung around at anchor, the chain obviously got wrapped around a coral head and we were kept awake all night by the awful sound of the chain graunching as it 'snatched' on the coral. Neither of us slept as we were afraid the chain might snap at any time and we would end up on the beach. We couldn't wait for it to get light enough for us to raise the anchor and leave. We were both dreading trying to get the anchor up but actually, it came up pretty easily in the end. Relieved, we motored 4 miles up the coast to another anchorage, Hanamoenoa. This anchorage boasts one of the only white sandy beaches in the Marquesas. The snorkelling was said to be great and the anchorage was a place where giant manta rays came to be cleaned by wrasse fish.

The visibility was much better in this anchorage and even though we were still anchored in over 10 metres depth, we could see where the sandy patches were. There were also no jellyfish!! After setting the anchor, we fell into bed exhausted, having not slept the day before. We had a lazy day and decided we would leave the snorkeling to the next day. During the afternoon, we saw catamaran Lani, who we rafted next to in the Panama Canal turn up. They anchored close by and we vowed to go over and see them the following day to see how their passage was. 

The following day Lynne swam over to Lani and had a chat with the owners. Their passage took almost as long as ours did. It appears they were caught in the same light winds as us. She then set off with the snorkel mask to see if she could spot a manta ray. She saw plenty of beautiful coloured fish and just as she was about to turn around and return to the boat, a manta ray swam underneath her. She followed it for a while and also spotted two small reef sharks. She took some photos on the GoPro but sadly they were just too far away for the wide angle lens of the camera to do it any justice.

All too soon it was time to be on the move again. Our next destination was Nuku Hiva, around 85 miles away. To get there in daylight, we decided to leave Tahuata at about 5pm and do an overnight sail.