Greetings from yacht Ensemble.
We've spent the day in Baie Hanamoenoa, Tahuata, Marquesas Islands. The water is lovely and clear, and we've used to opportunity to give the hull another cleaning (and scrape the barnacles off). Definately time for another anti-foul (so much for 18 months protection!).
We also used the time to clean the boat and reorganise - and of course do some running repairs. This included replacing (another) Lewmar block whose case had cracked in the sun and and was gouging the rope. One of the hand held radios had also a bit of a dip (water in the dinghy) - but we're hoping to dry it out (I won't hold my breath).
Yesterday there were some 9 boats in the bay. This morning there was only Southern Cross and At Last - plus a couple of sharks - one quite large - that took particular interest in Southern Cross. Dave dived in for a look at the small one only to be confronted by 'mother'. Once over the intitial scare he got some nice pictures. We went in for a trip into the beach and a snorkel - and then after dinner, joined up again for a game of 'domino trains' - which kept us all entertained until midnight.
During the game someone brought up the fact that it was Easter this weekend. This put a dent in our travel plans. We had originally planned to go to Fatu Hiva (Bay of Virgins) which was south - and then go up to Nuku Hiva to get fuel on Friday. We now find that we really need to be there on Thursday morning at the latest - or wait four days until Tuesday for fuel. So we decided to head north to Nuku Hiva via Ua Pou. This will also give us time to provision. We can then decide whether or not to go back to Fatu Hiva - or on to the Tuamotus (Tomatoes for short).
Cheers
Dave & Magali
1 April 2012 130