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Exocet Strike - Marquesas to Tuamotos



Well here we are on the move again. 540 miles ish from Nuku Hiva to the Tuamoto island of Fakarava.

The Marquesas were fabulous, all very mountainous, old volcanos to be precise. WE had a scary drive on Hiva Oa, so slipperry and next to a precipice that for safety sake I turned around, not my normal gung ho driving style.
The bay of Virges in Fatu Hiva was magnificent as was the walk to the waterfall, hard going but worth it.
Then a rendevous on the island of Tahuatu, where the local danced, sang and made music, well rehearsed but fantastic. We heard that you could swim with Manta Rays, and indeed some of the boats were in the right bay when they appeared, we werent. oh well.

Then onto Nuku Hiva where the anchorages were reputed to be spectacular and there was a bay full of hundreds of small whales, bit like bigger Dolphins. We werent disappointed. On arriving at 0600 local time we were welcomed by about 20 of the whales. Harbour was great with a good if slightly roly anchorage, being easter though the few restaurants were mostly shut. We then went to another bay, locally known as Daniels Bay, after the guy who used to live there. It is under some cliffs over 3000 metres high, quite amazing and when we anchored we had approx 8 to 10 manta rays swimming around the boat, amazing to see, they feed like basking sharks, ie plankton with a wide mouth for filtering the plankton out of the water. Gentle creatures but apparently they can collectively drown a shark.
We said good bye to Anna, and Dain. Anna joined us in the Galapagos and hasnt had too much sailing experience, but loved the 3000 mile sail from Galapagos to Marquesas. Dain has been on the boat since St Lucia, so three months, bet he will find it lots cooler in England.

Now onto the Tuamotos, you will no doubt never have heard of them, ditto Marquesas. They are very old atolls, apprantly the old volcanoes, like the Marquesas, in several million years sink into the ocean, but the coral that has grown around them stays, creating a lagoon. Its pretty exciting going into the passes, which are very shallow and strewn with coral, we  hope to get into Fakarava safely in the daylight on Friday, thats the plan.
Joihn


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