Days 162 - 165 of our five-year circumnavigation
36 nautical miles to Hakahau Harbor, Ua Pou
6,828 cumulative nautical miles sailed
The passage from Anaho Bay on the northeast corner of Nuku Hiva to Hakahau Harbor in Ua Pou was peaceful and relatively uneventful. The seas were rough and coming from the east as we exited the harbor, which was unfortunate because we had to motor directly into them as we exited the harbor and turned to starboard. Luckily, it was less than an hour of bashing upwind into the waves before we rounded Tehaeouti Point. Safely clear of the point, we turned nearly due south for the 36 miles to Hakahau.
The seas were confused as the incoming waves bounced off the eastern edge of the island, which made for slightly jerky motion of the boat. But as soon as we cleared the southern edge of Nuku Hiva, they evened out and we enjoyed “champagne sailing” and reaching all the way to Ua Pou.
A little after 4pm we were approaching the harbor and the magnificent basalt towers of Ua Pou came into view. Wow. They were formed by hot magma filling vertical tubes of softer rock, which eroded over time and left these towering spires over the island. Meghan nicknamed them “Dumbledore” after Harry Potter. Only once in the four days we were there did we ever see the tops of them, as they were permanently surrounded by clouds! This island is very beautiful.
We pulled into the harbor and found it quite snug, with several other boats already at anchor. If we wanted to squeeze behind the breakwater in the hopes of a smooth ride at anchor, it was going to be close quarters. We maneuvered into position next to a yellow boat that appeared to live there permanently and dropped the anchor. We swung to within 150 feet of his boat, and we were less than 200 feet to Millie, a catamaran anchored on the other side of us. (We would meet them in Raroia later, and they are friends of Sea Again!)
Given the tight quarters and the fact that the yellow boat was using a stern anchor, I decided it would be safer if we also did so. That led to three hours of struggle. I had purchased an auxiliary anchor, chain, and rode before we left but had never used them. When I bought them, my thinking was that, this anchor and ground tackle could become my primary in an emergency, so I better go heavy. That led to the purchase of a Fortress FX-23 anchor with a 3-foot shank, 50 feet of 3/8” chain and 300 feet of 3/4” rode. A formidable setup to be sure, but so heavy and bulky it was nearly impossible to work with! I simply hadn’t considered this, and once again learned the value of experience!
I wrestled all that weight into the dinghy, motored out and dropped it, but then it didn’t turn out to hold the boat where I wanted. Meghan worked the helm trying to hold the boat in position while I deployed the anchor, but due to the weight, and the current, and the difficulty in judging where the boat would come to rest, it just… didn’t go well! So I finally decided to pull the anchor and not use it after all. We had been swinging back and forth by the yellow boat, and while it was close, I was confident the main anchor would hold.
But hauling all that weight back off the bottom, by hand, was nearly more than I could handle. Especially with a still-injured elbow from the Pacific crossing. The entire 3-hour ordeal was an absolute shit-show. But, stowing that stern anchor turned out to be a fortuitous decision because at 6am the next morning, when Meghan shook me awake, exclaiming, “Somebody is yelling at us! In French!”
Still in my boxer shorts, I got up and walked to the stern, where two dock workers in a small launch told me that “big boat” was coming in and I needed to weigh anchor and move. Now! Had the stern anchor been down, this would have taken me hours and would have caused a lot of unhappiness among the longshoremen. With only the primary anchor down, we had it up within 10 minutes and then motored to the southern end of the harbor, making plenty of room for “big boat.”
Big boat turned out to be a hybrid freighter-cruise ship. We had never seen anything like it, and Meghan and I were fascinated watching it come in and dock. It was huge for this small harbor and passed right through the water where we’d been anchored 30 minutes before. It disgorged hundreds of tourists, all French and English, as far as we could tell and then the crew spent the entire day unloading SeaLand containers with the ship’s crane. The docks were a beehive of activity as all the locals came down to pick up their supplies and shipments.
We went ashore later that day, and wandered around the market that was aimed at the cruise ship folks. Meghan looked at a few things but didn’t buy anything. We did buy some fruit to take back to the boat. The next day she would buy a wrap that looked like the Marquesas flag, that she had been admiring. And she also bought 20 yards of Polynesian print fabric for about 20 bucks and she was thrilled at the price. It was so cheap it was impossible to believe, especially in French Polynesia where EVERYTHING is expensive (except baguettes and cheese!)
Over the next few days, we sampled the few restaurants ashore. None of them were remarkable and the meals were merely adequate. We ate at a pizza restaurant that was not bad, but we were literally the only ones in the place, and it was very buggy and hot, without much air circulating. An older woman, maybe the owner or owner’s mother was fast asleep at one of other tables, head back, mouth open. Meh.
Lunches came from what the locals call a “Snack,” which refers to a lunch restaurant, basically. Sandwiches, again were mediocre. But the baguettes were delicious, which seems to be the case everywhere in FP. Fun fact though, if you don’t get to the bakery by 6am here, you’re probably not getting any baguettes that day. That seems to be standard here. Hmmmm.
The grocery shopping was pretty decent and we stocked up. Meghan is quite the provisioning expert, so my role is to carry the shopping baskets around the stores and let her load them up. No shopping carts here! On our provisioning trips, we typically fill 8-10 shopping baskets or more, and this was no exception. We stack up the baskets as we shop and then take them to the register at one time.
It took so long to check us out, and there was only one register, that there was a line of at least six people waiting for the clerk to finish our order. One of the locals laughed and said, “You must really like cheese!” Yes, I do. And Meghan keeps my “cheese drawer” well stocked!!
The craziest thing happened as we were leaving with all our bags and our small hand-pulled wagon. The store manager, who spoke English, explained to us that one of the local women wanted to offer us a ride back to the harbor, since she saw how much we had to carry (or pull in the wagon). I asked him what the local custom was. Did she expect to be paid or tipped? Oh no, he said! She just wants to be nice. Wow. This was totally sincere and amazing.
Her name was Elizabeth and while she spoke no English, we managed to figure each other out just fine. We loaded our bags and the wagon into the back of her small pickup truck and off we went! She even offered to take us to the other grocery store after we explained (through the manager, translating for us) that we had one more stop to make! She was truly happy to help us out!
But on the way to that other store, tragedy struck! She missed the turn and stopped in the street, getting ready to back up. Now, this is a VERY small town with very little traffic, and backing up was no big deal. But then, we heard the screech of tires locking up and BAM! we were rear-ended. The other driver had obviously been driving way too fast on this small street and probably looking at his phone. He hit a car that was not moving!!
A man got out of the car and began approaching our car, angry and waving his arms. I got out, as Meghan and I were both concerned that he was going to cause trouble. I had about five seconds where I thought things might turn violent before Elizabeth told me to get back in the car and told the man off, in their local language. She turned around and drove back to the store!
Meghan and I were stunned! What the hell just happened? We felt terrible for Elizabeth, and now Meghan was very concerned that the accident might have injured her spine (remember, she’s recovering from spinal surgery and already had six artificial discs!). We apologized over and over to Elizabeth and felt terrible that because she was doing us a favor, something terrible had happened.
Over and over, she told us not to worry, it was no big deal. Then came the most amazing news of all - she said “family.” She knew that English word. This guy was her brother, or cousin, or uncle or who knows who? What??? Meghan and I just looked at each other. What the heck was going on!?
We went into the second store, Elizabeth insisted that we continue our mission, and we tried to buy her a gift or something to drink. She finally accepted, just a couple cans of iced tea! We wanted to do more, but she wouldn’t hear of it.
Back in her pickup, off we went to the marina. I had to admit, it was MUCH easier than pulling that wagon, but we still couldn’t believe what had happened. And we were still concerned about Meghan’s back. Elizabeth helped unload everything on the dock and we said our goodbyes, but luckily it occurred to me to take a selfie with her first. She truly seemed unfazed by the accident. Meghan made the comment that she wished she could have remained so calm and unflappable in such a situation! It was truly bizarre, but her kindness will not soon be forgotten.
Later that day, we watched the freighter-cruise ship depart, which was a sight to see. We were impressed and surprised when the boat that was helping them dock was hooked up to the crane and lifted on board! We had both thought it was a fixture of the harbor!
We made a booking with a local Pension (guest house) to use their pool and hot tub, and have dinner in their restaurant. Meghan was so excited to sit in a hot tub and relax her back!! A swim in the pool sounded pretty good to me, and a nice restaurant meal sounded great to both of us. It’s not like we were expecting the Four Seasons, but the whole experience turned out to be pretty funny. It was run by a French couple that had that familiar French “air” that some have. You know, the one where you’re not quite sure if they’re just bored, or if they actually hate you!? Hahaha - it’s true, and kinda funny! But Meghan was super sweet to the husband and he eventually did warm up to us. We’re do our best to be charming, after all!
The pool was modest - a small round above-ground pool, maybe 20 feet wide. And alas, the hot tub was… not hot. So we decided to have a drink and relax, but… there were no chaise lounges here and the proprietor made clear that no glass was to be taken near the pool. Makes sense, but maybe offer some plastic cups? Oh, never mind… Where shall we sit? With no hint of irony, he suggested the wooden benches that had been constructed from old shipping pallets. Yeah, OK. I guess we’ll get dressed and head back up to the dining room!
Dinner was pretty good, and we had a nice bottle of French wine to wash it down with. The view from their place was to die for however, and Meghan took an amazing photo of here. And after visiting three of the six Marquesas islands, that seemed to be the theme. It’s wild and primitive here, with loads of natural beauty. But life is fairly hardscrabble and no luxuries are on offer anywhere. Enjoy the scenery, but ashore don’t expect more than the basics.
We spent four days here, departing on May 16, what would have been my father’s 85th birthday. Meghan found some fabric and fashion to add to her collection, and we got to refresh our provisions on board. The harbor was fairly industrial with limited protection, so it was rolly. We were ready to move on and very excited about our passage to the Tuamotus. That passage would take us four days to make it to Raroia atoll - a completely different world leaving behind the lush greenery and volcanic mountains of the Marquesas for the coral fringe reefs and gin-clear lagoons of the Tuamotus. THIS is what I think of when I think “South Pacific.” We can’t wait. Let’s go!!