Here comes Jabula

Our good friends, Bruce and Jeannie of SV Jabula, met us at Taiohae Bay on Nuku Hiva Island in the Marquesas 3 days after we anchored. We have been waiting since 2009 to share the same anchorage with them but have always had conflicting issues or schedules to this was a real celebration!

Bruce and Jeannie in their dinghy - Bon Jour!

Jordan arranged a fishing derby for June 11th with 7 boats participating (Boomerang, Cornelia, Jabula, Lay Lady Lay, Lightspeed, Yara, and Sea Turtle), Only 1 Barracuda was caught by Lay Lady Lay, though Jabula did report 4 bites.

We noticed an odd sight while trolling for fish in the dinghy. Many, many dolphins were seen at rest near the shore edge (around 100 possible). as we approached, many started to swim by the dinghy and Jordan took underwater video of them as they frolicked. Even though we didn't catch a fish, this experience made our day!

Dolphins beneath dinghy

The next day we toured the island with Bruce and Jeannie in a rented 4x4 and bumped over a real gnarly back road. Scenery was magnificent...

View below

Oceanside

and this statue was interesting to say the least...

With an invitation from Jabula for dinner last night, we surreptitiously planted a large plastic cockroach in their galley (kitchen). (This was very mean for us to do as Jabula had a terrible infestation of cockroaches when they had to unexpectedly leave their fully stocked boat on the hard for 2 years in Mexico.)

Alarmed at the site of the creature but keeping her reaction in check, Jeannie quickly knocked it into the sink, putting a mug over it for Bruce to deal with it after company had left. But not a word was said, even for most of the day while we toured around with them. Jordan was debating whether to mention it but refrained until Jeannie gave him a nice piece of her delicious cake wherein was planted the critter. "Touché!"

Tailgate lunch with a hidden surprise

The friendly locals gave us delicious hand-picked mangoes, coconut, and pamplemousse (large sweet grapefruit). So delicious...words just can't describe the goodness when it's this fresh.

Folks are advised not to swim in Taiohae Bay where we are anchored as sharks are visibly present. We watched huge ones feeding on scraps at the fish dock. Below, caught by locals, are gigantic tuna at the cleaning table - scraps are tossed into the ocean.

Now that we are in the French Polynesia, everyone speaks French. So much for all the Spanish we learned! We keep using Spanish when trying to converse with the locals as it has become habit and unfortunately we do not know any French.