Hiva Oa

After a fun day of breadmaking lessons from friends Bruce and Jeannie (SV Jabula), we pulled anchor from Daniel's Bay (Nuku Hiva) on the 20th of June at 10:00 to head for another Marquesan island called Ua Pou (pronounced Wa-Poo). It was just starting to sprinkle a bit and once we cleared the bay, we looked back and saw it was entirely socked in and pouring. But we were in 60% cloud cover and no rain - perfect timing to leave!

Distant island of Ua Pou...

...and getting a closer look.

We bypassed the main village on Ua Pou as there was a NE wind making it difficult to get to and it would have been a very rolly anchorage. We scouted out several anchorages on the SW side but none were suitable so we decided to continue on to Hiva Oa, doing an overnighter on a close reach point of sail.

About 1 hour from Hiva Oa as we were going through a channel, we were surrounded by about 15 dolphins with some jumping high out of the water. I briefly caught this one in the distance.

At Hiva Oa, we stern tied with 20 other boats on June 21st at Taahuku Bay (S09°48.258' W139°01.943') at 11:00. Here our eyes were treated to a splendid scene of verdant landscaping with steep rocky cliffs covered in tropical growth as the backdrop.

Judy washing laundry at the seaside sink and shower

One day we walked and hitchhiked into the town, Atuona, and checked in with the "Gendarmerie" (French officials). Famous French painter Paul Gauguin spent time at Hiva Oa and was buried in the cemetery of Autuona at the age of 54 in 1903.