Marquesas –Tahuata 6 June 2024

It is my cousin Ben’s birthday today so happy birthday Ben.

It was another rolly night and it was a grey start to the day with some rain. We had decided to move on to the next island Tahuata and a lovely bay we had been told about which had clear water and good snorkelling. We had to take the car back and get some more eggs. Keith and Andy went ashore whilst I prepared the passage and did some jobs. The gendarmerie came round and said that the cruise/cargo ship was coming in about midday so we would have to move. It was just as well we were leaving.

Keith and Andy returned with no eggs and a baguette. Apparently the eggs came early and the selfish b-tards took them all. As the conditions were quite rolly I had the idea of pulling up our anchor and reversing behind the breakwater where it was flat and so it would be easier to get the dinghy up. Once we were ready we upped the anchor and reversed back. Andy, Keith, Joyce and Fiona got the dinghy up and I held the boat in more or less the same position and to ensure we did not hit any of the other boats anchored.

Once done we headed out of the bay. A crew member who shall remain nameless had managed to delete the full chart page so I had to use a split screen page and a lot of our usual settings had gone. As you can imagine I was not impressed!!

As we headed out the bay it was quite rolly and we had 15-24 kts of wind and so we just put out a bit of genoa and were making 4-5.5 kts. I wanted to make some water so switched the engine off and the generator went on. We were then making water and sailing along quite conservatory in the rolly sea. There were two other boats ahead which seemed to be heading in our direction. In addition we could now see the cruise/cargo ship called Arunui 5 and it was heading straight for us. We put on the engine and got well out of its way.

We then put our genoa away as it was right behind us and swinging either side of our stern and I wanted to get to the anchorage before them as I suspected it would be quite full. During this time we had been looking up how to sort out the chart plotter and it appeared that the only way to resolve the issue was to do a reset. When I pressed the button it said by doing this reset I would not loose waypoints, routes and data. I thought we needed to do it as I could see no alternative. I therefore pressed the button and the chart page came back but it was as if I had not made any of the tailored settings which I had put in over time.

The upshot of this was that I had to reset all the settings so that it looked like what I had before, however it had lost for some reason about 5,000 miles from the log. Whilst I can manually adjust this I cannot automatically amend the chart plotter and it also seems to have lost the recent tracks. B Annoying.

We carried on and soon came to our by- Baie Hanamoenoa (Hana moe noa).   This was a nice sheltered bay with little swell and which had a lovely sandy beach at its end. The issue was that there were about 20 boats here. We came in and tried to anchor at the back. The rain came down and anchoring in the rain is not fun. We tried twice to anchor at that position and both times the anchor dragged as the bottom seemed to be a mixture of rock and coral and shale. After these two attempts we decided to go round to the east side of the bay which hopefully had more of a sandy bottom. We came in as close as we came  to an Amel which we had seen in Fatu Hiva. We dropped the anchor and it held on tick over reverse but started to drag at 1,000 revs. We decided to leave it for a while and monitor the situation. Keith snorkelled over the anchor and said it was dug in and I then later went had had a look. It was dug in and the chain was stretched out and there was a mixture of rock, coral and sand. It seemed to be holding so I out on the anchor alarm at 30meters.

We had some lunch of bread and cheese and then a rest as none of us had slept well the night before. We then went for a swim and snorkel but due to the rain and weather the water was a bit cloudy. A man came past who had been here for a few days and said it was clearer yesterday, but he had seen sharks, rays and turtles. As we sat we saw a ray about 30 yards away.

The rain came and went and so did the sun and the beach was lined with coconut trees and looked very attractive. The day came to a close and we had a sundowner and prepared for supper.  The anchor alarm went off and so we reset it. We think this was because the wind had risen.

Fiona and Joyce cooked a supper of chicken and chorizo with mash potato and spinach. It was a great supper and was enjoyed by all. We washed it down with a 2016 Bordeaux which we found reasonably in one of the supermarkets. Joyce had chosen a red wine as she liked the label but it was rough as a badgers !!! We swapped one bottle and used the rest for cooking.

It had been an unusual day as we are not used to this weather. However it is good to be in a new bay which is attractive and not so rolly. Hopefully we will not be disturbed in the night.

Crewing Opportunity

We have arrived in the Marquesas in French Polynesia and will explore these islands and then move through to the Tuamotu’s before getting to Tahiti about the end of July 2024. There may be some space on Stormbird during this period should any sailor/reader be interested in joining for this period or part of it in what must be one of the most distant and beautiful places in the world.

Year Two

In addition, in year two I will be going from New Zealand in early January 2025 across to Sydney and up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and probably across the Indian Ocean to Cape Town and I will need some more crew.

If there is any interest do email me at  hine.nick9@gmail.com  

The blog will continue as we move through French Polynesia and beyond.

If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com  I can only upload one picture a day and visit our website www.stormbirdgoesglobal.co.uk