Papeete

Tintin is moored up right by the bustling waterfront of central Papeete, the main town of Tahiti and the Society Islands and the administrative capital all of French Polynesia. It's a sharp contrast to the quiet atolls and bays we've been cruising for the last month.

The ARC boats are gathering here a few days earlier than planned due to a forecast for strong winds and high seas. We had a calm day yesterday for our arrival, but boats arriving now describe a "bouncy" time last night en route from the Tuamotus with squally weather.

Its calm here though, despite tropical downpours at regular intervals.

We are enjoying regrouping once more, and making the most of shoreside luxuries. My first onshore shower (ie unlimited warm water) since February in Panama, truly wonderful! 

Some members of the crews made the most of our proximity to bars and nightclubs to celebrate our arrival ...buying croissants at 4am on the way home for our breakfast. Thanks Pim!

We are making a gentle start to our to do list. Reprovisioning early this morning in pouring rain at Papeete's central market was unforgettable. So many weird and wonderful colourful fruit and veg. On a Sunday people come with their produce from all over the island, setting up stalls from 4 am, and selling out or closing up by 9 when most people go to church. A whole row of stalls sold lei- fragrant flower garlands, and flower tiaras, worn to church by many.

The coconut doughnuts ....yum.

We aren't going to hurry away, there is an incredible inland landscape to explore here in Tahiti, almost fantasy-like with sharp peaks and steep green valleys. But I'm sure that after a few days we'll be wanting to find an anchorage behind a reef somewhere, as we explore the next island downwind of us: Moorea.

Makatea Caves

Maketea

Between Rangiroa and Tahiti, we stopped at the island of Makatea.
Unlike the other Tuamotos there is no airstrip or lagoon - the only
option is to use one of the 3 mooring buoys anchored in about 60m of
water on the edge of the pacific abyss. If the wind is in the wrong
direction, there would be no landing possibility.

We had a quiet overnight passage and arrived as the sun was rising,
picking up one of these buoys alarmingly close to the breakers on the
reef. We waited until a decent time and then called Mayor Julien to
confirm our arrangement for a tour of the island and lunch starting at
9:30am

There were the remains of a large port facilities, but it was all broken
up and the entrance to the tiny harbour was narrow (5m) between crashing
waves. Our tender, Snowy, has a couple of leaks and this tested our
faith in the little boat, but she did fine!

As we arrived, a lad was displaying the the huge 'Napolean' fish he had
caught. A lurid blue with big teeth and a bulbous forehead, it was
definitely a prop from a sci-fi movie.

Julien appeared shortly after and so began an extraordinary few hours
on an amazing island with wonderful man.

The island has a population of 84 now, but it wasn't always like this.
From 1906 to 1966 a French company mined phosphate here and the
population was over 3500. It was dug by hand from between the rock on
the summit plateau before being taken by train and conveyor to the
waiting ships using port infrastructure we had seen. Ships of up to
250,000tonne had moored where we were tied up and filled with the
valuable phosphate. In 1966, General De Gaulle decreed that the
future of French Polynesia was nuclear. The island was given 2
weeks notice and on Sept 6th mining ceased and almost everybody left.
Only 30 islanders remained. As Julien said, on Sept 6th 1966 time
stopped for Makatea.

At the top of the hill we stopped at the old workshops. Huge lathes,
mills and other machine tools which used to be all driven by overhead
drive shaft and belts are now there gently crumbling into the jungle.
As we drove slowly to the village, he pointed out the foundations of
the old store, managers' offices, church, abattoir, bakery etc - all of
them just a few raised lumps of concrete poking out from the
vegetation. An old steam train - just like Percy the green engine -
rotted gently in the trees.

There is clearly resentment at how they were treated, but Julien told
us passionately how he wants the island to take control of its future
and build business opportunities. An Australian company is serious
about restarting mining operations on the island and if it goes ahead,
part of the agreement is to make good all the holes that were left from
the previous operation. He's also organising a 4-day eco-retreat
holiday for 350 people in June. Camping on the gorgeous east coast,
they can climb, abseil kite-surf. Julien says he has secured agreement
to redevelop the harbour to add a breakwater and landing area to allow
and all-weather landing. This is a must-have if the island is to
thrive. To mark a new beginning for the island, he wants to change
its name to 'Papatea' - land of the white stone. All through our tour
and lunch his drive to improve the island shone through and I think the
whole crew wished him every success and just hope his dreams aren't
dashed by the reality of corporate and government decision-making.

In amongst all this, he had asked his son-in-law to show us some
caves. We trooped down into the dark not knowing what to expect, and
were surprised to find ourselves stripped to our underwear swimming
around in cool freshwater through spectacular underground grottoes.
The calcified rock formations made amazing Gaudi-esque forms, and I
think we were quite awestruck.

After the tour he gave us a great lunch - the tuna was a highlight and
showed us a 1961 documentary about mining on the islands and we could
recognise so many of the places we had seen earlier, but in the
documentary the place was humming wit activity.

Introducing the new members of team Tintin

Here they are:

Pim is on the left, then Andrew and SWade Pickersgill, and Captain Haddock.

Andrew and Swade are the brilliant ARC team looking after us as and the associated bureaucracy as we move from country to country. They are hitching a lift to Tahiti.

Pim is our own flying Dutchman who survived perilous whale impact boat damage on his Atlantic crossing. We reckon lightening rarely strikes twice. It's great to have him on board.

Tahiti Iti

More about our memorable visit to Makatea on Wednesday will follow. But right now we are circling the dramatic south coast of Tahiti Iti, the peninsula of SE Tahiti.
We set off yesterday morning from Makatea with a perfect breeze on the port beam. But as darkness fell the sky clouded over and we has a frustrating night of wind from almost every direction, rain, black skies despite the big moon, and a very unsettled sea. Reefs in and out, engine on and off. With a crew of 5 now we had the luxury of only 2 hour watches. This morning, as so often is the case, the squalls have abated and we see blue sky ahead.

The island of Tahiti is green and mountainous, 2 volcanic cones (segmented by steep valleys) which are joined by a low isthmus. There is no road around the SE side of Tahiti Iti. Sheer bright green slopes fall down straight to the coast, with waterfalls cascading in the gullies. There is a reef fringing the shore, about 1 mile wide all around the coast. We can see waves breaking on the reef and white clouds of spume, warning us of the shallower water.

Now we have turned the corner of the southern tip and suddenly the motion of Tintin is much easier as we move with the swell and wind. Our plan is to navigate through a pass in the reef and make our way up to Phaeton Bay and anchor for the night in the shelter of the isthmus. Tomorrow we will continue to Papeete, 30 miles away on the NW side of Tahiti Nui (the larger part of the island) where we will rendezvous with the rest of the ARC fleet over the following few days. We are looking forward to catching up with crews we haven't seen for weeks. It will be our first marina berthing since Panama City in February, and a chance for us to tackle the list of boat maintenance jobs in a stable boat.

Makatea bound

Planning our journey on from the Tuamotus to Tahiti, one little island
on the chart caught our attention. Makatea, 4 miles across: not a coral
atoll like the Tuamotus, nor a volcanic peak like the Marquesas, but a
flat topped ancient atoll which was lifted out of the sea 60 million
years ago when Tahiti's volcano erupted.

Makatea stands alone, 60 miles away from the Tuamotus and 150 miles
from Tahiti, and not far off our route between the two. The sea
shelves very steeply just off its shore to 400m deep and more.

From our pilotage information about French Polynesia we learnt that
there are 3 mooring buoys on the leeward side of the island, in 50m
depth, just as the reef shelves up steeply. We also found a phone
number for Julien, the mayor of the village who is willing to show
people round. So we rang him up and arranged to get in touch on our
arrival. We set off from Rangiroa at tea time, out through the pass in
gentler conditions than our arrival, and set sail overnight for Makatea.

Bus ride Easter Day

Choirmistress at the church

Easter Day Christening, Rangiroa

Tuamotos

We've been touring around the amazing Tuamotos for 10days. Sadly the
children have to leave to return to the UK, but we had an incredible
time. These islands are straight out of a magazine - crystal clear
azure water with palm fringed beaches stretching out to the horizon on
either side.

After arriving in the north of Fakarava, we headed to the south pass
for the diving....which was extraordinary. We (Rob, Lizzie & Bridget)
we dropped at the ocean end of the pass and drifted in with the tide.
The coral was built up into wonderful towers but the main 'attraction'
was the sharks who congregated there to feed - thankfully not on
humans. As we held on coral to hold us still in the stream, we gazed
out into the deeper part of the channel where there must have been over
50 sharks - mainly black-finned sharks about 1.5m long swimming gently
into the current waiting for lunch to drift. Strangely (perhaps
stupidly) it didn't seem scary and the fish that alarmed me more was a
pair of tuna, about 2m long. They looked positively evil!

From there we went a few miles east to the corner of the atoll, a place
called Hirifa. There was a house there, but no-one answered our
knock. Impossibly beautiful.

We then spent a couple of days and an overnight passage to get here -
Rangiroa - stopping at Tu'au en-route.

I had calculated the theoretical time of low tide at the entrance pass
and we arrived 30mins after that hoping the stream would be mild. In
fact it was streaming out at upto 5knots with large standing waves. it
felt a bit hairy, but Tintin is such a capable boat there was barely
water on deck and all was well.

Today we went diving at the entrance to the Rangiroa pass - on the wall
of the reef as it plummets into the depths. A few sharks this time but
we swam with dolphins. Up to 5 at a time, and one mother with a baby
that the guide reckoned was only a few weeks old. Once the was us from
the surface, they came down to our depth to have a look but we were
clearly more interested in them that they in us. They came quite
closely to have a good look and then drifted slowly away. The whole
thing was very cool.

Bridget was done a video of the kids' time out here which I'm sure will
be posted when she gets decent internet. Worth a look.

Easter Weekend in Rangiroa

Rangiroa is the largest atoll in the Tuamotus, with a population of
about 3000 spread out among the islands that sit on the coral reef.
We waved off Lizzie, James , Bridget and Paddy at the
airstrip on Thursday after a memorable and wonderful time together on
Tintin.

We have cycled around the motu and spent time watching the dolphins
leap from the waves in the pass. A pod of about 60 dolphins live here,
together with the sharks, manta rays, moray eels, barracudas and
millions of amazing fish. Each time we go snorkeling I see another
incredible colourful fish that I am sure I have never seen before. And
more different vivid corals. Or am I the goldfish forgetting it all
after one lap?

On Friday and Saturday there was an outrigger canoe regatta across the
anchorage - the first race went out through the pass to the ocean, and
the fleet of about 20 canoes spread out over the long distance. Support
boats with outboards created huge wakes - more challenges for the crews
at the back of the field. There are 3 men in each canoe, very fine
narrow boats with an outrigger on the port side to help stabilise the
boat. The best crews were amazing to watch, their timing perfect and
steering minimal.

The best part of our Easter weekend though was our visit to the local
Catholic church yesterday morning. 11km away at the other end of the
island, the church is perched by the other pass into Rangiroa, Avatoru.
We were advised to arrive early for the 8am service, and were glad we
did; at 7:30 it was almost full. All the people were dressed in white,
women and girls with flowers in their hair, the best easter bonnets we
have ever seen.
The service was conducted in a mixture of French and the local
Polynesian language, the priest changing from one to the other half way
through his sermon. Most of the singing was in Polynesian but luckily
for us, they had a screen with all the words for us to follow,
and Alleluia is the same!
The singing was amazing. Harmonising beautifully, the voices raised the
roof. There were 10 christenings and 4 first communions folded into the
service.
When we left the church there was a bus outside, so we jumped on with
everone else. It was taking islanders who live south of the Tiputa pass
back to the wharf by our anchorage to catch the ferry home. All the
way , there was amazing singing in the bus, and laughter, and such joy.
We were made so welcome.

We have been joined on board by Andrew and Swade, ARC organisers,
with us until Tahiti, and by Pim van Hooff, with us for longer! It is
great to have their company. Plans are to move on tomorrow nivht , next
stop Makatea.
All is very good.

Link to Bridget's video

https://youtu.be/FsFNFpdJo48

Tuamotos

We've been touring around the amazing Tuamotos for 10days. Sadly the
children have to leave to return to the UK, but we had an incredible
time. These islands are straight out of a magazine - crystal clear
azure water with palm fringed beaches stretching out to the horizon on
either side.

After arriving in the north of Fakarava, we headed to the south pass
for the diving....which was extraordinary. We (Rob, Lizzie & Bridget)
we dropped at the ocean end of the pass and drifted in with the tide.
The coral was built up into wonderful towers but the main 'attraction'
was the sharks who congregated there to feed - thankfully not on
humans. As we held on coral to hold us still in the stream, we gazed
out into the deeper part of the channel where there must have been over
50 sharks - mainly black-finned sharks about 1.5m long swimming gently
into the current waiting for lunch to drift. Strangely (perhaps
stupidly) it didn't seem scary and the fish that alarmed me more was a
pair of tuna, about 2m long. They looked positively evil!

From there we went a few miles east to the corner of the atoll, a place
called Hirifa. There was a house there, but no-one answered our
knock. Impossibly beautiful.

We then spent a couple of days and an overnight passage to get here -
Rangiroa - stopping at Tu'au en-route.

I had calculated the theoretical time of low tide at the entrance pass
and we arrived 30mins after that hoping the stream would be mild. In
fact it was streaming out at upto 5knots with large standing waves. it
felt a bit hairy, but Tintin is such a capable boat there was barely
water on deck and all was well.

Today we went diving at the entrance to the Rangiroa pass - on the wall
of the reef as it plummets into the depths. A few sharks this time but
we swam with dolphins. Up to 5 at a time, and one mother with a baby
that the guide reckoned was only a few weeks old. Once the was us from
the surface, they came down to our depth to have a look but we were
clearly more interested in them that they in us. They came quite
closely to have a good look and then drifted slowly away. The whole
thing was very cool.

Bridget was done a video of the kids' time out here which I'm sure will
be posted when she gets decent internet. Worth a look.

Sunset at Rangiroa

Fakarava, our latest most favourite place

Designated a UNESCO World Heritage site, Fakarava atoll has us running out of superlatives. Each different anchorage for the last 3 nights has been "the best ever". This surely can't continue.

We had a peaceful overnight sail down from Takaroa, and timed our arrival at the Fakarava's North pass for slack tide early on Wednesday morning. This was a different sort of pass entirely to Takaroa, being about half a mile wide and just about 100 metres long. Standing at the bow approaching the pass the colour of the water changes from the deepest cobalt blue to marine blue/ green then shades of turquoise as it shallows up and the floor changes to sand, with darker browny shades for coral. The water is crystal clear. To our left and right were low lying palm covered islands (" motus") fringed with coral reef and beach, where the Pacific swells crash into white breakers.

First stop, we anchored off the village of Rotoava. Lizzie, Paddy and I went ashore to buy food and lingered by the freezers in the air conditioned grocery store. Aah, so nice and cool! Rotoava Is a friendly and very relaxed place where things don't need to be rushed. The village sits either side of a road, with open Pacific Ocean beyond on one side and the atoll's sheltered lagoon on the other.

Our aim was to get to the southern pass to snorkel and dive along the famous Wall of Sharks, so we continued down the eastern edge of the lagoon to anchor overnight at Pakakota, 10 miles away. Ashore at dusk we met Matthieu, a local sailor who sold us cold beer, gave us access to the best Wi-fi we have found in Polynesia, and offered sage advice on the best way to dive at the southern pass. Sunset across the lagoon was stunning, a few tiny islets with palm trees appearing to float on the western horizon. These little islands are in the very shallow part of the lagoon about a third of the way across to the other side (where the volcanic peaks once were, many millennia ago). The far (western) side of Fakarava atoll is just reef with no islands.

By yesterday afternoon we were anchored by the south pass. Rob, Lizzie and Bee linked up with Eric, local dive master, to dive and see the sharks close up. James, Paddy and I took the dinghy through the pass, then jumped out to snorkel as we drifted with the current on the flood tide through the pass, the sun dancing through through the water all the way to the sea floor. It was an incredible experience, drifting with the current past coral and colourful fish with occasional flybys below us from black or white tip reef sharks (who paid us no attention what so ever).
I must admit that I has felt ambivalence bordering on negative feelings about jumping in the water knowing it was shark infested. But my fear melted away immediately when surrounded by the mesmerisingly beautiful world below the waves.

Today we have come a few miles east to the southeastern corner of Fakarava, and we have found a sandy anchorage with no coral bommies to dodge, a rose pink coloured sandy spit, and water of the most wonderful blues to float on. This is THE best anchorage. The drone was flown and we are all in awe of this little part of our planet.

Rainsquall at sunset in Fakarava atoll

Takaroa

We're now on passage overnight from Takaroa to Fakarava, passing close
to Apataki.

All these islands are atolls, which I would find hard to
believe could exist if I hadn't seen them. Atolls form when
mountainous volcanic islands like the Marquesas develop coral reefs
around their coasts - like Tahiti. The central volcanic islands
is gradually eroded as coral keeps being added to the reef leading,
over countless millenia, to these strange shaped islands. They are
anything from about 5 to 50miles around, thin bands of reef and very
low-lying sandy land encircling a lagoon. The strips of land
('motus') are invariably narrow, typically 100-200m but can stretch for
many miles around the lagoon, often interspered with gaps where there
is just reef - sea between 0 and 3foot deep. Most islands have
'passes' - small gaps in the reef that have been formed by the tidal
currents flushing in and out of the lagoon. The currents can flow very
strongly in these passes as they empty and fill the entire lagoon
through a very narrow gap.

Information about the pass on Takaroa was sketchy. We could calculate
the theoretical time of high and low tide - which is a guide to the
slack water - but that doesn't take into account other factors such as
they need to empty the lagoon of water that is pushed over the reef by
the swell on the windward side. We approached Takatoa about 40mins
before low water. The island supply ship, the St X Maris, was just
leaving - which was just as well as it occupied nearly the entire width
of the channel. It had docked at the town quay which lies at the
entrance to the channel and reversed out on what we thought was the last
of the ebb tide. We entered the channel - James on the first set of
spreaders to look for reefs, Bridget on navigation and the others using
polarised glasses to guage the depth. The tide was still flowing fast
in the channel - about 3 knots, but we could see at the head of the
channel an area of disturbed water where the entire flow entered the
channel from the north over a shallow patch before turning v sharply
west. For those that know it, it was like the tide running out past
Scoble point in Salcombe, but 3 times as fast and with a wall of reef
20m to starboard. The stream took the bow and for a brief moment I
wondered if it wuould spin the boat around completely before the stern
caught the stream as well alllowing me to steer to port. At full revs
we made 1.5 knots through the little cataract before breathing a sigh
of relief as we entered the lagoon proper.

The google earth photo shows our track. Judging from the Latitude
scale on the left, the pass is about 30m wide.

Anyway, safely inside, we poked around for an anchorage eventually
settling on a spot about a mile north of the entrance. It was great to
get the anchor down, safely wedged under a coral head(!) so we could
relax, swim & sleep. Paddy - his first trip on a boat being this
450mile ocean passage - seemed particularly pleased to stop for a while.

Lizzie and Bridget went diving, hunting for sharks and sorting out a
tripping live for the anchor. Lizzie has developed an alarming habit
of shouting 'Shark' v loudly, and then jumping in the water to chase it.

We all slept well and woke up in time to host the radio net at 9:00am.
But we couldn't hear anybody! It's surprising how silly one feels
doing a long, cheerful introduction to the day's net and the get in
return ..nothing. Rather like having a conversation with somebody
before realising they left the room minutes ago.

The morning was lovely. A gentle breeze wafted over the flat sea meant
the boat was cool and flat. All the crew were content to relax
onboard, waving to locals passing in their proa canoes but actually
DOING very much at all.

Leaving the pass was slightly less hairy than entering - we timed it
so the stream in the main pass was pretty slack, but there were still
overfalls at the corner.

We've got a few boat jobs to do in Fakarava:
- rethread lost spinnaker halyard in the mast
- investigate non-reception on the SSB
- investigate gearbox which was re-developed the habit of not
going into gear when asked
- Find out why our tender, Snowy, continues to gradually leak
air.

Blue water Cruising is, indeed, boat maintenance in exotic (in
this case v exotic) locations!

Takaroa, Iles du Roi Georges

Slight change of plan

The more observant of you may have noticed that we have taken a slight
right turn yesterday afternoon. We had intended to make for Kauehi, a
lovely atoll with a big entrance. However, it became clear that we
would be arriving as the sun would be setting. We would be faced by
the choice of entering and moving across the atoll in failing light or
heaving-to outside for the night. Instead, we have taken a slight
right turn and are heading for Takaroa.

Takaroa is closer than Kauehi and we hope to arrive at midday - slack
tide and the sun high. We'll spend a day here here before moving on.

Tonight is clear and calm, but there are almost constant flashes of
lightning from the east. Beautiful but a bit worrisome!

Off we go again

We are delighted that plans made nearly year ago have worked and Paddy,
Lizzie, James and Bridget have made it to this side of the world to
join us for a few weeks. Tintin is full and ready to go! The lure
of exploring coral atolls has led us to wave the incredible
Marquesas goodbye.

Two days ago we set off from Nuku Hiva, to cross 500 miles of
South Pacific Ocean to reach the Tuamotu archipelago. These islands are
also part of French Polynesia. They are low lying coral atolls: each
island looks like a slightly squidged circle on the chart. The inside is
lagoon, the edge is coral reef, some of it a few metres above the high
water line with beaches, coconut palms and maybe a village. Some are
just a couple of miles across, others up to 50.

We are heading for Kauehi, an atoll with one entrance (or pass) - a
gap in the reef which will allow boats to go in and out. The current in
some of the Tuamotu island passes can reach 9 knots so we need to
time our arrival carefully. If the wind is strong and against the
current, large standing waves can build up in the pass, best avoided!
Once inside the lagoon we will need to keep a sharp lookout for coral
heads as we navigate to our chosen anchorage.

Friday and Saturday gave us good sailing conditions with a wind across
the beam and a reasonable sea state. Yesterday evening lightening lit
up squall clouds far away on our horizon, while we had the starriest
sky above our heads. But at 1:30 am I was woken by the boat heeling
sharply and Rob suggesting we reef, now. No lightening close by
but we were under a dark storm cloud and the wind speed doubled quickly
to 35 knots. Lifejacket on, headtorch on, up into the cockpit where it
was noisy, windy, occasionally quite wet and very dark, white horses
just visible all around. James appeared close on my heels and between us
we quickly reefed the main and genoa down to 3rd reef. All at once it
felt calmer and much more manageable, Tintin doing what she (gender
fluid!) does best: floating and carrying on regardless in the direction
we want her to go, easy on the helm, riding the waves.

This morning the wind has dropped and we are now motor sailing to avoid
being tossed around uncomfortably in the swell.
The crew has all emerged, Bridget reporting quite a lot of airtime in
the forward cabin last night (when lifted from the bunk due to the bow
in the waves) and Lizzie complaining of having been woken twice in the
night by seawater coming through slightly open hatches and landing on
her face! It's already 33 degrees by 7am so sometimes the desire to have
airflow in the cabins below wins out against the risk of getting a
dunking.

James is our fisherman. On Friday we lost a hook and
lure to something that must have been very big. Yesterday the line got
tangled with the towed generator again. (We must learn from past
mistakes but optimism sometimes overrides experience).
I have been briefed by James (in case he is asleep) what to do if the
reel buzzes and spins: stop the boat, increase the friction in the
reel , and wake him up.

It sounds so easy.

At about 8am, the line went whizzing out. Shouting "Fish, James, FISH!" very
loudly by his bunk didn't work. Toe pulling and more shouting
eventually did.

Rob was on the line, and saw a really big blue marlin jump clear of the
water at the end of it, then swim off. Line broken, again. We will keep
trying!

Happy reunions in the Marquesas

Happy reunions in the Marquesas

Landfall

This photo of Tintin making landfall after the Pacific crossing was taken by DJ from Sky, another ARC boat that arrived at Hiva Oa a few days before us. Our arrival marked the end of the most isolated and remote part of this whole voyage, and the beginning of a wonderful time exploring the Marquesas, reunited with Lizzie, James and Bridget.

All the fleet gathered yesterday at Taihoe Bay, Nuka Hiva (the largest island of the Marquesas) for a celebration and an official welcome from the community here. We were greeted again with fragrant frangipani garlands and treated to a display of local dancing by the team from the secondary school (recently returned from Tahiti having won the French Polynesia-wide competition there). Amidst a lot of mirth we were invited us to join in - men to do the Haka and women to learn their bird dance. The cultural traditions run deep here in the Marquesas. One dance depicted a battle between warriors of Hiva Oa and Nuka Hiva. Nuka Hiva killed the Hiva Oa warriors. We were told that then they used to eat their victims, but today they aren't cannibals any more, they like steak frites and carbonara....

We were given a feast in the village hall of goat cooked in coconut, pumpkin in coconut, raw fish in coconut, and little crabs harvested from the rocks that morning. It felt just like a WI event in an English village hall, with a few little differences to the menu. A tattooed fire eater entertained us all just before we ate, ending a 3 hour long dance ceremony combined with ARC rally prizegiving*

Today we have hired a pick up to tour the island. The scenery is magestic and stunning. as Lizzie says, England will seem a bit tame after this. Like Hiva Oa, not all the road is metalled. We have just come around the north coast on the bumpiest of dirt/ boulder tracks (the only road) and have reached the airport where we are awaiting the arrival of Paddy, joining us for the next 2 weeks.

We will be exploring the coasts here for another couple of days before heading off 500 miles southwest to the atolls of the Tuamotos, also part of French Polynesia but very different to the Marquesas. So this afternoon's job is to reprovision Tintin with what we can, including a good supply of pamplemousse which are well received at the atolls. They are grapefruit the size of your head, sweet and juicy, which will keep well strung in a net hammock under the gantry on our stern.

*Tintin won a prize: not for speed, but for the closest guess of the total number of fish landed by the fleet on the Pacific crossing. Awarded new hooks and lures, we know Richard will be very proud of us.

Mangoes and Manta rays

After 30 hours of travelling in 20 hours, we met lizzie in tahiti for the final flight on a small turboprop plane. The flight took us over the Toamotus, which looked amazing from the air, increasing our excitement for visiting them in a few days time. We arrived on a jurassic park looking island, landing on a small airstrip perched halfway up one of the hill/mountains. The small (as in a shelf for baggage reclaim and a small whiteboard for the departures board small) airport was full of people greeting friends and family,  including mum and dad who lead us to their hired toyota hilux (almost exclusively the only type of car on the island). The drive down to the boat was incredible. We made a quick stop to pick up ripe mangoes that were littering the side of the road. The rest of the day was spent moving in, eating mangoes and commenting on the temperature difference between here and the UK.

The next day was spend exploring the island, finding tikis (photo attached) and nearly getting stung by Portuguese-man-o-war jellyfish when we made the mistake of wading on the beach with an on-shore breeze. That night the heavens opened in a way that it never does in England, leading on to a very humid and hot morning. Steve was safely delivered to the airport for the long journey home and around midday we departed for Ta hua ta, a small island just off Hiva Oa. That night we were introduced to more people that i could possibly remember the name of at a bbq drinks party on board a large catamaran that is also part of the arc.

The bay was what you would imagine as pacific paradise beach (although the beach was kept clear of due to crazy coconut man), with clear bright blue water and a palm tree lined beach.

A very-hard-to-organise mothers day present was well received on sunday when, just after breakfast a couple of manta rays appeared in the bay and allowed us to swim with them for about 20 mins and get some good video, before gliding away. 

The rest of the day was spent attempting to revise and then finding another excuse to go swimming again. 

It was decided we would leave thats night at midnight for Nuka Hiva, along with two other boats we had got to know. 

A lovely night sail and slightly slower sail through the morning led us to arrive around midday at the capital of the marquesas (you can tell because there is more than just one road). The afternoon was spent attempting a second repair on the rubber dinghy (punctured in Hiva Oa by a stray rebar) and walking around the bay to find a small stony beach. 

This morning the job list included attempting a third repair of the dinghy, getting some fresh fruit from the local market and reconnecting to the rest of the world.

The plan is to stay here for the next couple of days for an ARC dinner and Paddy's arrival.

James