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
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