We left Taiohae fairly early and once outside of the bay found ourselves in northeasterly winds. This enabled us to sail eastwards a little more efficiently but didn’t bode too well for heading up the east side of the island. Around 8am we joined an informal net on the SSB where we talked to Whiskers on their way to the Tuamotus. They were experiencing much lighter winds than hoped for too.
Near the south east corner we came close to Sea Mist who were motoring along the south side. We exchanged greetings on the radio – perhaps we’re soon to meet finally.
We made a long tack off the south east corner hoping to find the right line to sail up the east coast. While doing so we saw a lot of sea bird activity around a patch in the water. This means they were chasing a ball of small fish which in turn suggested there were larger fish feeding too. Our hopes were up as we sailed through the area with two lines out. We thought we’d sailed on through with our usual luck when suddenly we had a fish on. I started winding it in then suddenly we had a second fish so John started winding that one in. The fish I had was a skipjack tuna of a fairly decent size, perhaps around 4lb to 5lb. I put the clip we have through it’s chin and sliced it’s gills and chucked it in the water before too much blood went on the boat. It bled out fairly quickly so I hauled it aboard and took the line / clip over to John. His was a skipjack tuna too but it turned out it had died already so the cutting didn’t release any blood.
We performed our usual roles. I removed bowels and heads then John filleted the fish. A lot of their inner core where the blood had remained was tossed but we still ended up with a lot of good meat.
During all this we made our turn to head up the east side of the island. It was apparent we didn’t have a good angle and would have to continue tacking to keep away from the land. We decided to close the angle a little by giving a push with the electric motors. We were briefly surrounded by a pod of the small dolphins that are abundant around here but they departed quickly. We were then joined by a pod of larger darker dolphins. There were around 40 of them and they behaved a little differently. They were bumping the boat from time to time and where they swam and played at the bows they were densely packed. They surfaced less often and had rounder shaped heads. We used our guide and identified them as melon headed whales. This begs the question as to what the difference between whales and dolphins is as it’s not obvious to us.
This pod stayed with us for at least two hours during which the genset overheated and shut down as a result of a broken impeller. I replaced the part resulting in a bit of a mystery. The removed impeller had one vane missing with a broken vane wedged in the gap. The vane, however, didn’t match the stump. Seems I must have missed clearing a vane last time and the lost vane is still in the tubes somewhere. Having little enjoyment in working on a hot engine the first time I declined opening it up again to search for the missing vane and left this chore to another day. Chances are it’s sitting in the heat exchanger. The gasket for this is falling apart and if I go in there I’ll need to make another.
The whales left us eventually as we rounded the north east tip of the island. We hailed Inspiration Lady as we thought they may be in the anchorage we were heading to as we were now able to return the water jugs they had leant us. We discovered Jackster were there too which is usual as they sail together. They let us know there was a gap in the anchorage right next to them and there we anchored when we arrived in Anaho Bay.
The bay is stunning. Half mile high volcanic rock formations with a mixture of red stone, sand and vegetation. We were keen to get out into the water so we whizzed over to Jackster to learn where best we can go. We ended up staying aboard for a beer and ended up agreeing to host David’s birthday aboard Dignity the following day. They gave us good info and we showed off our tattoos which happens every time we meet anyone these days. We then picked up our snorkeling gear and headed over to Inspiration Lady to drop off the water jugs as they were right by one of the snorkeling reefs. After usual greetings and chat we ended up leaving the dinghy tied to their boat while we swam out to the reef. The sun was getting low so the visibility was declining. However the reef was shallow and there were plenty of fish to see.
After our swim we dinghied back to Dignity and dropped the gear off along with Helen and John. I wanted to say a brief hello to Sea Mist who were in the anchorage. I ended up staying for a couple of beers before having to be called back as the BBQ was cooked. While there a few dinghies passed by with friends from other boats that we’d got to know while in the Galapagos and Marquesas. This is a popular anchorage and one of the last ones before folks head off to the Tuamotus.
John had cooked up chicken, burgers and some of the fish. It was all very tasty. We finished the evening watching an episode of The Wire. The combination of our USB reader/player and TV decided not to work so we had to watch it on John’s laptop. Another thing to try and fix some time.
Today we plan to make the hike to the village Hatiheu in the next bay as well as cleaning up the boat for the party this evening.
Longer term our thinking is now being influenced by the thought that we’d really like to get to Tahiti by June 18th for the 3 day Pacific Puddle Jump party. This is just four weeks and nearly 800nm away. The more time we spend here, the less we’ll get in the Tuamotus. We want to make the best of this anchorage as well as visiting Hakaui on the south coast. So it looks like 3 nights here followed by a slog round to Hakaui via Taiehoe on the same day to reprovision, internet and grab fuel. 2-3 nights there and then we’ll be off to the Tuoamotus.
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