After we all arose we debated our plans for the day. The majority aboard were in favour of leaving Atuona before the end of day but staying long enough for the hike to the nearby Petroglyphs.
The hike was pleasant. No more than half a mile on paved road before walking along a jungle dirt road. We made one wrong turn into someone’s home and one wrong turn down to the river but neither detour was too long and each had some interesting things to look at. Along the way we passed Papaya trees, walked through a grove of wild bananas and passed a bush of chili peppers.
When we reached the big rock covered in petroglyphs we met a French party with a guide that had been taken there in a land rover. We could not understand what was being spoken as it was all in French although one of the party translated some interesting bits once or twice.
We left the scene shortly after the other party only to find they had stopped a short distance after to climb a side trail we would not have thought to climb ourselves. Here we found an information board followed by a large paved/rocky area looking like some sort of old temple all tucked away amongst jungly trees. In amongst all this was a large carved head of a statue called “the kings head” and a rock used for sharpening knives. On the way back we collected all the ripe chilis that we could find, picked some fruit from the floor and acquired a number of large Papayas.
Back at the dock we dropped of some old oil, filled up our empty water containers and had an awesome shower. Cold but voluminous. While preparing lunch, Leu Cat showed up completing their crossing from the Galapagos. As we were soon leaving and had already raised our dinghy we invited them over to share local information. We gave them some of our fruit bounty to welcome them and shared congrats for the crossing.
Around 2pm we were off bound for Baie Hanamoenoa on the island of Tahuata a short way to the south. The sailing was initially very bumpy due to effects of the land but racing down the channel between the islands at 8-9 knots was exhilarating. We passed within feet of Bubbles (four young party guys who we’d met the previous evening) and took photos of each other. One of the guys aboard had climbed the mast and was standing on the spreader posing for the shot.
As we approached the bay we passed a local boat with a family aboard, including a very young child, who tried to wave us down as their outboard motor had failed. As best we could we indicated we’d come out in our dinghy once we’d anchored. We anchored rather hurriedly and communicated the situation to the group of boats in the bay. Soon John and I were racing out in the dinghy with a towing line and were followed by Stuart from Imagine. We got a line attached and began towing when the mother indicated another boat approaching from their village. They had been in contact via mobile phone – this isn’t the South Pacific of just a few years ago.
When the second boat arrived we bade them ‘Bon Chance’ and headed back to the anchorage for a task I had been dreading.
At the previous port we’d noticed the holding tank in our hull had been backing up and needed unblocking. I’ve only had to do this once before. This involves putting on a face mask, swimming out side with a stick in hand, holding ones breath and diving under to poke at the blockage. This last bit is done with some trepidation as the moment of success is the exact moment that strong swimming is essential as the contents of the holding tank with many days worth of collected sewage bursts forth.
This time the blockage was not so evident. I poked around with my stick and try as I might I could produce no brown clouds. Perhaps the blockage was further up. So I tried various bits of wire, tubes and bits of plastic, sometimes with my face very close to the opening, hoping to prod around the 90 degree angle presented by the valve. I tried a few time with the deck pump hose to squirt water into the through hull to wash any blockage out. That didn’t work. My nerves were quite frayed by now and now my heart sank as I approached the inevitable next strategy which is to tackle the blockage from above.
There is a screw in access port in the holding tank to allow access to the interior. Before opening this I wanted to check to make sure the contents wouldn’t spill out into the boat. We used a dive torch/flashlight to shine through the plastic to assess the level of the contents. The tank was empty. It must have emptied during our passage. My last hours exertions and elevated levels of fear had been in vain. There had been a point in our passage when we’d had an extreme whiff of sewage which we took to be a reminder of the task ahead. In hindsight we reckon that was the moment of clearance.
With this problem (ie – that there was no problem) resolved we headed to the beach to catch sunset and have a beer with the other boaters there. There we met old friends and new. The Kamayas were there having come up from Fatu Hiva earlier in the day. I spoke to Tim who had learned from locals that the lobsters come up onto the sand at night so perhaps we’ll do some night time hunting soon. Apparently there was a rare green flash but we missed it as we had our backs to the sunset. We must be getting jaded – here we are in paradise, perfect beach, perfect sunset and we can’t be bothered to watch.
This is a nice spot. We reckon we’ll stay here a day or two before heading round the corner to Baie Vaitahu where there is a village and a few things to do/see as well as fresh French bread – hopefully closer than two miles from the dinghy dock as it was in Atuona.
Today I’m up for a really lazy day. Except, perhaps, for some snorkeling, exploring the beach, looking for fruit and some night time lobster hunting.
Once piece of good news is that I had it confirmed yesterday that we can receive the replacement watermaker pump in Nuku Hiva as an alternative to Atuano in Hiva Oa. We don’t particularly want to go back to Atuano so this means we won’t need to hold back our schedule or lose a day or two making our way back there. During our brief internet session in Atuano I learned that our package had already made it to Hawaii but seemed to be on it’s way to Australia.