The sail around the island to Daniel’s Bay was fairly uneventful. The winds in the lee of the island were fluky which was to be expected. In fact for a good distance, the easterly trades were curling over the top of the volcanic ridge creating a light westerly wind.<\/p>\n

We arrived around 3:30pm and found a spot close to the shore amongst a pack of around 15 boats. With not a lot of daylight left we went ashore to stretch our legs along the short sandy beach. Along the beach I spotted a fair sized crab sitting there that appeared unafraid of my approach. I was able to catch it by pressing down on it with my flip flop then holding it by it’s carapace.<\/p>\n

Once I’d carried the crab along the beach and back to the dinghy where I deposited it I noticed John and Helen had disappeared. I ran back down the beach to find them. They had been exploring a dried river bed which had lots of crab holes and they’d spotted a few scurrying around. We soon found quite a few crabs hiding under the coconut fronds and sometimes two or three to a hole which meant the top one was quite exposed. I managed to grab five more crabs handing them over to Helen and John to hold in each hand.<\/p>\n

We dropped the five crabs into the dinghy to make six in total. We headed over to Kamaya to say hello and ask about the nearby walking trail. They gave us directions and showed interest in the crabs. We soon had their son, Kay, aboard so we could meet his Dad Tim who would kayak ashore and collect some too. We headed back to Dignity to drop off the crabs and grab a few spare eggs for Ruth on Kamaya.<\/p>\n

Soon John, Tim, Kay and I were back with the crabs this time with buckets to contain them. We managed to collect at least twenty more of which John and I took another seven back to the boat.<\/p>\n

We soon had our crabs on the boil. Although they tasted nice, the meat to shell ratio was quite small so it took a lot of effort for a little return. Helen had also cooked up noodles and we were quite full long before the crabs were finished. John and I finished off by collecting the meat from the remaining crabs for future use.<\/p>\n

Today we’re off on the nearby hike to the dried up water fall. We’ll probably go along with Stuart and Sheila from Imagine who sailed around the island at the same time as us yesterday. We’re also thinking of moving back to the main town of Taiohae this afternoon after the hike. It’s about 6nm away so it won’t take long. While the anchorage here is (again) stunning we’re keen to get ourselves sorted out and on our way to the Tuamotos.<\/p>\n