The Pony Express to the Rescue

The spectacular coastline of Tahuata.

With our reprovisioning completed at Hiva Oa we looked forward to a short sail to nearby Tahuata Island and the famed Hana Moe Noa Bay. It was hard to leave Hiva Oa and our friends, but the rocking and rollin’ anchorage had us yearning for a sound night’s sleep. We headed out through the breakwater directly into a 15-knot wind right on the nose (how many times have I written that in a blog?) and large swells. We made it around Cape Teaehoa and eased the sails off for a broad reach down Bordelais Channel between Hiva Oa and Tahuata, a notorious wind funnel that was luckily behaving itself today.

Hana Moe Noa Bay on Tahuata is rated by many as the most beautiful beach in all of French Polynesia.

Rounding the corner to the left on Tahuata the wind calmed down and we prepared ourselves for another mind-blowing hit of scenery. Hana Moe Noa has been described as the “most beautiful beach in all of French Polynesia.” It certainly lived up to its billing as we ghosted into a panorama of verdant green hills falling down to a perfect white sand beach lined with regal palm trees. If this isn’t paradise then nothing is.

Escape Velocity, Full Circle, French Curve, Toucan, and Arbutus all received fresh baguettes that we brought over from Atuona.

We were bringing gifts for the sailboats anchored in the bay and a badly needed part for a friend’s water maker, but more importantly, we were coming to see our friends on Escape Velocity whom we’d said good bye to in Bequia over a year ago.

A warm welcome from Marce and Jack on Escape Velocity.

From L to R:  Marce, Cindy and David from Full Circle, and Meryl.

Marce's beautiful tattoo from the Tahuatu artist, Fati.

We quickly anchored and dingied over to Escape Velocity and there was Jack and Marce waiting with open arms. They hadn’t changed much, except both were sporting beautiful new tattoos by the famous Marquesan tattoo artist Fati. It didn’t take long to get caught up (our blogs fill us in all the daily happenings in our lives) when a dingy motored up with David and Cindy from Full Circle whom we’d last seen in San Cristobal in the Galapagos (Tryg had brought a temperature sensor for their water maker from the States.). A short time later Paul and Sundra from Arbutus arrived. We last saw them in Cartagena. Mark and Cheryl from French Curve also came over. It was like old home week. The timing was perfect because we’d brought fresh baguettes from Hiva Oa for everyone.

We returned later to get caught up with Jack and Marce and hear about all their adventures (and they have had some doozies). In describing the bay where they had spent most of the last month, Marce told us to watch for the giant manta rays that come in each morning to feed.

We got up early the next morning, picked up Jack and Marce and dingied a short ways out of the bay where right on schedule the manta rays appeared. You can see their wing tips just kissing the surface as the glide through the water. With snorkels and fins on we all jumped into the water and followed Jack on a manta ray search, with Meryl towing the dingy behind us (I had the video camera). Shortly one appeared out of the deep blue, looking much like a spaceship out of Star Wars on an attack run. Luckily they are plankton feeders so we just got to enjoy the beauty of these magnificent fish as they slowly glided overhead (we’ll post video as soon as we have some bandwidth). Much like seeing the turtles laying eggs on Grenada this was one of those life moments.

The beautiful beach at Han Moe Noa.

Unfortunately, all three of our friend’s boats left the next morning (EV had been waiting close to a week for us to arrive) and suddenly we were all alone in the bay. We spent the next few days just relaxing, snorkeling and checking off a few boat projects. Before Marce left she mentioned the GRIBS (the graphical data files we use to predict wind speeds and direction) were showing a rare northerly wind on Saturday. We wanted to visit the fabled Fatu Hiva, but it’s normally a long upwind slog that we weren’t looking forward to, but with a northerly wind it would be a close reach and a much more enjoyable sail. So as with many things in the cruising life, we changed plans once again  to set sail for Fatu Hiva on Saturday, June 6th.