Ua Pou

Sat Apr 11th. The 30 mile passage to Ua Pou was fast- 30 knots of wind most of the way, with a reasonably large sea. Wind and waves from our port side, on the beam, and not too choppy – not uncomfortable. The easterly trade winds are funneled between the islands of Nuku Hiva and Ua Pou, accelerating them to a strength sometimes twice as much as normal. I’m always amazed by the way that two land masses relatively far apart and relatively low can make such a difference to the wind and sea.

By early afternoon the dramatic skyline of Ua Pou had cleared out of the haze. Sharp needles, towers and spires of bare rock scratching the bottom of a layer of cloud. Reminded me a little of the Isle of Skye. An incredible sight as we approached – Eva and David comparing it to the Torres del Paine in Patagonia, but here surrounded by a thick tropical green carpet and blue, blue ocean. As soon as we rounded the NW corner into the lee of the land, the wind disappeared completely, and then after a few minutes, further down the coast just a few hundred yards, it strengthened from the other direction, coming around the other side of the island, which is about 8 miles north to south and 6 miles east to west. To shelter from the easterly wind, I picked an anchorage on the west coast – Hakamaii bay – a small indentation in the rugged and rocky coastline just big enough for a boat to anchor. As we approached I wasn’t so sure it would have the protection from wind and swell that we needed, and it was pretty small – the tightest spot I’ve taken the boat into so far, on a remote rocky shore at least. But after a few minutes motoring gently about in the middle of the bay, I felt more comfortable, so in 12m of water we set the bow anchor with a buoy (to retrieve it more easily if it snagged) and a stern anchor to stop us swinging into the rocks on each side.

Nestled in the bottom of the valley at the head of the bay was a small settlement with a colourful church facing the sea, the cross on its spire a little wonky, a few modern looking houses, a pickup truck, a clean white satellite dish and on the hill to the south, banana trees and a brown horse precariously munching on grass on the cliff edge. The sea crashed into the land on a beach of large, light coloured boulders, at the top of the beach a row of traditional outrigger canoes, and in the water a load of kids playing noisily. As we anchored, a guy in a canoe paddled out of the bay and around the cliff to the south. Seems like a gently, happy place.

Sun Apr 12th. A peaceful night at anchor. Church bells ringing early in the morning wake me up – I managed to spend all night dozing in the cockpit without getting rained on, though some very light drizzle in the early hours made things a little damp. Not long before the hot sun dries everything out. Rowed Dave and Eva ashore to take a look around the village, but the surf crashing on the rocky beach put us off landing. An old man waiting ashore signaled to us that the southern side of the bay was another landing spot, from where you could climb the cliffs and walk around to the village, so I dropped them off on the rocks instead. I suspect we’re the first boat to anchor here this year, and he was looking forward to foreign visitors. But D+E didn’t manage to get up the cliffs or into the village, just spent some time exploring the rocks.

Crew hauled me up the mast to check masthead and rigging, I sealed the bulkhead of the aft cabin with silicone where water had been coming in from the stern compartment following the heavier rain squalls, and then we weighed anchor to set off for the Tuamotus at midday. It’s a 480 mile passage, and at an average speed of 5 knots I’m expecting 4 nights at sea, planning to arrive at the atoll of Makemo early on Thursday morning, just before slack tide, so we can go in through the pass in the coral reef without too much current.

Even though we’ve spent almost no time in the Marquesas archipelago, Ua Pou is our last island here. I feel like I’ve got a good sense of what the place is like, and we have limited time. I want to spend a couple of weeks in the Tuamotus before meeting Rose in Tahiti at the start of May, so we have to push on…