After 18 days at sea it was slightly surreal to be at anchor again, and, in a strange way slightly odd to be here, in Hiva Oa in the Marquesa islands, almost alone.

Celeste, the 65′ Farr had arrived the day before but most of their crew, who are chartering by the leg, had already left to fly home or move to the hotel ashore when we arrived, second boat in the fleet, at 0913 in the morning of Sunday 22nd March.

We had time to go ashore and meet Penny and Paul from World Sailing who were just setting up their “office” to greet the fleet; to have lunch and a dip in the hotel pool; and to clear into French Polynesia at the local Gendarmerie by the afternoon when Gordon and Sharon were the third boat to finish on Take Two. We’d spent nearly 1500 nm sailing within 15nm of each other until we pulled away by taking a more direct route with 2 days to go. We had drinks aboard Offbeat in the evening (the first of many to come!).

A couple of boats arrived on the following day and the rest of the fleet would finish over the following 10 days. As the numbers grew we had a group dinner at the hotel above the bay and our first experience of Polynesian dancing.

We left Hiva Oa after 3 days, unfortunately the bay was rolly, the water murky and unfit for swimming. The fleet was so spread out after 3000nm sailing that there was no opportunity for the usual end of leg get together and celebration. That would have to wait until we all met in Nuka Hiva.

We hired a car and spent a day exploring Hiva Oa which is the second-largest island in the Marquesas archipelago of French Polynesia. Known for its wild, volcanic landscape, it has lush, fertile valleys and dramatic mountain peaks. The island is small, only just over 2000 inhabitants, almost all of whom live in the main town, and only port, Atuona. It has a small boat yard and a supply ship arrives about once a week; a pattern we’d get used to around French Polynesia.

High above the bay in Atuona, the cemetery holds the graves of French Post-Impressionist painter Paul Gauguin and 1960s Belgian singer-songwriter Jacques Brel who both lived on the island. We hadn’t heard of Jacque Brel before and, having listened to a couple of his greatest hits on Spotify, I know why! 🙂

As we toured the island we would also see our first maraes or me’ae, these are open-air temples used for religious, social, and political gatherings and the occasional human sacrifice of defeated enemy warriors. Common across the region they are typically rectangular areas paved with basalt stone or coral and enclosed by low walls. The Marae’s are often accompanied by Tikis: Stone or wooden statues representing ancestors or deities, often placed around the perimeter to guard the site.

By Wednesday we were desperate for a swim so took the short motor south to Hanamoenoa Bay on neighbouring island of Tahuata. We had a leisurely day at anchor before leaving just before sunset for the 90nm sail up to Nuka Hiva. We had to get to Nuka Hiva in time to drop off Adrian, whose time with us was sadly nearly over after 3 months onboard.

90 nm is an awkward distance for us. We prefer to arrive at new islands in daylight but with 12 hours of darkness it’s often a challenge to go slowly enough to avoid arriving too early. We set off with one reef in the mainsail but with 13 to 18kts of wind and making 7 to 9 knots boatspeed, it was clear we would arrive before dawn. We took drastic action and put 3 reefs in the mainsail and 1/2 rolled our genoa headsail. 2 hours after leaving the anchorage who should appear on AIS behind us? It was our wingman Take Two yet again, they’d been to another island the night before and came round the south side of Tahuata shortly after we left.

Just after dawn Lucy called me on deck as an massive squall was approaching. This hit us with up to 36 knots of wind and torrential rain; the strongest winds we’ve had all trip. The boat speed shot up to 12 knots but fortunately it was short lived and had passed by the time we entered the bay at Taioha’e, Nuke Hiva. Enjoy the video!

Nuku Hiva is the largest island in the Marquesas and the administrative center of the northern group. Known for its raw, prehistoric beauty, it features the dramatic Taioha’e Bay, a massive volcanic crater half-submerged in the Pacific.

We refueled Offbeat as we entered the bay, although we’d only motored 40 odd hours since leaving the Galapagos we’d used a fair bit for the generator. The town, although not large, was well equipped to reprovision and relax with several supermarkets, hotels and restaurants. It had a vegetable market by the dock and fisherman landing and cleaning their catches. Great entertainment watching the sharks devour the scraps, right next to the dinghy dock!

This was the location for the fleet rendezvous and over the next couple of days everyone arrived apart from a couple of boats who were delayed. We all felt for the team on Navigo who had had severe problems and lost use of their engine and couldn’t let their boat sail faster than 5 kts as this would cause water ingress through their engine prop shaft stern gland. Very scary.

We took a short trip round to the north side of the island to the peaceful Haitieu Bay for an excellent lunch “Chez Yvonne”, leaving our tender in the care of 3 young lads who were fishing from the dock for a fee of 500 CFP (Polynesia Francs), then anchored overnight in the neighbouring Anaho Bay, alongside the 67′ Baltic “Manyeleti” which was rejoining the fleet having sailed from Costa Rica. We then both dashed back to Taioha’e to get there in time for the Fleet Reunion and Prizegiving .

The dinner, with a third leg win for us in the multihulls division, was a great time to get together and share stories about our Pacific crossing. It was followed by another display of Polynesian dancing, this time with some rather embarrassing audience participation.

In the morning we sadly said goodbye to Adrian as he set off on his long flight home. It was great sailing with Adrian once again and hopefully an experience he and we will remember forever.

Lucy, Phil and I then started to prepare to head off for the beautiful Tuomotus, the oldest island group in French Polynesia.