Hanamoenoa Bay, Tahuata Island

April 25, 2024:  Hanamoenoa Bay, Tahuata Island

              We had a “learning experience” this morning after we picked up our very full, dry bag of clean laundry including all our clothes, sheets, and towels from the last month.  We placed the bag in the dinghy then went to the store for a few items; the sky darkened and opened up unleashing a torrent of rain.  By the time the rain lightened (somewhat), our bag of clothes was covered in rainwater in our dinghy; at least it wasn’t salt water! 

I spent the rest of the next two days drying out all of our clean clothes on the rail in the sun.  We now carry a large plastic bag in our dinghy just in case to keep whatever treasures we have dry!

              Anchor up, ready to escape the swelly surge of the anchorage, we had a rough ride through the edge of a squall resulting in some ill crew.  Through Bordelais Channel to Tahuata Island, the smallest inhabited island in the Marquesas archipelago with 700 people.  It was a hilarious and helpful moment when our friend LJ off SV Lyrae jumped in the water at Hanamoenoa Bay to help us find a patch of sand to place our anchorage, avoiding coral.  It was a first-class anchoring service! 

This bay is lined by a white sand beach, volcanic rock walls, and coconut palm hills; goats can be heard bleating and the turquoise waters invited us in immediately, our first family swim in the Southern Hemisphere.  All this beauty brought in another 17 boats, but there was plenty of room for us all to enjoy it.

The Tucker family brought us lovely gifts from our Petersburg friends, including a Pia original painting of SV Terikah.  We turned on our stern underwater lights, watching the fish, jellies, and other sea life.  Calder and Cora slept outside in the trampolines under the stars, forced into the cockpit when it rained.

April 26, 2024 (Friday): Hanamoenoa Bay, Tahuata

              After cockpit pancakes with fresh papaya, we enjoyed swimming off the boat before heading to shore.  We had the new experience of anchoring the dinghy off the shore due to surf breaking; we were unable to take our dinghy to shore without it getting stuck in the soft sand and toppled in the surf.  We set the anchor and swam to the white sand, palm-lined beach, where the boat kids played in the surf together (and got sun-burned). 

Calder and his boat friend Forrest were very determined to get a coconut down from a tree and became very inventive from various whacking implements to throwing other items at the coconuts to climbing to using old rusty tools they found in the woods; what could go wrong?!  Eventually lifting Calder up high and having him reach did the trick; treated ourselves to a bit of coconut water. 

Lunch of baguettes and pamplemousse.  We hosted a happy hour on board that turned into a “talent show” on the trampolines, with boat kids dancing, singing, and playing music in the open-air setting of the tropics.  Fun to go “next door” to another boat for movie night in their cockpit.