19th – 25th May Taiohae bay

Then bay is very big and able to accommodate lots of yachts at anchor so is a major gathering point in the Marquesas for cruisers. The town ashore is the biggest in the Marquesas so there are shops, a bank, restaurants etc so it is a good place to re-provision and relax. However all the supplies come in by boat which was due in a few days, in between shipments they do run out of things so for the first few day here the shelves were thinly stocked and they had run out of flour so there was no bread to be had.
Thom was anchored here so it was good to catch up and compare notes as it were on our Pacific passages so far. We also looked over each other boats which although the same model had a few differences in layout and set up.

Tuhiva

There were also here some other cruisers that I had got to know so it was a fairly sociable time.
Whilst here I took a few local walks and had a second go at repairing my leaky dinghy not entirely successfully.

26th-29th May – Baie Tai’oe
My next move was to another bay about 5 miles along the coast, Baie Tai’oe. The entrance to this was hidden and looked rather improbable at first entering between a rocky point with breaking waves and tall vertiginous cliffs and with quite a swell running a trifle daunting.

Entrance to Taioa bay

Once inside though it was sheltered, calm and peaceful and you couldn’t even see the ocean.

Taioa bay

Thom arrived next day with a new crew member for me. I had mentioned the other day when a group of us had a pizza together that I was a bit concerned about passing through the Toumotus or Dangerous Archipelego without a crew to watch for reefs and coral heads in the passes and here almost out of the blue was a volunteer to come with me.
Beside the spectacular scenery of this bay, one of the attractions was the 3rd highest waterfall in the world being up the valley. Next day I dinghied around to the village of Hakaui, population 10, and walked up the trail to Vaipo falls. The trail was wet and muddy and you had to ford a knee deep fast running river. You were rewarded with a wonderful view at one point before pushing on through the forest.

Vaipo falls

All around were the ruins of ancient paepae or house platforms, at one time the valley must have supported a large population.
I got back to the village before it started raining then had an exciting time going back out through the surf to the boat, thought I might get flipped but just took a wave aboard.
Went back to th e village next morning and filled my water cans and bought a whole load of fruit, a hand of bananas, pamplemousse, limes and a breadfruit