Category Archives: Information

Information we discovered during our travels.

Welcome to Mahini

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Monday, June 4, 2007 – This morning the seas calmed down right before dawn. Once it calmed down, it was actually a pleasant ride. Too bad we pulled into the bay at 11:00.

From a distance it looked exactly like we expected. It is a very low island with lots of palm trees. We were anxious as we approached our first South Pacific atoll. A nice calm lagoon is supposed to be inside the islands. The atolls in the Tuomotus are renowned for being tricky to get in and out of. There are always stories about this or that boat that hit coral and sank. One of the reasons we chose Mahini was because it is one of the easier ones to navigate, but you still need to use abundant amounts of caution. Continue reading →

Fatu Hiva to Manihi, Days 2 and 3

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Saturday, June 2, 2007 –The seas have calmed down from Friday, but it is still a rough ride. We feel like we are human pinballs in a pinball machine right now. We are still getting the ugly beam seas (meaning getting hit from the side by waves), but they are not nearly as strong or as frequent.

Unfortunately, the air Continue reading →

Goodbye Fatu Hiva

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May 31 — Thursday was uneventful. We spent the day doing boat chores, which means cleaning, organizing, and maintenance stuff. Eric changed the on engine fuel filters for the generator and main engine. Tip: If the primer pump is not working, turn over the engine to realign the camshaft so the primer pump works. If you forget this step you tend to panic because Continue reading →

Bay of Virgins

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Wednesday May 30, 2007 We pulled into the Bay of Virgins on Fatu Hiva, Marquesas, French Polynesia, at 8:30. As promised, it is beautiful. Fatu Hiva gets the most rain, and is thus the most lush. The original name for the bay the Marquesans gave it was Bay of the Phalli, because there are several rock formations that do resemble penises of various shapes and sizes. Rumor has it the missionaries were unhappy with that name (Baie des Verges in French) and changed it to the Bay of Virgins (Baie des Vierges just added an “I”).

Like Anaho, Fatu Hiva is extremely difficult for tourists to get to without a private boat. There is no airport and no regular ferry to take tourists to and from here. There are two towns connected by a road that is mostly dirt. There are a little over 500 people on the island. Like Nuka Hiva, steep mountains just shoot out of the water with little flat ground. Continue reading →

Anaho Bay

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Monday, May 28, 2007 – Anaho Bay is truly amazing. It is a glimpse at what all the Marquesas were probably like 30 years ago. It’s probably what all the islands were like 100 years ago. It may be the last genuinely unspoiled town left on earth. We wish we could send a photo because words cannot even begin to describe it, but we’ll try to paint the picture with words.

Anaho resembles Taiohae in that high mountains thick with foliage plunge straight into the water with little shoreline. The bay itself looks like it is out of a picture book, with it’s beautiful horseshoe curve and blue water. In some small spots near the shoreline the water is a spectacular blue-green. The land along the water is odd there are a few small isolated spots of white sandy beach, but it is mostly a narrow beach that immediately becomes thick, dense foliage. Continue reading →