Category Archives: South Pacific

Touring Paeua, Manihi

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Tuesday June 5, 2007 Manihi: 14-28 S by 146-02 W. First thing this morning some divers came and freed the two trapped sail boats. The third boat also pulled up anchor and left, leaving Kosmos alone in the anchorage. The dive shop is located on the hotel grounds, and Richard caught a ride with the divers back to the hotel. He decided to spend his last couple nights in the lap of luxury. So now it is just the two of us in this super romantic setting. Nice.

This afternoon we went into town. The main town on the island is called Paeua and it is on the south side. While the land consists of a ring around a lagoon, there are breaks in the land that naturally separate one town from another. Here you need a boat to get around the island, and we have seen what look to be public transportation boats. We are guessing Paeua is a couple miles long and about a quarter mile wide. Paeua ends on the west side at the channel entrance and at the east side near where we are anchored, where the land is too low to build on. Continue reading →

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 →