Worrall Travel R's

Worrall Travel R's
Roz and Russ

Worrall Travel R's - Kicking the Bucket List

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Worrall Wind Update 13/14 - Marquesas Islands

Day 13/14 - Taiohae Bay, Nuka Hiva, May 20-21, 2010

UTC/Local: 0230/1700

Latitude: 08 54.959 S
Longitude: 140 06.197 W

Yesterday, we spent most of the day in town exploring Taiohae. We got up early to take advantage of shopping at the markets. The supply ship comes in every two weeks and it had come on Monday. The stores were stocked on Tuesday. When we got in late on Tuesday afternoon, we did a quick look around and saw that things were already flying off of the shelves. So yesterday, we stocked up with the things we will need for our passage to the Tuomotus and Tahiti.

This bay is very large and open. It has something called a reflective swell though which makes the boats rock back and forth on anchor and the dinghies and dinghy dock dance crazily about making it a challenge to get on and off the dinghies . When the large swells reach the seawall and crash, they bounce back out to sea. It is odd to see a wave roll towards the ocean and then a wave roll back out at you. When we first anchored, there was a very large ray cruising about the anchorage. We've also noticed there are tons of little jelly fish in the water. Not a good bay for swimming, we have decided. There are probably 30 boats in the bay, many of which we recognize from having been on the radio making the Puddle Jump with us. It is nice to connect faces with boat names.

The four of us enjoyed watching the local adolescents, all boys, surfing after school. It doesn't seem to be an equal opportunity sport here in this bay. When the tide is going out the waves hit a rock reef that is diagonal to the shoreline. The reflective swell in this part of the bay bounces parallel to the shore. When the reflective swell and incoming swell meet it makes a large "V" shaped wave that the kids ride sideways. Very interesting.

The shoreline is very well kept and their are old ruins with tikis in a parklike atmosphere. The local folks were enjoying a volleyball game the first night we were here. We enjoyed the restaurant we ate in the first night so much, we went back last night and again and indulged in big shrimp salads and shrimp curry for dinner.

Today, Garyn and Jess did some grocery shopping, while Russ checked in and out with Gendamerie, and I did laundry on the pier. The fisherman came in with a load of fresh fish around 3:00 p.m. Russ and I went to shore intent on buying both tuna and wahoo. The first load only had tuna, so we bought 2 kilos of fresh tuna. Later, our friends on Trim, indicated that another boat had come in with wahoo. Jess and Garyn went back in the dinghy to fetch some wahoo. Four kilos (8 lbs) of fish should take care of us on our passage.

Tomorrow, we head for for Hakatea Bay on Nuka Hiva. We plan to relax, do a little hiking, and leave for the Tuomotus this weekend or early next week.

All is well on Worrall Wind.

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