Arriving Fatu Hiva

We left Hiva Oa this morning at 6:30am local time hoping to catch some favorable winds to Fatu Hiva, 42nm south of Hiva Oa, but no luck as the wind has been light and the wrong direction at that, so we have been using precious hand-carried in jerry jugs fuel. Fatu Hiva is supposed to be worth it though. There are supposedly only 8 cars on the island and all those at the largest village of Omoa which does not have a good anchorage, so we will be several miles north at Hanavane at the "Bay of the Virgins". It used to be the "Bay of the Male Part" but the missionaries did not like that so they added an "i" to the French word to make it "virgins". The bay is ringed by these upthrusting volcanic tubes and is alledgedly one of the most scenic places in the world. We will see it in about 30 minutes and will let you know.

We did laundry yesterday at the tap next to the outdoor shower. There is a faucet there and we did it in buckets and hung it out to dry all over the boat. The surge was so strong at the dinghy dock that some people were afraid to get in and out of their dinks there. Last night several boats drug (past tense of drag) their stern anchors and some did not sleep because of the big swells breaking on the rocks next to their boats with this enormous "whoomp" every 5 minutes. We had no problems because we are better than everyone else (not!!) but were glad to leave the increasingly rolly harbor. Some of our Zihua friends went to Fatu Hiva first before checking in officially at Hiva Oa and the local genderme (cop) chased them out and told them to get to Atuona to check in. So much for lax officials here. We are glad we did it the other way as it is way too far to come back to.

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