Greetings from 10 degrees south, 141 degrees west! Flyer departed Taioha’e Bay, Nuku Hiva yesterday mid-day after a couple of days provisioning between torrential downpours. We are currently sailing in a light easterly breeze at 6 knots, about 150nm into the 540nm reach towards the Tuamotu archapelago. The past couple of weeks have been busy, full of logistics, sweating, and some unexpected extended local cruising (waiting).
Flyer’s new transmission arrived on Good Friday as anticipated, 2 weeks after order from the UK, during which time we were able to explore a few of the island’s more remote anchorages. Given the complexities of getting such an awkward package delivered to a remote Pacific island, we were thrilled to see it arrive on time, thanks to the help of Kevin Ellis at Yacht Services Nuku Hiva. Kevin runs a pretty lean outfit in Taioha’e, supporting cruisers like us with a variety of needs when they are in the area. There’s no question that his assistance was essential in getting the delivery to us on time.
Once we got the tranny aboard, Kevin (of Dark Star), Greg (of Rocket Science) and I got to work immediately and had the new tranny installed in about two hours on a hot and sweaty High Holy afternoon. It’s a one-person job in a good conditions but in the sweltering valley of Taioha’e it was a lifesaver to have two sets of hands to bang it out with. We saved the fun part for Saturday, installing the new flexible coupler and sorting the propeller shaft out by mid-afternoon.
The following Monday, Kristen departed as our family’s sole ambassador for a family wedding in the Bay Area, leaving me and the boys to keep Flyer in good order while continuing to explore the island. To get to the wedding, she took a taxi 1.5hrs to the airport on the NW corner of the island, then flew a small Air Tahiti plane for 3 hours to Tahiti, and spent 6 hours exploring Papeete before boarding a United red-eye flight direct to SFO! I need to take a nap just thinking about it all.
After she departed, the boys and I took Flyer to Daniel’s Bay with Rocket Science and Dark Star, and spent a few days there enjoying the swimming, local fare, and the spectacular setting. Daniel’s is one of the most beautiful anchorages we’ve been in, with 1,000 foot tall ridges rising from the lush green valley. We were sad that Kristen couldn’t share it with us, but happy to have been able to spend time there with such good friends.
During our time there the weather took an even more damp turn, delivering some major downpours at an estimated 2” of rain an hour! The valley came alive with cascading waterfalls down the cliff faces, and the runoff was so significant that we had to abandon our plans to hike to see the place of the former home of the King and Queen and the Vaipo waterfall as the risk of falling rocks is significant from the elevated running water.
On Monday, Kristen returned to her soggy vessel from SF only to find the crews of Rocket Science, Dark Star, and Sentjin enjoying a break in the rain with a swim party aboard Flyer. There was much rejoicing as she opened her 70lb checked bag full of goodies from the US, including some new running rigging for Flyer, an underwater camera apparatus and blender for Dark Star, and four sorely needed USB-powered fans for her sweaty family!
While back in Taioha’e for our third and final visit, we were so happy to reunite with our friends Kara, John and Dean aboard Sentjin, who we last saw in Monterey! They were such gracious hosts while we were there, taking us surfing and loaning us the family car for errands, and we’d been hoping to share an anchorage with them again since September. In the intervening months they completed some refit work on Sentjin, sailed south to Ensenada, and delivered an aluminum expedition powerboat from the Cape Verde islands to Ushuaia in what sounded like quite the ordeal. They were just a few weeks behind us in departing Mexico, so we were thrilled to see them in the Taioha’e anchorage when we returned from Daniel’s on Sunday. Late Tuesday we convened for a rope swing party aboard their famous aluminum boat as the sun set beyond the western ridge of the Taioha’e valley and talked about our time ahead in the Tuamotus.
So, that’s the expedited update that brings us to the present. It’s a gorgeous day out here and the forecast for the passage is more of the same. Paul just had what appeared to be a massive fish on the hand line which managed to bend the hook back entirely and get away. We’re looking forward to some fresh fish soon regardless. And it appears that lovely sailing conditions, mostly clear skies, and some of the world’s best stargazing hopefully await us for the remaining 400 miles! More to come from the South Pacific aboard Flyer in the coming days…
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