Our visit to Fatu Hiva was clouded by the fact that we had not formally checked into French Polynesia. We were basically illegal immigrants. On Saturday a rumor spread through the anchorage that the gendarmes were coming on Sunday or Tuesday to check papers. The anchorage emptied out on Sunday. We stayed because based on my experience with the gendarmes, while they are very efficient and professional, I could not imagine them working on Sunday.
We hadn't checked in because the official port of entry at Atuona on Hiva Oa is a horrible anchorage. It has lots of surge and is so crowded that boats are lined up with bow and stern anchors to better use the available space. We don't have a stern anchor arrangement and anchoring outside the breakwater overnight would have been untenable. So we did it in two steps. On Monday we moved to Resolution Bay on Tahuata, just 12nm from Atuona on Hiva Oa (yes, there will be test on pronouncing these names). Then we awoke at first light on Tuesday and motored over to Atuona. We anchored outside the breakwater, launched the dinghy, mounted our trusty 2hp engine and roared into the anchorage to a really ugly dinghy dock swarming with dinghies all bashing around on the rocks. We met our agent, drove into town and went straight to the Gendarmerie where we were legally processed into the country and received yet another visa for French Polynesia (our third).
The moment that Fay has been awaiting arrived - fresh produce! While I went to the bank/ATM to stock up on French Polynesian Francs (here they don't take Dollars or even Euros), Fay went to the back of a truck and loaded up on lettuce, tomatoes, and anything green they were selling. Then we went by a store and bought the last of the pain au chocolat and finally to the Post Office where we bought SIM cards for our phones.
Our errands completed we hitched a ride back to the dinghy dock (a few miles is too many to walk in the tropical sun) from a friendly "meals on wheels" van. Back into the dinghy and back onto New Morning. We raised anchor, turned New Morning back to Tahuata and were anchored (see "Where's New Morning) by 1:30pm. Now were legal and can quit looking over our shoulder.
Today we did some boat chores, fastened up a kinking hydraulic cable, cleaned up after a burst gallon of spare engine oil that had leaked across acres of bilge, cleaned up after the water maker's many leaks, searched for an elusive (and possibly non-existent) fresh water leak and then put up the bimini for some shade. And all the while the anchorage that we thought was so small continued to attract new boats. The German's moved out, but no less than four more French boats moved, and one Russian boat! So now there are eight of us in here, two Americans, five French and one Russian.
With such a busy morning, cocktails were moved up to 3pm today! The chef is preparing a spectacular Caesar salad, probably accompanied by a nice European beer like Stella Artois or Becks.
