It was an early start saying goodbye to Dani at 6:30am. I had to get a few loads of washing done so that I could sort out the cabin for our new crew member Nevil. Our departure for the crossing is drawing close and we have loads of tidying up and sorting to do.
The girls and I went to the shops to get the last provisioning goods, that wasn’t fresh produce. We don’t drink alcohol on overnight passages, but have decided it would be nice to have mock cocktails and snacks in the evening, so we loaded up my shopping bag on wheels with 60 cans of ginger ale! Plus a huge amount of other stuff. Luckily the supermarket is right next to the dock so we did not have far to go with our load. The water taxis are a great service, a dollar for a ride, it must be a good time for them with so many Arc boats in town. Looks like there were only about 3 other cruising boats in the anchorage.
Megan’s great video of our stowaway on PolePole, fishing on the quiet!
Nevil was out on a dive which gave me an opportunity to do a bit of boat cleaning and changing bed linen. Han and Megan went to meet a contact of hers in town. Rowan went to land to have a walk to a nearby beach that Han and Megan had been to. They had such a good time seeing loads of baby hammerheads in the shallow water. We actually saw one at the dock while waiting for a taxi, it was incredibly cute as their big wide head seems wider than their body length, like a puppy with big paws, so ungainly!
At 4 pm we had a Skippers briefing at a hall in town, the Yellow shirts did a presentation on our next leg. The photos of Hiva Oa, our finish line in the Marquesas, look amazing. The weather report was a little solemn as it looks like we will have quite a few days in the doldrums again. Suddenly all beginning to look real. I must say the Arc work hard at the logistical side of things and certainly make it a lot easier than arriving on our own. Next we headed to a restaurant on the waterfront for the prize giving and we were taken by surprise to be the first to be called up for coming first in the Multihull section, what a shame our crew, Widge, Edmund and Jonny weren’t there to join us collecting our prize of Galapagos grown coffee. We stayed on for dinner and enjoyed our meal on the water’s edge.
Flocks of Sting rays at the taxi jetty
Looks amazing with the coloured lights from the jetty, the water was also teeming with baby sharks
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