It is Tuesday 4/9 and we are on passage to Fatu Hiva…..a 45 nm run with trawler weather….on a course of 141M, calm East wind and seas. It seems many boats went to Fatu Hiva first with no issues…..not saying there will be none, but we have not heard of any issues so far. Coralie the agent did advise to come to Hiva Oa first to checkin.
Highlights on Hiva Oa:
1. The island tour through Mary Jo (she has a taxi service and does laundry, too)…..her husband John is the tour guide and he is a character…..speaks good English…..been on the island for 40 years….knows everyone and has lots of stories!!!! For 7-8 hours it was $75/pp
2. Dinner at the Pearl Lodge…..very good…..maybe $50/person with drinks, wine, dessert et al
3. Dinner at Relais Moehau Pizzeria…..excellent pizza (cheese, sauce, crust)….we had the fish pizza as written up in the guide book….it was ok…..canned tuna, like a tuna melt 🙂 ))))
4. Lunch at Make Make – we had cheeseburgers….ok, but other sandwiches looked better….very cold beer and very friendly people!!!!
5. Several grocery stores….one pretty nice, had a lot of items, fresh stuff was scarce! Pretty much everything closes down between 12n and 2:30pm. Plenty of fresh baguettes available from grocery on main street.
6. Several souvenir/gift shops – bought t-shirts and a wood carving
7. Fuel: ugh – another PITA situation for us…..the pump and hose to the dock is broken so we had to take on 768 liters via 9 jerry cans we borrowed from s/v Lippy…..took 3 hours to lug it all…..and of course, it rained buckets the whole time 🙁 (((( Sandra, the agent, gets a duty free fuel certificate from Coralie in Papeete….takes 2-3 days…. but, duty free is $4.34/gal and normal rate is close to $7/gallon…..so well worth the wait!
8. Anchorage can get tight….some boats had to anchor outside the breakwater…..but over all pretty calm, no stern anchor for us but 2-3 boats did put one out. Water is murky so we could not make water at all!
9. ATM: by the post office – $1=92CFP
10. Check-in is easy….It is only on weekdays before 11am, though. Sandra will pick you up at the dock and take you to the Gendarmarie. If you arrive in the afternoon or on a weekend, no problem to go ashore for dinner or whatever. They are very relaxed there….Sandra is also very helpful. She does laundry too and will arrange tours as well. Hail her on VHF 11
Hope all is well!!
John
Mystic Moon
on passage to Fatu Hiva
PS: OMG……just caught a 52″ Mahi…..whoa…..20 min to land…..sweet!!!!!
PSS: Still not enough bandwidth to post pics 🙁 ((((
