Marquesas Diary, Fatu Hiva aborted

Our much anticipated visit to Fatu Hiva was cut drastically short. By reason of weather – or what remains to me an unsolved mystery – we were anchor up and away again mere hours after our arrival.

We were anchored and settled by late afternoon into the Baie des Vierges – a truly majestic harbour – often described as the most beautiful anchorage in the Marquesas. After the day-long passage, a few cold beers tasted great while planning our hike next day to the waterfall and swimming hole, just a couple of kilometres inland from the shore.

I was feeling over the moon just to be in this magical place, and grateful that we made the decision to backtrack. Fatu Hiva lies 50+nm southeast of Hiva Oa, and we’d spent 8 hours beating to weather to get here. We broke out our first 3-litre box o’ wine – Kirkland-branded pinot grigio – I know, eh? – surprisingly good, which is lucky because we have 6 boxes!  Anyway, I guess we each had 2 or 3 glasses with dinner, as we watched a gentle soft sunset out over the mouth of the harbour.

But then as darkness fell, quite unexpectedly – which I’m learning is a thing when cruising, this having to expect the unexpected – and also a good reason why we’re a dry boat underway. An offshore wind came up from over the mountain, and we started moving about in the harbour. We were quite near to a steep rock wall on one side and, with eight or nine other boats, the harbour was quite crowded.  At first we dragged a bit, and started feeling insecure – looking at that rock wall – so, we pulled up anchor a few times to re-set for a better position and a better bite.

Then a big gust blew, and I was startled to see the boat beside us suddenly moving rather quickly straight for the beach – except it wasn’t! – that was us being blown backwards towards the mouth of the harbour with several boats anchored in our path. A seriously freaky moment. Nimble and quick-witted, the captain had to get us outta’ there. And so he did, and so we left, and I’m still wondering how/why the other boats all held fast, while we couldn’t get a bite to save our lives.

We motored south for 5nts or so, to Baie Omoa, the only other anchorage on the east side of Fatu Hiva.  We could spend the night there and return to the Virgins tomorrow in the light of day.  But no, it was not to be – when we reached Omoa, it was almost hilarious – a big wide bay, but short, and provided virtually no shelter, and big waves crashing onto the rocky shore. Really crazy. No debate. It was almost midnight. We turned Turtlebones around, put out a bit of sail, and headed back up to the closest island, Tahuata, which is just a few miles south of where we’d started the day.  The unexpected night watch was a bit brutal, and our earlier indulgences didn’t help me stay awake.