0800 Position 8-55S 140-06W. At anchor in Taiohae Bay, Nuku Hiva.
Rob, Longy, and Mike decided to go ashore after breakfast to look for the ruins at the back of the valley behind Hane Village. I stayed aboard to get some chores done like washing laundry, and I had a hankering for some triple chocolate brownies so I baked some as a surprise for the crew. The boys returned an hour or so later not having found much of anything. We got the boat ready for sea and headed off for Nuku Hiva, thirty miles to the west.
We had an easy downhill run arriving at Taiohae Bay about 3PM. Taiohae is the biggest town in the Marquesas. It has the largest and calmest anchorage, a couple of fully equipped piers to handle cargo and passenger ships, and about thirty cruising boats at anchor. Ashore there are shops that cater to visiting tourists, banks, stores and restaurants. There is an airport on the other side of the island.
Longy was supposed to fly out of here on the 24th, but we decided to come a day early just to be sure of his flight status. Good thing we did. We stopped at the Air Tahiti office and they couldn't find his reservation. The flight to Papeete on the 24th was fully booked as well. Fortunately there is a spot left on today's flight. Longy will have a day to kill in Tahiti before his flight to LA, but he'll get there.
We tried to rent a car to take Longy to the airport and tour the island, but none were available. The agency told us that a cruise ship was arriving so they were fully booked. Too bad. Looks like Longy will have to take a taxi.
We walked around town for a couple of hours and ended up in a pizza joint that had cold Hinano. After dinner we stumbled back to the boat in the dark. The brownies ended up being Longy's last night celebration dessert.
This morning when we woke up we found the Aranui, the inter-island passenger and cargo ship, at the pier. An hour later a larger cruise ship arrived as well and it anchored out. It is now ferrying passengers ashore in its small boats. It will be busy in Taiohae today!
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