Niku Hiva

We had a great overnight sail here arriving at dawn.
We met Ashley and Aaron here and did our check in which being a French Protectorate was very easy—the French are always very more relaxed than other bureaucratic countries.

We found out where to buy the best green vegetables and the day after the supply ship came in were able to get eggs, potatoes and onions. New Zealand lamb, beef and butter is readily available here and great baguettes so life is good. The only barrier are the prices and we have had to learn to compare with Calgary prices other than South American prices and we can handle actually purchasing anything.
We explored around the town for a couple of days and then sailed an hour to the next bay to anchor and walk to the waterfall. One of Aaron’s ---101 things to do before I die---was to swim in a pool at the base of a tropical waterfall. After a lovely 2 hour hike we were rewarded with a lovely if not cool swim in a great pool. The anchorage was beautiful (it is hard not to have too many superlatives in language when one describes this part of the world) and we renewed acquaintances with some more of the boats we had met in the Galapagos and did a book exchange so am now ready for more passage making.

After a few days we sailed in very light winds to make the 25 mile passage to Anaho on the north part of the island. Unfortunately we had very light winds and it was quite rolly so both Ashley and Aaron suffered from sea sickness. When we got here we all decided it was not in vain as once again we were in a lovely protected bay surrounded by palm trees, white sandy beaches and coral reefs. They immediately jumped in the water with their new snorkel equipment –fulfilling another of Aaron’s dreams seeing many varieties of colorful fish.

We spent several days there—we walked to a plantation nearby complete with lipstick and shampoo to trade and came back with papaya and melons. Aaron kicked his foot on some coral so spent several days limping but was still able to snorkel. He and Ashley spotted some lobster and later that day Ken and Aaron took the Hawaiian sling Ken had got for Xmas awaiting this opportunity and went on a successful lobster hunt.
Ken and I joined some other cruisers and hiked over to a nearby village where we had a pork lunch—what a treat—and traded more of the perfume and lipstick for a pile of the delicious huge grapefruit which grow freely here—need more bananas next time.
It was time to ready ourselves for the 500 mile crossing to the Tuamotus so we sailed back to the main town, this time with more wind and will resupply with baguettes and fresh vegs.
We are leaving today and it should take us anything from 4 to 6 days depending on the wind.

We are enjoying having Aaron and Ashley on the boat, it is fun to see their excitement and we are enjoying sharing this part of our adventure with them. It is certainly the ultimate tropical paradise.
Internet connection is unreliable and even though I managed to post the pictures from our crossing and first week here the pictures for this and following sectors will have to wait until we get to Rangiora—probably another 2 weeks.
We hope to spend most of that time snorkeling and diving the coral atolls and exploring the different scenery of that part of the world.