Pitufa.at

Yesterday we left Hakatea to sail to Controleur Bay at the southeastern end of Nuku Hiva. What looked like a short distance on the chart (just 8 nm) turned into half a day of beating into the easterly trade wind that gets accelarated to about 20 to 25 knots along the coast with Pitufa stomping into short, choppy seas. After four hours and several tacks we caught a big dorade (mahi-mahi) just when we had given up hope on ever catching a fish in Marquesan waters and were about to enter the bay. Baie Hakahaa is a very large and deeply indented bay that gives enough shelter from the swell to swing on just a single anchor (the first time since we got to Nuku Hiva…). The rest of the day we were busy cleaning and filetting the fish (enough to feed us for 4 days and cleaning the salty and muddy deck as well as the muddy and overgrown rope we had used for the stern anchor in the previous bay. We usually think twice whether it’s worth it to go through such a hazzle for just a day sail. Today we entered the river at the mouth of the bay by dinghy, took a walk through the pleasant village Taipivai and up to some ancient religious site with stone tikis and ceremonial platforms up in the lush mountains. After running out of beer last week (a life-threating emergency for Christian), we bought a few bottles in the minimarket and will be able to have a real BBQ WITH beer tonight (and fish steaks of course )