Nuku Hiva Circumnav Continued - Wahoo, Diving, and Haahopu Anchorage

(Sylvia)

After six nights in Anaho we felt it was time to leave the anchorage and continue our counter-clockwise journey. Our new friends aboard MERIDIAN PASSAGE had left for the Tuamotus with plans to return to New Zealand after 18 years of cruising. SCOOTS had left Anaho the day before, and IMPULSIVE was going to remain and eventually return to Taiohae. 

We left Anaho on a bright morning and as we left the bay we entered the ocean in light winds and fairly big swells. Luckily we were more or less going with the swells, and when the wind picked up to 12-14 knots and we traveled on sail power alone it was quite pleasant.

The rugged northern coast of Nuku Hiva

The coast on our left was beautiful and as we traveled west the terrain became less lush and "tropical" and more scrubby, but still very green. Kind of like a very green Baja. About halfway along the coast we spied SCOOTS anchored in their own tropical paradise and we had a short radio conversation with them as we passed. We carried on as we were headed to the northwestern-most anchorage of Haahopu.

The ocean was alive with dolphins and birds, and we even saw a shark fin swim by, so we put out the hand lines for a bit of fishing. 

Dolphins swimming in our bow wave.

We'd heard the wahoo were running and I put my order in for wahoo fish tacos. Tom kind of snickered at me but we agreed that you won't get fish if the lines aren't in so we might as well try.

About ten minutes later we heard a large slap on the water and saw a big silver something under the water. Tuna??? As we pulled the fish in we were thrilled to see it was a huge wahoo! Tom gaffed it, and he dealt the quick death blow with a knife to the brain. People have advised us to never bring a wahoo on board before it's dead due to its razor sharp teeth, and this monster had plenty of them.

Tom with his prize wahoo (est. 50 lbs), caught with a black/purple squid jet head lure.

Since we were only an hour from the anchorage we secured the fish on the swim step and let the cooling swells keep it fresh. As we approached our anchorage we were happily surprised to see that it appeared blessedly calm inside with just one other boat anchored that looked just like Cinnabar's friend PRAIRIE OYSTER from La Paz. (Turned out to be the same kind of boat.)

We dropped the anchor and Tom exclaimed he could see it on the bottom. I leaned over and couldn't believe it. I could see the bottom 30 feet below! This was a first and I couldn't wait to get into the water. But business first.

It took us a couple of hours to fillet the monster but we were rewarded with enough fish to completely pack the freezer. In fact, I had to take some things out to make room. 

We kept the guts in a bucket to throw overboard later that night. No need to chum while we were about to snorkel. We got in the water and couldn't believe the visibility. There were lovely coral gardens on each side of the bay and lots of small reef fish. There was a lot of fishing going on here by locals so the bigger predatory fish were rarely seen. I was so excited to get in the water that I forgot my weight belt so wasn't able to dive down, but the big manta ray that approached us was very accommodating as it swam up to my eye level for a few minutes before swimming back into the deep. We would see big mantas on nearly every snorkel.

Syl's dive buddy. The mantas seemed very curious about us.

As I showered on the back of the boat I realized that we were facing west and would see our first proper sunset since the last night of our passage back in April! We west-coasters are used to our sunsets and we really hadn't seen one since being in The Marquesas.

That afternoon a very nice French couple from TIDOUDOU, the neighboring boat, rowed over with some yellowfin tuna fillets. We invited them aboard for an impromptu happy hour and I prepared a plate of wahoo and yellowfin sashimi with rice and nori wraps. I served it with chopsticks which Marcos and Serena (2.5 years in French Polynesia, ski instructors in France during the cyclone season) had never used. It was quite amusing to see them trying to use the sticks and we announced that fingers were fine. We sent them off a couple of hours later with a bag of wahoo fillets.

It was a very good day and I knew I would have a terrific night's sleep in this flat, calm anchorage.

Serena and Marcos wave au revoir from their lovely Beneteau.

The next morning TIDOUDOU left and later that afternoon SCOOTS arrived to take their spot. We spent the next few days snorkeling, socializing with Eric and Vandy on SCOOTS, and taking advantage of the extremely calm anchorage to get some boat projects completed. 

Eric and Vandy cooling off with their noodles behind SCOOTS

Water In Boat = That Not Good - As if our current To-Do list wasn't enough, the second morning we were there I discovered a pool of water under one of the cabinets in the forward cabin! Luckily it was fresh water so clearly a fresh-water leak in the plumbing as opposed to salt water getting into the boat. It took us a few days of sponging water and sleuthing to discover the source of the problem, which turned out to be nothing more than a loose hose clamp 9' forward up in the forepeak that was leaking drips down the hose all the way to the cabin! After a good tightening and a couple of days of airing out all was back in order. Would that all boat problems were so easy to fix.

Tom gets a reward after yet another boat repair.

Back in Anaho SCOOTS had invited us over one morning (along with MERIDIAN PASSAGE and IMPULSIVE) for "elevenses". This SCOOTS tradition is an 11:00 a.m. coffee break where Eric roasts green coffee beans in an old popcorn popper and then grinds them by hand. Can you imagine? 

Feeling very civilized with our most excellent espresso.

I gave up coffee years ago but gleefully backslid for this caffeinated treat. They continued the tradition in Haahopu and Tom and I happily snorkeled over for "elevenses" and first rate espresso from our generous hosts.

We could have stayed in Haahopu much longer, and we put off leaving for a few days because it was so pleasant, but we had to return to Taiohae to call New Zealand and order our new sails, so we reluctantly weighed anchor, waved goodbye to SCOOTS, new boat arrival MAJA and the mantas, and left what had become our favorite anchorage.

Sadly leaving Haahopu with SCOOTS and MAJA in the background.

Last sunset in Haahopu was spectacular. To the right of the sun is the 700'  high remote island called Motu Iti, approx. 30 nm distant.

Now we are back in the rather uncomfortable Taiohae anchorage, taking care of final business and waiting for a good weather window before we head south to The Tuamotus. 


Album: TAIOHAE to ANAHO to HAAHOPU and BACK


P.S. We promised SCOOTS (who is still in Haahopu) that we wouldn't tell anyone about our favorite spot, so mum's the word, OK?

P.P.S CINNABAR crewmember and mascot Sharkie is thrilled that The San Jose Sharks have made it into the Stanley Cup finals for the first time ever in 25 years. Go Sharks!!!!

Sharkie wants to know how we plan to get Sharks updates. Don't worry Sharkie, we have our ways.