The winds became fluky off the coast and the seas became confused. We needed to charge our batteries and so started the engine to motor the last 12 miles or so into Atuona harbour.
| Day 28 April 9, 2000 Landfall | |
| We were expecting more birds as we got closer to land, but apart from a small flock of terns and tropic birds, have seen very few just lately. We have had no flying fish on deck since the equator. | |
| The night before landfall the wind picked up
as we approached Hiva Oa and we shortened sail to slow down until we were under a double
reefed main only. The night was very dark and try as I might I could not see the island at
all. As we approached our GPS waypoint we finally spotted land on the radar at about 10
miles away. We carried on through several rain showers and finally at dawn, after passing
the first waypoint, we were able to see the island about 3 miles off our starboard side.
Only 15 miles to go to Atuona!. The sunrise was colorful with several layers of cloud. The
island first appeared gray and quite foreboding with very high cliffs, but as the sun rose
the cliffs appeared covered in foliage and the smell of the land finally became evident. The winds became fluky off the coast and the seas became confused. We needed to charge our batteries and so started the engine to motor the last 12 miles or so into Atuona harbour. |
|
| There were about 10 boats in the anchorage as well as a small inter-island freighter at the pier. Our fellow Puddle Jumpers TUCUMCARI and ARAHINA were anchored here and we found a reasonable spot close by. The French and Q flags went up and we dropped a stern anchor, then the main anchor to keep our bow into the incoming low swell. The anchorage is rolly but not too uncomfortable. After a celebratory bottle of champagne we napped and relaxed for the rest of the day. | |
28 days, 2857 miles.
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