Sea Life in Hanamoenoa Bay, Tahuata (Marquesas)

When Mark and I first arrived in Hanamoenoa Bay in the island of Tahuata, after escaping the murky waters of Atuona, it appeared to be paradise. The anchor set easily in the sandy bottom, which we could see from 30 feet above. The water had a turquoise color, while the sandy beach ashore harbored many palm trees. According to the cruising guides, this bay was a cruisers' favorite with great snorkeling and fresh fruit and coconuts for the picking a few steps inland from the beach. It would be a great place to clean the inches of growth, collected during our week in Hiva Oa, off Irie's bottom.

After being a week in this pretty spot, we still have not been able to take the dinghy ashore and have spent most of our time indoors, on our boat or others, since it has been raining for days. Again. A relatively big swell has been rolling into the bay, making dinghy landings impossible, because of the crashing waves. The monohulls are rockin' and rollin', day and night. It became too uncomfortable for Pitufa, so they left. We are very happy to be on our cat! We barely feel the motion, can do any boat projects we prefer during the day and sleep like babies at night, especially after a social gathering.

So, what have we been doing the last week? Other than some boring projects and chores onboard, we had some amazing experiences early on. Last Sunday, when other cruisers in the bay decided to take their dinghy to a small town, 2 miles away, to attend a Marquesan church service, Mark and I and our friends from SV Kril decided to stay home. I wanted to finally sleep in. We would be glad with our choice. Mark got up around 7:30am, took a look outside and appeared back downstairs next to the bed. He grabbed his swim trunks, gave me a kiss and said "I'm going for a swim. There are manta rays near the boats." Now, how am I supposed to sleep in after hearing those words? After a quick look outside and seeing the tips of wings break the surface next to Mark and Michael from Kril, I - and Ursula - soon joined the group for a most awesome experience. For an hour, the four of us just hovered near the water surface and watched, photographed and filmed three majestic manta rays while they were feeding. Their massive mouths open and their wing spans as wide as our bodies were long, they didn't mind us as they approached, circled around, dove down and reappeared. As Ursula remarked: "We were just an obstacle in their soup." None of us needed to move, while the morning show took place. Amazing, and better than church!

Every late afternoon, we notice frigate birds hovering over the water and realize the tunas are back! We see groups of little fish "run" on the water surface with their tail, being attacked from above by a frigate bird - which is very successful in scooping a fish up with every dive without ever touching water - and from beneath by a much bigger predator. Then, a massive tuna surfaces, splashes on top of the water or - very spectacular! - leaps out in a perfect arc, pretending to be a dolphin, with a fish in its mouth! If only they did that close to Irie and we had a fishing net ready! One time, Mark jumped in the dinghy and trailed a line behind in the hopes of catching one of the chasers, but it was not to be.

We also snorkeled along the rocks a couple of times to see big amounts of colorful fish, and we swam ashore to be greeted by the infamous nonos, accompanied by mosquitoes. Nonos are tiny biting flies, renowned for hanging out on Marquesan beaches and keeping the tourists away, discouraging beach
vacations and beach parties. Next time we go hunting for fresh fruit, we will have to wait for the swell to settle down, put on long clothes and spray ourselves with bug repellent. Or, we can borrow Kril's full wetsuits, booties and hoods, in which they successfully scoured the beach and the woods yesterday!

Meeting up with SV Gudrun

Green Island lacks a nice beach, but it is filled to the brim with healthy palm trees and looks very picturesque. It is a popular anchorage in the San Blas, with its protection from the swell, constant breeze, small tropical sister island to the south and its close proximity to Rio Azucar, where one can fill up with water and to Nargana, the village with fresh produce. Mark and I had parked Irie well away from all the other cruisers for some privacy and peace, but soon enough our area filled up as well. From the moment one boat “claims” a piece of water, others follow.

About a week ago, we were watching the movement of sailboats heading between islands and arriving in Green Island. It was the day we wanted to re-anchor half a mile south at Waisaladup, but we decided to wait a bit until the commotion was over. When yet another boat approached Green Island, Mark took out the binoculars and gave a broad smile. It was Gudrun, arriving from Santa Marta (Colombia) after a long and bumpy voyage. Mark guided them in and soon enough, we caught up with our friends Axel and Liz. Axel is from Germany and he was the photographer at our wedding in St. Martin, last April, and his fiancée Liz was born in New Zealand, which is where Gudrun is headed. The four of us moved to exotic Waisaladup for a few wonderful days, before sailing to Coco Bandero for a change of scenery.

The week that followed had us eat big amounts of delicious food and had us talk and hang out for hours on end, whether it was on one of our boats or on a deserted island. Fresh lobster and leftover dinners on Irie, followed by a big brunch the next day, scrumptious home-made New York style pizzas on Gudrun, a variety of goodies for lunch and a healthy pasta dish and fried garlic potatoes for dinner on Irie, a wonderfully made curry on Gudrun, hand-made vegetarian samosas and a tasty mayonnaise free coleslaw on Irie, a massive pasta salad with a big selection of chopped up vegetables on Gudrun… All of the meals, of course, were accompanied with cocktails, wine or beer and more than not a baked dessert or fresh pineapple for dessert. That New Year’s resolution of “losing weight” will have to wait just a bit longer, while all of us have certainly gained many pounds!

Brunch on Irie: mango juice, tea, home-made bread, scrambled eggs, fried breadfruit, chorizo and a canned peach!

Quickly assembled lunch on Irie with contributions from both boats.

Drinks and snacks on a tiny, sandy island with two palm trees near the coco Bandero archipelago.

Liz and I look at molas on one of the pretty Coco Bandero islands.

 

The Last Months in St. Martin

All right, this is supposed to be the last blog written in St. Martin. Mark and I have been here almost four months (that’s a third of a year!) and are almost ready to go. Even Darwin would like to leave, get the attention he deserves, swim in clear water and run on white sand beaches again. Irie is more than itching to go, so we can clean her very dirty, crusty and slimy bottom. We’ll take plenty of barnacles away from the lagoon! As a cruiser, in my opinion, two weeks in St. Martin is enough. One week to fix boat problems and provision, the other one to do some sightseeing, beach bumming and city roaming. We stayed here this much longer, because there is a huge cruising community in Simpson Bay Lagoon during the high season, meaning potential income.

During April and May and into June, Mark has been helping out fellow cruisers with computer issues and I have been doing some freelance writing online. I created walking tours about Marigot and Philipsburg and developed three extensive lesson plans for books read by American high school kids. Over the course of these months, Mark and I also invented “The Wirie”, a complete wireless internet solution for boats. Our Wiries are waterproof, easy to use, within the cruiser’s budget and have the best chip set on the market. Now I feel like I’m giving you guys the sales pitch here, sorry, habit. Anyway, we order the parts to St. Maarten and assemble the units on Irie.

People are pretty excited about the product and they are selling well. The best part is that we have been connected to the internet from the boat ever since the prototype was built! Except when we sold our own unit, because all the others were gone. Then, we had to run ashore again with all the hassle, time and fuel that comes with it, until we built new ones. We’re not doing that again! Our Wirie stays this time. For more info, check out our business website www.thewirie.com.

Even though starting a business out of the Caribbean isn’t an easy feat, life here wasn’t all work and stress. We did find some free time after hours and on Sundays to enjoy ourselves. Every other week or so, I went out for Ladies night with other “youngsters”. From 9 pm onwards, we had free entrance in two clubs, drank free drinks all night and enjoyed free sushi. Not too bad! On Sundays, we relaxed, snuck in a bit more work, organized a brunch for friends or went to Maho Beach for exhilarating experiences with planes. You are so close to the runway there that planes land right above your head or make you hold on for dear life to the fence, when they take off.

We also had some fun nights socializing with Michael and Angie from Germany, Tom from England and his girlfriend Eli from Italy/Egypt/Holland/Germany, Chris and Christine (who we first met in Luperon) from the States, Charlotte and Peter with their three year old daughter Denise from Sweden/Germany, Karen and Mike from England, John, Bobbie and their teenagers from Canada/New Zealand and many other cruisers. Did I ever mention St. Maarten is a cultural mix, even on the water?

When a black dog got dumped on the island across from us, we fed it and tried to find it a home. When we found a cute stray one night in Philipsburg, we almost brought him with us. The bus driver didn’t want him in his van and we weren’t quite ready for another dog, so with pain in our hearts we left him behind. We hoped to see him again in the future, but that never happened.

One day, I didn’t pull our dinghy high enough up the beach where we take Darwin multiple times a day. Wake or the tide helped it afloat and there it went… Since it was my mistake, I didn’t contemplate long, before I waded into the salty, dark and unattractive lagoon, in my underwear. Soon enough I was swimming as hard as I could to catch up with our only dinghy. The distance kept growing, the wind picked up and the harder I swam the more tired I got. Finally, totally exhausted, breathing hard and loud with mouths full of yakkie water, I reached our dinghy. My arms were too tired, though, to haul myself up. So, I held on to our shore vehicle and slowly swam back towards our boat upwind. There, I was able to climb aboard the dinghy via Irie to go fetch my stranded loved ones on the island.

On a better note and more fun was the Carnival in Philipsburg. We went over there one night in April with some friends, all dressed up to find that- other than the carnival groups themselves- we were the only ones to do so. Nonetheless, we had a great time watching the colorful parades and getting deaf from the loud, pumping Calypso music. The costumes were very elaborate and beautiful and the groups danced all day long despite the beaming sun.

In between all our tasks, trials and tribulations, we managed to kind of keep up with the usual chores of laundry, cleaning, shopping, cooking, fixing small boat issues and running Darwin to shore. We still need to focus on getting Irie ready to go and we wish we had more time for Darwin. We are neglecting our child, but hopefully for not much longer. The best part about still being in St. Martin is the availability of French cheese, wine and baguettes. After all these months, it is still as tasty as the first time we started enjoying these delicacies. We can’t get enough, but it’s not going to keep us here!