June 28th, 2007, Wednesday, Day 12
Ile Nuka Hiva, Baie de Taiohae
Marquesas Islands, South Pacific
Several things have happened; I am now the "American" uncle. Wim and Richard have adopted a Hispanic baby, Bo Marie. They are flying to Arizona, to complete the adoption process. Needless to say, Anya and the rest of us are quite happy for them.
We stayed in the last anchorage a day longer than planned; I was feeling "wupped", achy and tired. As it turns out, (really, just how many times have you heard this from me?) it really was a blessing. I was sitting in the cockpit enjoying a late coffee; I had gotten up quite late when I noticed two Manta Rays in the anchorage. Well, Anya was not about to miss out on this, especially since I had said just how cool it was when I saw them while snorkeling, she got into the water and swam the 100 yards
to get to them. She returned after a bit just beside herself. It was jut too cool to see her exhilaration.
Well, they, the rays weren't done. Several more joined them, now there were at least six of them, and they were swimming/flying from the point to where we were anchored. They circled passed within several feet of Encanto's stern. We all watched for over an hour. Judy hailed another kid boat to come by in their dinghy to watch, then they took off to the point with Anya to swim with them. Not to be out done, I got my gear on so I could swim out to them. I got no more than 30 from the boat when four
Mantas came straight for me. They were all feeding; you could see the bone structure of their mouths, which weren't small! Not as large as the Whale Sharks by any means, but open none-the-less. I stopped, they all went left, right and under. Just amazing. Unfortunately, the girls didn't get in, but after the Whale Sharks, I wasn't going to push it.
That evening we joined several boats on the beach for a summer solstice calibration. It involved building a fire, singing and jumping over the fire. We're nor sure if it's a Dutch tradition, but this s/v Myrdinn, does the tradition in school, so we joined in. Any reason for a party!
We departed at 7 PM, that night, for Nuka Hiva. We had to motor for about an hour, as the wind just stopped. Nada. Nothing. Zilch. I was going to motor for an hour to find wind, and if we didn't, turn around. I was not about to motor for 85 miles after sailing almost 3000! Anyway, after 45 minutes, we got wind and had a real nice sail. This morning was one of those magical moments when the moon was setting and the sun was rising. We caught no fish, arrived at about 1 PM. The girls went into town
while I slept. It felt good to be anchored with new surroundings. Tomorrow, we get to deal with French Officialdom. From what we have heard, they are very professional, and it's an easy process.