We had already planned to set sail on Friday and meet Josh, from Fatu Hiva, in Nuku Hiva but Arii did not finish carving our beautiful wooden bowl until late on Friday. As we made our Saturday morning coffee we spotted a catamaran coming into the Vaipaee Bay anchorage and with almost every mooring ball taken by local fishing boats we knew this boat was probably going to need our anchorage. We were happy to see that it was SV Mambala who we also had met in Fatu Hiva, but we seem to keep missing each other. We would have stayed except Josh was waiting for us in anchorage that has no internet connection so we could not inform him of our delay. Wade and I are enjoying traveling in the same direction as everyone else and hanging out with several really nice cruisers. As a gift Arii gave us a small wooden fishing tiki to hopefully assist our fishing luck. We motor sailed because there was absolutely no wind and sadly we did not catch any fish on our transit to Anaho Bay Nuku Hiva.
Fish deprived, Wade asked Josh if he wanted to go fishing again Sunday morning, so the sun was barely peaking when Josh was tapping on our boat asking if we were serious. Wade jumped up and we got underway around 5:30 AM. Twenty minutes outside the pass we spotted dolphins racing toward us. Wade frowned because he believes that if there are dolphins around then he does not catch fish because he has never caught fish when dolphins around. Sara suggested slowing down to an idle so the dolphins won’t run with us. Wade slowed and as the dolphins swam away we started taking off and with her mouth full of breakfast pancakes Sara shouted, “Fish”! The lure had sunk lower in the water from idling and when we took off we were able to catch a 30 lbs Wahoo. With the Wahoo secured onboard we didn’t stop to filet because we were out for more fish. Josh suddenly spotted a swarm of birds circling and as we approached Wade could see the fish swirling in the water like a large bait ball. As we cut through the birds two of the three fishing lines had a fish on. The cedar plug lure snapped again, but our shortest fishing line with a Black Bart lure had a 30 lbs Yellow-Fin Tuna which Sara actually pulled in. We quickly dropped the lures back in the water and made another pass through the birds. We got two more fish on the line, but sadly one fish got away because the Black Bart hook broke off. We think the issue we keep loosing fish on the hand-lines we purchased in Raiatea is because our bun-gee cannot stretch enough. When the fish eats the lure there is not enough give and basically rips the lure out of the fishes mouth. The hand-line Josh gave us has a very strong bun-gee with plenty of give allowing us to get another 40 lbs Yellow-Fin Tuna onboard.
By 6:40 AM we slowly made our way back to the anchorage and filleted the three fish outside of the pass to not bring the sharks near our boat anchorage. We canned 16 jars, one big dish of poisson cru, 5 sushi rolls, and we gave a huge hunk to the neighboring boat that is headed for the Tuamotus tomorrow.
After a big day of laundry and canning we were headed out for an afternoon swim and octopus hunt. OctoJosh spotted a medium size octopus in a hole the size of tennis ball and performed his new trick of sticking the octopus with the spear and turning it in circles basically twisting the octopus around the spear. The octopus released of its ink three times and then tried to escape the hole when Josh was able to pull it out.
On our way back from the hunt our dinghy abruptly slowed when we were in high speed. Thankfully we were able to move forward in at low speed, but as soon as Wade tried the higher speed the prop would slip. We checked to make sure we did not loose the prop, and then slowly got back to the boat to begin troubleshooting. As it turns out there rubber holding the prop is slipping. We’re sleeping on the solution and we’ll decide what to do tomorrow, but it boils down to a tap screw to hold the prop or leave it as it is and try to find a place to replace the prop.
Today we have had a variety pack from the ocean and ended the night with some sushi rolls. Anaho Bay has to be one of our favorite anchorages because not only is it so beautiful, but we are protected from the rolling swell.
King Neptune’s Garden update: Our first tomato has died. After the heavy winds in Makemo one of our tomato’s did not recover and called it quits. We waited a little to long and the dead roots clogged our filters which caused the garden to over flow and kill our new baby kale. Sara had used seeds from a yummy local pepper and rooted the watercress we found in Hanamenu Bay Hiva Oa plus a few more kale to replace the empty holes. Oddly enough a small green onion from Tahiti has done really well and Sara kept a garlic clove too long and it rooted. She tossed it in the Garden and the garlic is starting to grow very well.
Cheers,
Wade and Sara
Boat Position At Noon: 08 degrees 49.301 minutes south and 140 degrees 03.858 minutes west
