Week 84: Nuku Hiva to Toau (564nm)

A week of two very distinct halves: started with a tricky and frustrating passage down from Nuku Hiva, having been forced to leave before we were ready and well before we wanted to, followed by four exceptional days in true paradise exploring Toau (one of the atolls of the Tuamotus) and befriending the other boats there.

First Mate’s Log

Thursday, 9th April: Way sooner than we wanted to… time to leave Nuku Hiva. Until next time, Marquesas – we will be back! Lovely sailing day helped us feel a bit better, with a glorious 15kts on the beam.

Fri 10th – Sat 11th April: Wait, where did our lovely beam reach go?? Squally conditions have set in, which makes for hard work sailing. They come through about once an hour and last maybe 15-20 minutes. Under the clouds, we get up to 20kts and are flying along while scrambling to reef sails, but then, as the squall passes, the wind will usually die and sharply veer. Two days straight of this left our nerves frayed from the constant condition changes.

Sunday, 12th Apr: The wind is down to fits and spurts at best – so lots of engine time between brief stints of sailing. By afternoon we’ve given up entirely and accepted that we just have to drive the rest of the way. The forecast suggests the wind will be completely dead for the next week, so if we wanted to go straight to Tahiti, we would definitely have to motor the whole way. We don’t have enough fuel for that, so that makes the decision for us – we will stop at Toau in the Tuamotus to wait for the wind to return (and of course enjoy some snorkelling!).

To pass the time, we chuck out the finishing lines, and soon have two simultaneous bites. As we set the hooks and prepare to reel them in, we can see that we’ve got two yellowfin tuna – very exciting! Except… then another dark shape appears in the water. As we pull in tuna #1, there are some strange jerks on the line, and as we get it close to the boat we can see that we only have the front third of the fish still on the line. Someone has taken the rest of it clean off in two huge bites! We then catch a glimpse of an enormous shark and realise we’ve got to get tuna #2 in as quickly as possible or it will probably be this guy’s dessert. Alec winds the line in as fast as he can, but as the fish nears the back of the boat the big shark swoops out of the depths and CHOMP. All we have left is the tuna’s head!

Monday, 13th April: We need to kill some time so we don’t arrive to Toau in the middle of the night (definitley not interested in a tricky atoll arrival in the dark!!), so decide to just turn of the engine and float in the glassy sea for a few hours. Took the opportunity to go for a swim in the deep blue – what an experience!! The water was perfectly clear, but 3,000m deep so of course no bottom to be seen. In fact, nothing to be seen in any direction. We were a little worried we might attract a curious shark, but luckily it was just us and the ocean. It felt so good to be back in the water!

Tuesday, 14th April: Just as the sky started to lighten, hints of palm trees materialised on the horizon – hello Toau!! It looked remarkably similar to San Blas because the islands making up the atoll were as impossibly flat. Its as if the palms are growing straight out of the ocean. Soon, we also saw three masts appearing from behind the trees, which was a huge relief. We had been a touch worried that the family who live on this atoll might have run off any sail boats if they were afraid of us bringing in COVID, so other boats present suggested a friendlier reception awaited. As we rounded the corner and glided into the pass, a friendly Dane popped out of the first boat to say hello, pointed out a free mooring ball, and assuaged any of our remaining worries. We were soon tied up and excitement took over as we spent a blissful morning snorkelling the unbelievably clear water (including our first experiences swimming with sharks – see Parting Thoughts below!) and getting to know our neighbours on Impulse and Nautilus (all Danish!).

The “Nautiboys” (how the others referred to Emil and Fred from Nautilus) are very able fisherman and had been lent a gill net by the locals. That afternoon, they invited us to learn how to catch mullet in the shallows by hearding them into the net. We split into teams, and once someone found a school of mullet, the others would get into position a few feet apart, forcing the mullet towards the net. In just two tries, we caught over 20 fish! We took a few back to Serenity for dinner and enjoyed a spectacle off the back as the sharks and Napolean-fish went crazy for the scraps!!

Wednesday, 15th April: Yesterday, the Nautiboys mentioned that they’d like to try smoking some fish, but weren’t really sure where to start. Alec’s ears perked right up – it sounded like a challenge right up his alley! See Story of the Week below :).

Thursday, 16th April: After yesterday’s excitement, we had a quieter day. In the morning, Alec and I took the dinghy outside the pass for a fun snorkel on the outer reef. Then, a lazy afternoon with a game of Catan aboard, and soon it was bedtime for us all – we still had a lot of catching up on sleep to do from our passages!

Friday, 17th April: Alec suggested an afternoon round of board games with the Danish boats, which quickly grew to include a newcomer. An American boat, Belle Vie, arrived in the morning from Hiva Oa. They were in a similar situation to us, having landed in the Marquesas just as the lockdown came into effect. With their wide, open cockpit, they offered to host, and we got a big multilingual game of Code Names going! There were lots of laughs playing the game, which worked surprisingly well over two languages, and hearing everyone’s lockdown stories.

Saturday, 18th April: We weren’t ready to go by any means, but we worried that if we waited much longer the Tahitian maritime authorities might guess we were making an illegal stop and not be amused. So, after a final morning playing in the water, we waved goodbye to our new friends and this gorgeous place. I hope we’ll be back someday!

Story of the Week: Smoked Fish Perfection

It’s become a bit of a tradition at our annual getaway with our university friends (aka “Sp’reak”) for the guys to spend a day smoking some big hunk of meat. There has always been some type of smoker available for such endeavours but getting it working has always taken a lot of tinkering, such that Alec is now well versed in the mechanics. Armed with this knowledge, he spent the morning on our second day in Toau plotting how to build a smoker from the available matierials on small islet on the west side of the anchorage.

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Knowing that smoking is usually an all day affair, Alec roused the troops around the anchorage and we set off after an early lunch to commence the build. A quick explore of the island revealed the lid of an old oil drum, which would be very helpful to form a barrier to direct smoke from the fire to where the fish would be stacked. We then set about digging a pit of two different levels and using the coral rubble to reinforce and start to build up some walls. As we got to this point, the cavalry arrived! The Nautiboys set out to catch a bunch more fish (the idea being, if Alec is taking the time to build this smoker, we should make the most of it!), and the team from Impulse joined in to help with the rest of the build. Emil (from Impulse, not to be confused with Emil from Nautilus…) had an idea and disappeared with Alec into the woods on the island, only to return with a half oil drum piece – absolutely perfect to form the body of the smoker and saving us a ton of work! Jorgen set about to collect wood and coconut husks for the fire, and the ladies and I collected suitable pieces of coral rubble to finish reinforcing the bottom and sides of the pits we’d dug. In no time, it was ready!

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The boys set about getting the fire going, starting with some bbq coals to get things hot, and then using coconut husk to make the smoke. Then, the first round of 11 fish were delicately stacked onto the three racks we’d built in the smoker. Time to see if it really works! Alec and the guys had a great time chatting and tending to the smoker (Alec tells me its a full time job – not sure if that is by necessity or choice!); meanwhile the rest of us started a game of petanque (boule, bocce, lawn bowls, etc.) using a set that Impulse had thoughtfully brought along. Johanna and I made a surprisingly good team, and we took home first place!

Then it was (time to see how it had done?) – Alec and Emil pulled the top off the smoker to reveal… the most amazing looking smoked fish! The smell was incredible and a quick taste taste confirmed this was an EPIC win! Wow, wow, wow – delicate texture with a smooth, smokey flavour. Honestly one of the yummiest things I’ve ever tasted!! It was quickly decided that we needed to celebrate our success with a group potluck dinner. Impulse, the largest boat in the anchorage, offered to host and took this first batch of fish back on board to keep warm and make some sides. Alec and the others managed to squeeze the remaining 14 fish into the smoker and got it back up and running for round two. We spent a delightful hour chatting and watching the baby sharks in the shallows while the second batch cooked (possibly even better than the first set).

We stacked up the delicious second set of fish and headed off to Impulse (after a quick stop at Serenity First to grab some wine and a loaf of Camille’s freshly baked bread to add to the feast). Somehow we managed to get all 14 people into their cockpit and had an amazing evening getting to know everyone, hearing their stories from Polynesia and beyond, and absolutely stuffing ourselves full of smoked fish. It was one of those incredible days that was perfect from start to finish and epitomises the cruising life – this, is what we do this for :).

Parting thoughts: Swimming with Sharks

You know life must be pretty good when swimming with sharks didn’t even make Story of the Week! But it clearly deserves honorable mention. The false pass of Toau has a healthy population of reef sharks, which are mostly black tips. While curious, these guys are not dangerous, but seeing them swimming around us still certainly evoked a strong “prey response” for Alec and I! You can’t help but react. Your heart rate goes up, hair stands up on the back of your neck, and you start looking for an exit strategy. Eventually your rational brain catches up and you relax a little bit, but its hard to override that natural fear. Part of it must be that we feel exposed in the water knowing any fish, let alone shark, can outswim us. Their curiosity is also a little unsettling, as we are used to animals being afraid of us. By the end of our time in Toau, it got a little easier to swim with the sharks, but I think I will always be wary of them!

Up Next

In next week’s blog, we make it to Tahiti! There we finally had access to land, pizza, and some real answers on our situation. Stay tuned :).