In the Tahauku Bay, the main bay at Hiva-Oa, 2 days ago a pretty strong swell started rolling in. It was even on a catamaran pretty rollying. Thus, yesterday, I pushed through with all work needed to be done for departure this morning.

The last work was getting the garbage at land. In Hiva-Oa garbage can be put in 2 public trash container at the harbor or at Marquises Maintenance Service, where there is also a trash container for sailors On Tahuata and Fatu-Hiva there is no place to leave trash.

It was already dark when I did this work and the swell in the bay was at least already half a meter. It was “fun” getting the tender into the water, and later out again. It was a dance with the waves.

This morning, the swell and wind in the bay increased. The water turned pretty brown from the sand and mud raised off the ground.

Also from such dirty water my Dessalator water maker can still make excellent drinking water, but the mechanical 20 and 5 micron pre-filter collecting too much dirt, thus need an earlier replacement.

We got out of bed when we heard in the very early hours a big anchor chain dancing down through the hawse hole. It was, as expected, the “Ananui 5” supply ship, which came in. We watch the docking manoeuver for a while. They drop their STB anchor about 30 – 40 m before the pier to control the bow and prevent the ship going forward. With slow running props and the rudder hard to PRT, they bring the stern to the pier.

Then we suddenly saw that the neighbor boat, which was always our concerns, increased the distance to MaRe. The boat’s anchor slipped and the boat drifted towards a NZ 45 ft Sun Odyssey. From a boat which came from the harbor, the NZ yacht crew was informed just in the last minute. They immediately lifted their anchor and moved away. As there was no real good other anchor spot available, they left the bay. From my point of view it was the best they could do. Thus, it was no surprise to us, that they are at anchor just 70 m from us.

The drifting boat’s anchor then got hold again before the boat was washed ashore because in the drifting direction the water gets shallower, which makes the effect of the anchor stronger. Curious to see where the boat will be when we go back into this bay.