Baie D’Anaho, Nuku Hiva

[Kyle]After nearly a week in Taiohae, we were getting a little weary of city life (tempted to focus on only the chores we could accomplish) and were looking forward to some time away. We pulled up anchor, left the protection of the harbor, and bashed our way into the trade winds for the leg to Nuku Hiva's southeast corner at Cap Tikapo. The beat was brisk, but not too bad. Once we got around the corner, we let out the sails and had a really fast, really rough run up the east coast.

This was partially our fault, because we had picked a day with above-average wind and seas. Mainly, though, it was because most of Nuku Hiva's eastern side is made up of vertical cliffs. The big waves hit them and then reflect back to impact newer ones head-on. For several miles out, the whole area is a confused jumble of crashing pyramid and square-shaped waves. I kept remembering how the Australians pronounced Cape Londonderry in Western Australia, which has similar conditions. They call it "Cape Laundry". It definitely felt like we were in the most vigorous part of the cycle.

We had a reduced version of the same along the north coast until we finally pulled into the protection of Baie D'Anaho (Anaho Bay), which reduced the motion to a gentle swell. The village there has about a hundredth of the population as Taiohae. We anchored in the sand just outside the coral amongst five other cruising boats and about as many local runabouts.

Just as we were sitting down to dinner, a local man came out on a kayak and advised us and a couple of the other boats that we were too close to the coral. Despite my assurances that we had very carefully made sure that our entire swinging circle was over sand and would never come anywhere near the coral, he insisted that we move and sat there staring at us until we did so, because we were over some line between his house and a landmark on the opposite hill that he was sure would always keep everybody away from the coral no matter what they do with their anchors. At least we weren't the only ones. We certainly don't want to upset the locals so we moved before dark fell.

The bay, despite being big, doesn't actually have a lot of coral-free space at a good depth for anchoring. This caused a bit of a musical chairs situation as those of us that were displaced tried to squeeze into new spots without offending the privacy of our neighbors. Later, when we were out in the kayak introducing ourselves, the occupants of the boat nearest us told us they had gone through the same thing themselves the day before and not to worry.

Apart from the daily Coral Patrol and New Boat Re-anchoring Kerfuffle, Baie D'Anaho is low-key, peaceful, and incredibly beautiful. The high mountains towering over the bay make for one of those backdrops that makes your jaw drop every time you look outside. Even on rainy days aboard, the view out the window is of one of the best back gardens in the world. It is not a bad place to spend a few days.

We did a bit while we were there. Mostly, we did walks the length of the bay or would kayak the same. One day, we left the kayak in the care of some Polynesian kids that were visiting from a nearby bay while we went to collect our produce order.

Beautiful Anaho Bay

The day before, we walked the trail over the ridge to adjacent Haatuatua Bay. It has no protection whatsoever from the sea, and thus no harbor, but is home to three or four farms. Walking through one of them, we met Roger, who insisted we come see what he had to offer.

After a bit of a friendly discussion, where he and I had a disagreement over what was the best type of fruit, he finally agreed to disagree with me and proffered several small watermelons for me to sample. He said not to worry about the ones that were rejected as not being ripe enough yet. He chopped them into eighths and told us to take them to his horse, who gobbled them up greedily.

We weren't really prepared for, nor looking forward to, lugging a sack full of watermelons the couple of miles over the ridge and back home. When we explained this to Roger, he laughed and told us, no, no, no, he would bring anything we wanted to his house in D'Anaho tomorrow with the horse. In the meantime, he gave us directions and told us to pop in, meet his wife, and see if there was anything that she had that we would like to take today. I resisted nabbing one of her friendlier cats, but we did get a big armload of leafy greens to tide us over for the next few days.

We took the trail through the farms over to Ha'atuatua Bay, which had a crabs you could practically herd at low tide

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Anchorage location >> On google maps