Things That Go Bump in the Night

What you don't want to do is wake up to the sound of a bow sprit scraping down the side of your boat. It is only slightly less disconcerting to have this sound awaken you when it is the two boats next door banging around in the night. I think the boats involved are still intact. We haven't had a chance to ask or poke around, so we're assuming since everyone is still afloat, it's all good. Nevertheless, not a great way to wake up.

The wind last night was really squirrely. The prevailing 15 to 20 from the east south east had a nice battle with a land breeze at about the same. So back and forth against our anchors with the wind occasionally canceling itself out and disappearing entirely for a few minutes. We spent the night listening to the wind generator flip directions and rev up only to flip again and die out. The sound of boats crunching was -- in retrospect -- not entirely unexpected. Today, we'll go ashore to grab some fresh produce and bread, wash our laundry, and then we're off to Nuka Hiva. One night in this is enough.

In other news, our dinghy motor died. Again. The one we thought we had fixed? Well, not so much. It was temporarily fixed. Or partially fixed. Or fixed-ish. Another reason to head to Nuka Hiva is that another boat reported favorably on an outboard mechanic in the harbor up there. We're thinking of just handing him the motor and driving away. If it doesn't work when we get back in a few days to provision for the Tuamotus, we'll buy a new one. The guy apparently sells refurbished machines as well. I suspect we get last year's fleet rejects. Some more boat will probably get our Mariner next year. Whatever. I just want a motor we can reliably start.

PPJ Note #?: STERN ANCHOR. Not an option. I know, the cruising guides mention casually that on occasion you might want to put out a stern anchor to reduce discomfort and point into the swell. This is not true. You will ALWAYS want to put out a stern anchor. Every anchorage in the Marquesas is either a) rolly, b) crowded and/or c) micro-small. We have visited precisely one anchorage where a stern hook wasn't necessary. Get one, make sure it's good enough that you feel comfortable hanging on it all night, design and practice a relatively easy method to deploy it. We have bad names for cruises who show up around here without stern hooks, and I can assure you that they are never invited over for sun downers.