Baie Hakahau, Ua Pou Island

9'21.5S/140'02.8W
Baie Hakahau

Greetings from Ua Pou. And Happy Mothers Day, MOMS!! We arrived at the anchorage of Hakahau Bay Saturday morning, right after sunrise. We had a GREAT 65 mile overnight sail, with winds right off starboard aft, and a full moon that was bright enough to see clearly for miles around us. We had dolphins off the bow from sunrise until we entered the anchorage.

Ua Pou is 10 miles long and 7 miles wide. It has high sheer volcanic mountains, some over 4000 foot high, and a population of about 2000. There are 1000 residents who live in the town where we are anchored. So this is the biggest town on the island. There is even a college which the middle school students attend untill they are 15 year old. Then they are shipped to Tahiti for further education.

Even as small and remote these islands are, walking around, you see islanders with cell phones and MP3 players. We listen to the radio station on Nuka Hiva. It is sometimes a little funny what you hear. There is French news, island music with American hip-hop rap, and remakes of American music into French island music.

After we anchored Saturday morning, we took a nap until noon, then went ashore to check out the sites. There is supposed to be alot of artists here with carvings. But the whole town was closed because was a soccer game in town. So what to do? We bought some ice cold Hinano beers and sat on the sides of the soccer field until the games were over and the businesses started to open back up.

We went to the house of one of the local wood carvers where our friend Ken bought a nice wood bowl. Then we went to Vehine Snack for dinner. The table next to us was taken up by 5 locals with their guitars, drum, and ukulele. They played the whole time we were there. And they had island dancers perform as well. Very cool!!

Today is Sunday morning. We are planning on going ashore until noon to try to pry some local art work from there makers. Then we are sailing 25 miles to Daniel's Bay on Nuku Hiva, hopefully arriving before sunset.