We left Ua Pou mid-day May 24, heading to Tahuata, about 80nm southwest. As soon as we turned the corner around Ua Pou, the wind and waves were directly in our face. We spent about 8 hours sailing, bashing into the wind and swell, much of the time at reasonable speed (5 to 7 knots) but so far off our desired course that the ‘velocity made good’ was often under 2. Not much fun. At about 3am we decided to turn the engines on and motor the rest of the way. By early morning the wind was in the low 20’s and even when we were within a mile of the tall cliffs, the wind and waves were nasty. We should have been getting shielded by the island, but the wind was still strong and conditions uncomfortable. But we made it and got anchored in Vaitahu Bay where it was still gusting in the 20’s but the water was calm. We spent one night there and looked around town a bit. It was pretty small but had a nice church made of all native stone and hardwood.
The next day we sailed a short hop (about 4nm) to Hanamoenoa Bay because I had great memories of a few days there on my previous trip. It did not disappoint! Still an idyllic white sand beach, palm trees, no town of any type, just a couple deserted shacks. There were dolphins, manata rays and lots of great fish.