In Hakahau Bay,Ua Pou Island

Hello All,
We have had an interesting few days since I last wrote.We left Tahuata Island in the evening to make it to Ua Huka by morning.The wind was blowing over 25 knots all night and seas were 6 feet.I only had the staysail and a double reefed main up and we were making 7 knots at times.The speed was nice but the ride sucked.We got to Ua Huka at 7 am to find that the anchorage was full of swell and the wind was blowing up the valley.So we decided to head for Oa Pou Island which was 26 miles away.We arrived here at mid day and saw that our friends,Steve and Trish were here.They were tied to the wharf Med Moor style for protection from the swell coming in the bay.Med Moor is where you are tied stern to a sea wall or a dock with your bow anchor out.We were looking at doing the same but with just 2 of us it would have been very hard to do.Steve and Trish saw us coming in and gave us a hand getting the boat tied up by theirs.Not to long after we got settled a guy in a little 4x4 came down and yelled over to me and asked if I wanted a driving tour of the Island.I took him up on the offer and he picked me up Friday morning for the tour.He is a retired english teacher that came over here from France to teach and never left.He showed me around the the town and took me to some of his friends that do wood and stone carvings.After that we started the tour down some very rough roads to see the eastern side of the Island.This is a very mountainous Island and the views of the bays were awesome.We had an open fire picnic at the last bay we came to with fresh fish and lamb.It took about 4 hours to do the tour and he brought me back to the boat.He asked me if I wanted to rent the car for Saturday and take my friends for a tour.We had dinner with Steve and Trish that night and asked if they would be interested and they agreed.So yesterday he dropped the car off and we all bailed in and now I was the tour guide for the day.I took them to all the same places he took me and we had a very good time.When we returned I saw that Will Cameron and Brenden on the Dawn Star,the east coast guys, had arrived and they were tied right next to me.So here we are the 3 of us once again.We had a bbq on the beach last night with fish wine and beer.I was trying to think if it could get better than this and so far I dont see how it could.
We will leave here tomorrow and either head for an anchorage on the west side of the Island or head for Nuku Hiva which will be the last Island of our Marquesas tour.
I will try to get some pics loaded up at some point.I just need a good internet connection so bear with me.
Thats all I know for now so I will talk to you guys soon.


PEACE