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We motored SW out of Galapagos expecting to perhaps have very light winds for several days but we only had one day in the first 500 miles when we were unable to sail. We encountered a brief squall with winds between 40-50 knots as we tried to use the winds across the south of a tropical depression but otherwise we had an uneventful passage towards the SE trade winds. We picked them up just as our gearbox failed, ruling out any other possibility of using the engine. Fortunately we had good winds and a strong NE current for the remaining 2600 miles and we were pleased to do the passage in a day less than our Atlantic passage. We finally sailed into Taiohae Bay on Nuku Hiva after a 22 day passage.
We were made very welcome.
Nuku Hiva is one of the bigger Marquesas Islands. It is very isolated and quiet. We were taken to see the stunning scenery and the ancient archaeological sites. These islands are one of the last places where cannibalism was practised; the author Herman Melville escaped the cooking pot as late as the 19th century!
The site of an ancient village along with an ancient and modern Tiki
We also had a guided walk up to the 350 metre high Vaipo waterfall followed by a traditional pig roast.
The gearbox repair turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg! Our vibration damper was in two pieces, completely preventing any possibility of engaging a gear. This part was unavailable here and we had to have one flown out from the UK. Our problems still weren't over, because our cylinder head gasket was leaking again, raising considerable questions about the quality of the repair we had done in Antigua. It took 5 days to fly in a very expensive new gasket set from Tahiti. Finally nearly four weeks after our arrival in Nuku Hiva we were able to set sail for Tahiti, too late to meet up with the rally there, but with sufficient time to explore Manihi, one of the Tuamoto Islands, and then slowly sail through the Society Islands to Bora Bora and then on to Tonga where we hoped to meet up again with the fleet.