We arrived on a overcast and rainy day at the beautiful Hiva-Oa island. The bay was packed with 19 sailing boats all anchored with bow and stern anchors. We were lucky that one boat left just before we arrived and had a spot to drop the anchor.
We pumped the dinghy the next day and headed into town to check-in. Dinis used his Portuguese passport and required no bond, so off to the bank we went to pay the bond for me. I had some trouble with my ATM card and could not withdraw the money for the bond. We decided to try again the following day and went for lunch and then back to the boat.
The following day we had more success with the money and paid the bond. All non-European union people have to pay a bond which is equivalent to a air ticket price back to your home city, which will be refunded when you check-out of French Polynesia. We went back to the 'Gendarme' to complete our check-in. This was the easiest and cheapest check-in, all we had to do was paying the bond, filling out a form and paying 70 cents for a stamp at the post office to send the paperwork to Tahiti.
We were very impressed with the town and the people, again very clean and very friendly. It helps that Dinis speaks French, although most people understand English. The only shock for us was the prices, everything on the islands are expensive, about double the price compared to the Canadian dollar. For example I bought 2 lettuce, 6 cucumbers, 5 grapefruit and 1 cabbage for about $20. We needed fresh vegetables and were lucky that a supply ship came in the previous day, so we managed to stock-up again. We also found some very nice New Zealand cheese that needs no refrigeration.
On Sunday 1 May we did a tour of the island with Jo and Rob from S/V Blue Moon. We visited 3 archeological sites, went for a traditional lunch and enjoyed the rugged driving conditions around the island.
We left this morning, Tuesday 3 May for Baie Hanatefau on Tahuata Island, about 14 nm from Hiva_Oa.
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