The Voyage of Spectacle

As if three weeks at sea with no land, no boats, no nothing wasn’t weird enough, finally seeing land — in the form of a hulking volcanic rock soaring out of the deep Pacific Ocean literally in the middle of nowhere — was even weirder.  Andy woke me at 5:00 a.m. for my watch, and he decided to stay up in anticipation of making landfall some time shortly after dawn.  About two hours later, a distant cluster of clouds off the port side bow began to reveal something other than infinite ocean and sky.  Land ho.  I almost started to cry, but I was too tired.

The striking beauty, but unfriendly terrain, of Fatu Hiva definitely added to the experience.  Imagine a 16^th-century explorer, after weeks at sea in treacherous conditions, finding Fatu Hiva with its steep cliffs and headlands plunging sharply into the ocean with no beach or landing anywhere.  Luckily, we have charts and GPS to tell us where to anchor the boat.

The crew began to get very excited.  Coming closer, Spectacle rounded the island’s northwest corner and entered the lee of the island.  The seas went completely calm, and the water resembled a lake instead of an ocean.  As we came around the headland preceding the anchorage, we were agog at the striking beauty of the Bay of Virgins.  Eight yachts were anchored there already, including a couple we had met before.  Many emerged from below to welcome us and give us a hint on where to drop the hook for trusty holding during our inevitable walk on land and extended sleep.  The bay is quite deep, but with good holding, super-calm water, light wind, and plenty of good Samaritans, we were not too worried about dragging.    

We picked a nice spot towards the southeast corner of the bay and dropped the anchor in some sixty feet of water.  Andy went for a sleep since he had been up most of the night, and Ian and I took some relative bearings for anchor watch.  Satisfied with the holding, we just marveled at our surroundings … goats bleating on the hillside, a breeze blowing through the lush flora, an occasional coconut floating by, and the bluest sky I’ve ever seen.  It was truly a magical morning.