Yacht Zen Again: Tahuata

Friday, 6 June 2025

Tahuata

Hi everyone,

From Atuona on Hiva Oa we sailed to Hanamoenoa Bay on Tahuata Island. It was a short 10nm sail through the passage between the two islands.

Zen Again in Hanamoenoa Bay

Short Passage

The Bay was just what we needed. Flat water over good holding with a constantly varying set of cruising boats. As we came into the bay there were a group of manta rays and boat crews swimming together. That evening we had a great sundowner aboard OCC SVs Manna and Tino Pai aboard Manna.

Sundowner on OCC sv Manna

We spent our first week in the Bay cleaning Zen Again's filthy topsides and hull. We spent about 90 minutes in the water every day cleaning. We also cleaned her deck, cockpit lockers and below decks. And we did a stocktake of provisions. And we relaxed, which was nice!

In the water

Cleaned hull

Once while cleaning the hull a manta ray started looping the loop beneath me. Another time a 1.5-2.0m shark cruised by on the sea bottom.

After we'd finished boat cleaning we dinghied around the bay and swam over to the shore for a look-see. Quite a few colourful fish but the visibility wasn't great. For our first week in the Bay we had a lot of rain showers. One evening it rained heavily and we filled our main water tanks and all 8 jerries. Nice!

Other EBBYC boats started to join us for a planned rendezvous in the Bay. The Commodore arrived on Let's Go, as did SVs Aura, Apres Ski, Island Kea II, Earendel, Matahari, Moody Rudie and Southern Wing.

The evening prior to the rendezvous everyone had arrived so we arranged an impromptu 'dinghy party' as Zen Again. That was a lot of fun.

Dinghy Party at Zen Again

Insta360 'fish-eye' view

The following day was the main EBBYC rendezvous. That took place ashore and we all arranged ourselves into 'EBBYC' on the sand for a drone photo-shoot. Twas great fun and nice to catch with many of the EBBYC crews for the first time since Panama.