We were up at 4, the darkest time of the night, the moon already set and the stars shrouded in clouds. The anchor was tugged free of the sand and we were off. Bows pointed towards the mouth of the bay, headlands just visible either side, the blackest outline against a dark sky. Behind us in the bay anchor lights glimmer at the masthead of the remaining yachts, our own now replaced by the red, green and white lights indicating we are underway.
We round the headland and turn south onto our course, no longer ever Westward but heading away from the Marquesas and towards the Tuamotus. The blackness around us slowly thins as dawn approaches, light creeping in from the Eastern horizon, the sun finally rising over the island behind us.
The winds are light and varied, confused by the land so we motor sail, stopping the engine a couple of times as the winds steady only to find our speed tailing off as the breeze drops again. Eventually by mid morning we have a steady sailing breeze from the south east and we can enjoy the quiet without the engine.
Ua-pou shrinks behind us, still visible at 45 miles as an outline capped with clouds, eventually though it fades away and we are, for the first time in weeks, out of site of land. In every direction is sea, although we know there are boats around and we can see them on the instruments we are in the centre of our own deserted ocean.
The day passes and we soon adjust to being "on passage", dinner is eaten and the off watch crew drift away to nap before their own stint. After 5 weeks of sleeping at anchor every night it is surprisingly easy to slip back into watches again even if this passage should only take 3 days. Next stop the atolls of the Tuamotus.
Tim