New moon is the time to hunt

After Hiva Oa, we sailed to Tahuata, and settled in Hapatoni anchorage. Our new friends Sylvan & Isabelle on SV Oxygen, the best time to hunt lobsters is on a New Moon and of course at night.

Lessons learned:

• Make sure your waterproof flashlight actually works once you’re in the water
• Shorty fins are much slower than long fins; it was hard to catch up
• Don’t try to snorkle with a wetsuit that’s too small for you; it’s hard to breath
• Clear off the jellyfish from your face as quickly as possible; it takes a while for the burn to stop, especially when you’re struggling to see where you’re going in the black depths

What a haul! 4 lobsters, 2 crabs and 2 isopods (small aquatic invertebrates), that Isabelle said were edible and callein French called sigalle, that Isabelle said we could eat.

Don was the rescue dinghy, coming to us each time we flagged him with divelights so we could throw the lobsters and crabs into the dinghy before sharks smelled them. Luckily no sharks were tracking our hunt that night!

Cruising is about eating local and entertaining

Yes, Hapatoni was quite the social anchorage. We entertained alternate nights with OXYGEN and Yama1 (Liat Zohar and Avi). After having such a wonderful meal at Taina’s home with this crowd, a few days later, we dinghied 2 very wet miles from Hapatoni anchorage to have lunch with OXYGEN and Marco (La Gamoelle) at Jimmy’s restaurant in Vaithu. The town was well kept, with beautiful tikis as well.

Shameless plug for my upcoming mystery novel

Please follow my journey to write my Captain Nez mystery novel on Facebook at captainina.author or on my brand spaking new Twitter handle: @author.captnina.