Late March 2014 - Marquesas Wandering
NUKA HIVA
On March 28th we sailed to Nuka Hiva, the largest island in the Marquesas, to do a little exploring and to catch up on April 2nd with the rally group. We spent 2 days in Hatiheu, a small town on the most beautiful bay I’ve ever seen, hiking and just hanging out, then sailed around to the biggest town, Taiohae, where they actually have important things such as wifi and banks.
As we travel further and further through these remote islands, we’ve noticed a change in Mike, our skipper. His hair and beard are longer, and he’s taken to wearing what is locally known as a Pareu (pr.” Par-a-oo”). It’s actually a flowered sarong, worn in lieu of shorts or trousers, that is full length and when seen on Mike, a little disconcerting (read scary). Merc sent a picture to Dawn, Mike’s wife, that something like, “come quickly”.
It was fun to be back with our fellow cruisers and to reconnect via Skype with long lost family members, many of whom I think are under the impression that we’ve sailed off the face of the Earth!
We’re leaving the Marquesas in a day or two heading for the next group of islands before Tahiti , the Tuamotus . They are the second archipelago in French Polynesia (there’s a total of 5), and we will cross them heading roughly southwest to the Society Islands, with a final destination of Tahiti. The Tuamotus are a group of low lying atolls, which are donut shaped coral islands , each surrounding a lagoon. Each reef has an occasional opening or pass through it that has been carved out by fresh water rivers that flow into the lagoon. Sometimes these passes are treacherous, so the time of day entering them is critical, based primarily on the tides and sun direction. Should be interesting!
We’ll reconnect as soon as possible.
UA POU
Ua Pou has been so much fun that after 3 days we left Hakahau and sailed 6 miles to the even smaller town of Hakahetau on the northwest corner. It’s not a very protected bay and has a dock that’s exposed and dangerous to land the dinghy at, but armed with a map drawn for us by a French guy named Jerome, from the last town, we were on a mission to find “the waterfall”.
We teamed up with 2 other Arc boats, and so with one couple from Germany, one from Switzerland , and one from Norway, we headed up the mountain to find the falls. After about an hours hike we arrived and were greeted by a beautiful 50’ waterfall, and large pool that we all immediately jumped into. Now this is living! Gorgeous mountain jungle with a beautiful river and waterfall.
Later, as we walked back through town we stopped at a ladies house for a fruit and juice snack. We had met her earlier and she had insisted on the invitation. We chatted for about an hour while she brought us up to date on her family, on the local elections, and other happenings around town, all of this spoken in French, of course. She didn’t want any money for any of this, she just wanted to meet us and greet us into the village.
Earlier in the morning, we had met a local fisherman who had paddled over in his outrigger canoe, and had offered us part of his catch,….he too was not interested in monetary compensation,….he just wanted to welcome us. We had been told that once we were west of Panama, we wouldn’t have to worry about things like locking the boat up when we weren’t on board. The culture of French Polynesia is one of friendship and giving and not worrying about material possessions.
As evening fell, the local outrigger boat club came out for practice and paddled around the bay in their 6 man canoe,….we got great video footage as Vivo became one of their turning marks and about every 10 minutes they’d haul ass around our stern. Talk about a workout! As I said earlier, the town has no real dock and these guys walk in and out of the surf with their 50’ canoe for their practice.