22/4
Bonjour!
Because it is so hard to send regular emails due to lack of internet and or slow connections on the islands I just can’t keep up! I’d like to send a paragraph every few days so you all don’t have to read these massive emails but that has just proven to be impossible. So although I am writing this from the Marquises Islands in French Polynesia when we finally send it we most definitely won’t be here anymore so I am just going to try and continue writing as we go and send a few emails each time we get a chance trying to catch you all up!
We had not planned to stay in the Marquises for more than a few days and thought we would only visit one island, the first one we’d arrived at (Hiva Oa). Well plans changed and I am so glad they did! This place is beautiful, the people are nice, the islands all look so different, and it is really amazing!
Our first landfall was on Hiva Oa (as mentioned in my last oh so long letter). We were there for 3 days. It was a nice island and the locals were very friendly but the anchorage was not very good and the town was quite the hike so we were happy to leave when we did. Actually the majority of our time on Hiva Oa was consumed with Louie trying to get Ernie the outboard up and running again. He spent 2 whole days pulling it apart and putting it together again before it started up. When it actually came back to life we were both thrilled, this was in the evening of our 2nd day. Well on our 3rd morning Louie and his new best mate Jack decided it would be a great idea to take a short cut to town, and rather than walk, take the dingy over to the surf beach. Yeah, it was not such a good idea. The 3 of us headed over around 6:30am in our dingy which also needed to be pumped up a bit. As we approached Jack and I both mentioned to Lou that the waves looked a bit big... but there was no stopping Louie... we chugged along just not quite fast enough with our newly fixed engine only to be smashed by a good size wave which then bent our lil dingy in half and flipped us upside down! Luckily no one was badly hurt, the worst of the injuries is a huge bruise on the back of my leg from kicking the engine while under the boat! The most disappointing thing was that our brand new $600 camera was broken and once again outboard Ernie called it quits... I didn’t blame him that time. Louie was the only one laughing, for some reason he found it hysterical even though he had to row back to the boat by himself. Jack and I opted to walk to town in our completely wet clothes and buy things with our completely wet money, then back to the boat a bit later. That was our adventure on Hiva Oa.
Jack and Marlene are from a 47 foot Catalina named Windswept. They are a retired Aussie couple we met at anchorage in Hiva Oa and have become our new travel buddies and pseudo parents. They actually call us “the kids.” We left Hiva Oa together and sailed side by side (until they passed us up which didn’t take long) to an island called Tahuata, only a 3 hr sail. This island is the only island in the Marquises that has white sandy beaches because it is also the oldest island at 3.5 million years old! We spent 3 nights here enjoying the beautiful clear water and calm anchorage. There were around 12 boats there already, mostly Germans (which we’ve found to be not extremely pleasant). The water was spectacularly clear; we were anchored in about 25 feet of water and could see clear to the bottom! Lou did a lot of snorkelling; I didn’t because I of course have an ear infection and made sure to keep my head above water. Each night we barbequed with Jack and Marlene on our boat, it was a good time!
We left Tahuata at 6am on the 19th and headed to Ua Pou, an island about 60 miles away. This was a long rough day for us. We couldn’t get our windvane to set because of the rough conditions so we hand helmed (hand steered) the entire way!! And we have NO shade on our boat so it makes for a very hot, long, tiring day... we didn’t arrive until 8:30 at night!!! The only highlight of the day was only an hour into it... Lou threw the fishing line over to get it out of the way of the jib sheet (it’s a rope that controls our front sail) and within minutes caught a fish. And not just any fish, this was a 4 ½ foot Wahoo!!! The bloody thing was massive, weighing around 70 pounds!!! And yes I have heaps of photos and even a video to prove it! Although our problem was that it was too big for us and we don’t have refrigeration so we radioed Jack and asked if we should keep it... of course he said YES! We ended up passing it off to their boat a little while later because we were struggling to keep it cool. It was a great handoff... the boats where pushing along in the rough swell getting just close enough for Lou to throw the rope to Jack which had the fish’s tail tied up on the other end. When Jack saw the beast of a fish he said “Holy Shit!” We weren’t sure he was going to be able to lift it up but he did. And after our long day Marlene already had a beautiful fish dinner cooked up and ready for us when we arrived, just what we needed.
That night we ended up dragging our anchor (drifting) for the first time so neither of us got much sleep. We were constantly jumping up worried we would end up out at sea! Luckily the next day was a much shorter one. Ua Pou was a magnificent island, the most uniquely beautiful one we had seen yet but the weather around it was so rough we all decided on leaving first thing in the morning for the next island, Nuku Hiva. It is a shame really because it would have been great to explore more.
It was only a 6 hour sail to Nuku Hiva’s Taiohae Bay and thank goodness because we hand helmed again! We were beyond exhausted when we got there and soaking wet due to the rough sea. Wet isn’t such a bad thing though because it is nearly 100 degrees every day and the ocean water is warm any way! We stayed at Taiohae Bay for 2 nights. The bay was enormous but rolly so not very comfortable. The village wrapped right around the bay so it was very convenient. We stocked up on mangos, bananas, papaya, tomatoes, fresh baked French bread, and paumpamoos (a fruit that looks like a giant grapefruit but is much sweeter and tastes a bit like honey). We love the Marquisian wood and stone carvings and wanted to buy one to bring home but found them to be very expensive. One thing I did buy is a neat necklace they made out of sea urchin! There was also beautiful jewellery made from bone but the necklaces went from 50,000-80,000 francs (roughly 500-800 US$!).
Our last morning there, actually this morning, Louie & I went bright and early for a long hike into the jungle to find an old sacrificial site we had heard about. It took a bit over an hour of mostly uphill hiking to get to it and a lot of friendly Marquisian direction but we made it. It was a beautiful walk filled with lots of wild and domestic pigs, cows, goats, dogs, horses, and heaps of chickens. We took lots of picture and the site was really neat, we could just picture the ceremonies that used to be preformed there. We also imaged what it would have been like hiking up there 200 years ago when the Marquisians were cannibals, we would have been dodging spears!! Now it is quite the contrary, they are all so friendly, although Jack is convinced they are just trying to lure us into a trap! Haha. We ran into a few locals working up at the ceremonial site and they made sure to knock some fresh mangos out of a tree for us and offered as much information about the area that they could in their broken English.
After our hike, a bit of shopping, and lunch we pulled up anchor again and set sail to another bay only 3 miles north called Hakatea Bay. The weather is still very rough and the entrance to this bay was the scariest one we have had to face thus far! We could not even see exactly where we were to enter until we were right up to it and we actually sailed through hoping for more speed and control so not to be taken with the strong wind into the mass of rocks surrounding the entrance. I was really nervous, but of course Lou thought it was good fun. It did help though that Jack & Marlene arrived 30 minutes before us so they told us over the radio that the entrance is really rough but nice and calm just inside, and so it was! Once anchored the 4 of us took our dinghies to shore to check out the couple of cottages there. Words cannot describe the beauty of this place. It astonishes me how different every bay is even on the same island. This bay is not as big as the last and it is surrounded by high massive cliffs. There is also a river running into the bay surrounded by palm trees full of coconuts. We had a swim there and Lou was thrilled to find a rope swing tied to one of the palm trees over the river, very fun. In the evening we enjoyed cheese and crackers on Windswept and a sunset show of sting rays and sharks feeding around the boat.
We plan to take a walk of about 2hrs to the largest waterfall in the Marquises (just under 1000 feet in height) in the morning and have a swim in the pool beneath it and then take off that evening or the morning after. Our next stop won’t be for 5-6 days at the Tuamotu Islands. I am not thrilled about a few nights at sea again but I think it might feel like nothing when compared to where we just came from! Again I wish you were all here to see and experience these amazing places along with us. When we finally have a decent internet we will get our photos up.
Lou & Alicia
PS. Here is an update written on the 28th of April while in route to the Tuamotus
We ended up staying 3 additional nights at Hakatea bay. We loved it and didn’t want to leave. We made friends with the locals and in particular a family... Mie, Maria, and 5 yr old Tohia. Windswept did leave however after our first full day there and we were supposed to follow them later that morning but over breakfast w/our newly befriended family at their home right on the waterfront we were invited to go goat hunting, so we stayed another night. It was an experience I am glad we had because it was something we had never before done, but something I don’t plan to ever do again! That evening they invited people over and had a goat feast (we shot, gutted, and skinned 5, well Mie, Maria, and Lou did, I sat back and watched in horror). This family is so welcoming and caring, they loaded us up with fresh fruit from their yard (mangos, bananas, papaya, paumpamoos). It is amazing the way they live in their little home that has no inner walls and its outer walls are very thin with no windows or doors, their floor only dirt. They have many animals, ducks and cats everywhere babies and adults plus one dog and one goat. And they all live in harmony, happily, peacefully together.
We had planned to leave the next day but again stayed, we used the weather as an excuse but neither of us really wanted to go. It was so hard to say our goodbyes the night before and Mie and Maria were so happy to see us in the morning (Maria is 25, Mie 37 and they have been together since she was 15). We did the waterfall hike twice, it was spectacular and the second time we were joined with friends from 3 other boats that had pulled into the bay as well. We also introduced everyone to our new local friends who happily welcomed them all into their home. Our last night 11 of us met for dinner on Brian’s powerboat, including Mie, Maria, and little Tohia. They were very amazed by this 3 story boat, not many luxury powerboats are seen in these bays! It was a great night, Brian and Kyle entertained us by singing and playing the guitar, Maria and I sat in front of the computer while I showed her pictures I had taken of our days there... later I will make a disk and send it to her. It was once again hard to say our goodbyes but we did have to leave the next morning, it was time to discover a new bay but we will never forget Nukku Hiva and its amazing people. I have had many moments on this trip when I have sworn to never sail again once it is through... seeing places like Hakatea Bay and meeting people like Mie and Maria make me realize I will sail again because it is the places we discover and the people we meet who make this journey really worth while, this is what we are here for... but next time it will be on a MUCH bigger boat! =)
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