The town of Atuona in Hiva Oa is one of the largest towns in the Marquesas with a population of almost 2000 residents. We stayed in the harbor for one week while we spent time with friends, went on walks, climbed fruit trees, ate delicious tropical fruit and gave Chandrika some TLC.
During our 42 days at sea, gooseneck barnacles grabbed hold of Chandrika and colonized her hull. She was coated with these thick sea creatures and covered in green slime. Because we were almost exclusively on a port tack the entire passage, her starboard side had green slime and barnacles half-way up her topsides. We did the best we could, but the growth has rooted in the paint, so we will have to settle for looking a little dirty until we sand and paint her topsides.
We also removed our roller furling unit and our headstay. We cut off the Norseman compression fitting at the end of the cable. It took us an entire day to relay the wires, as they had a mind of their own and somewhat resembled a strangling octopus. Eventually we were able to relay the wires and reattach our old Norseman fitting. Because we did not have a spare cone (the internal part of the Norseman fitting which is not supposed to be reused), we had to reuse the old bronze cone. We plan to purchase a new cable and a new Norseman cone (and some spares!) when we reach Tahiti. Until then, we would have to do the best we could. The entire repair took us 3 days. We were unable to conclusively determine if the broken wires had been caused by the flogging of the sails or by the roller furling unit binding to the cable at the top.
Our repairs made, it was time to go and play. We sailed to the neighboring island of Tahuata. The first of the two bays we visited was HanaMoeNoe bay, which is uninhabited had no formal trails but there where wild goats – that is to say inland exploration required serious bushwacking. Where the shoreline cliff yielded access to the mountainside we headed up through vegetation and shrubbery of the 1 inch diameter variety with heights of 5 to 8 feet and plenty thick. Upon gaining the ridge we continued on up. We were drenched in sweat which stung the minor scratches from the thicket. Our clothing smelled of basil like fragrances with a few burrs here and there. It was clear that goats had walked this ridge before but often we would loose their slight trail after walking with our heads more than 3 feet off the ground. A hundred yards of good walking would bring our hopes up that we would reach the summit. This was soon followed by crawls on hands and knees through the brush or that strange combination of walking and swimming over and through it. Such cycling played with our minds drawing us further towards the peak. The last straw (no pun intended) was upon walking into the third nest of wasps, which were in the thicket, and Graham receiving his fourth sting. Sue, who is very allergic to bees and wasps, carries an epinephrine pen. We turned back a few hundred feet below the summit with a good bit of exercise.
Next it was Hapatoni bay, which has a small village. We went on hikes, snorkeled and played with the children of Hapatoni and taught them to slackline. The residents of Hapatoni were very friendly. Every afternoon the children and their families (mostly the mothers) go to the pier and swim and play together. We also went on a 6 mile hike with our friend Steve on Tulak, that crossed over 3 ridges and took us to the neighboring village of Vaitahu. It was a holiday, and most of the residents had gone elsewhere, but the hike was very rewarding and offered some beautiful views. Along the way back, we gathered mangoes, bananas and papayas from the trees that were growing all along the sides of the road.
On May 24th just before sunset, we raised anchor and set sail for the island of Ua Pou, some 60nm distant. We had excellent winds and arrived at first light. Our first view of the island revealed stunning vertical spires of rock jutting up towards the sky. The peak of Motutakae with its sheer face rose some 750 feet straight out of the water. Wanting to do some climbing, we attempted to find an anchorage right at its base, but to no avail. The ocean floor was too deep for our anchor and strong willawas gusted past Motutakae’s face. Willawas are strong gusty winds, occasionally reaching minor hurricane force (80 knots) that are caused by the trade winds getting funneled through the steep mountain valleys of the Marquesas islands. These gusts are so short lived that they rarely cause any harm; however, we were reluctant to anchor in the path of such gusts, which at the time were reaching 45 knots.
We continued on and eventually discovered the bay of Uapo, which cuts inside two rock walls that rose one to two hundred feet high. Cruising has become incredibly popular here in the South Pacific, and we have been amazed at the sheer numbers of cruising sailboats that we have seen so far. We were delighted to discover that we had the entire bay to ourselves. We spent the next couple days bouldering on the rocks and exploring the small beach at the foot of the bay. We discovered a small farm (with no people) that had mango, grapefruit, lime, orange, pamplemousse (a citrus fruit similar to grapefruit) and pomme citron (lime apple) trees, as well as patches of some sort of watermelon type of fruit. We also went on a two to three mile dinghy sail out to Motutakae to take a closer look.
climbing in Uapo Bay
more climbing in Uapo Bay
Motutakae
We then moved two miles up the coast to the town of Hakamaii. Again, there were no cruisers here. There was a little swell coming into the bay, so we set a stern anchor to position us stern-to the swell, allowing for a much more comfortable motion. Wanting to do some laundry, we headed towards the shore in our dinghy with our dirty clothes. The shore-line was full of large rocks and small boulders, and the swell was crashing onto the coast. Since the shore shallowed quickly it was not possible to exit the dinghy before the waves which were crashing on the beach. After studying the pattern of the waves, Graham rowed in backwards and dropped Sue off with the clothes. Sue quickly jumped out and was up to her waist in the water, with the laundry bag held high over her head and waves crashing up against her, making it difficult to walk without falling over. Somehow, she managed to make it to dry land without submerging the laundry. Graham rowed out, anchored the dinghy, and swam in to shore. Many of the townspeople were sitting near the beach and were watching our entry. As we prepared to do laundry in the water faucet at the beach, a woman approached and bestowed us with two cold orange drinks and two large perfectly ripened mangoes. ‘How sweet of her!’ we thought. She soon came back baring more gifts. She had brought us lunch! Our meal consisted of cooked chicken in a sweet brown teriyaki sauce (chicken is a true treat for us, since we eat so much fish these days), plain white rice, fried rice with corn and thin green beans, cooked red banana bathed in a tapioca and coconut milk pudding, cooked local crab in a lime coconut sauce and bread fruit (similar to yucca or potato) to soak up all the delicious sauces. We were unable to engage in much conversation with this very kind woman, since neither of us speak French or Marquesan, but we learned that her name was Andaline. The townspeople were gathered under the communal gazebo beside the beach preparing for the Kids’ Day Festival that was to be held in the island capital of Haketao in a few days. The residents of Hakamaii had spent the past 2 months weaving grass hats, skirts and other apparel in preparation for the festival.
After washing the laundry, we went back to the boat and actually managed to keep the laundry salt free. When we returned to shore that afternoon, we anchored the dinghy and swam. We had brought soap bubbles, and we played with the local kids, who were all hopping around on stilts, practicing for the upcoming Kids’ Day Festival. Then we went for a walk, to be followed by a hoard of kids, some on stilts. The kids immediately took to Graham when they discovered that they could point at a fruit tree and Graham would climb right up it and toss fruit down to them. The kids typically had to settle for over-ripened, bruised fruit that had fallen to the ground. They also enjoyed watching Graham climb up the steep side of the 20 foot tall boulders that were strewn along the path. On our way back to the dinghy, we saw Andaline. We gave her a bottle of nail polish and some dragonfly hair barets as a thank you gift. She thanked us and invited us to her house for lunch the next day.
The next day, when we returned to the village for lunch with Andaline, we packed dry clothes and a loaf of fresh homemade olive bread in a five gallon plastic paint bucket with lid and dressed in our bathing suits. We anchored the dinghy, swam to shore with the bucket, rinsed off the salt in the fresh water spigot beside the beach, and then walked to a nearby cave along the beach where we changed into clean, dry clothes. We walked to Andaline’s house, a small middle class home with a colorful interior and a spacious feel due to its strong indoor-outdoor integration of spaces. Andaline, who is probably in 40s, lives with her parents. Andaline and her parents run a small convenience store that is right next to their house. Her parents were away visiting Tahiti. Andaline’s youner sister, who lives with her husband in a nearby house, was joining us for lunch.
Lunch was amazing. The table was full of different delicious aromas and flavors. We ate poisson crux, a raw fish salad with cabbage, corn, tomato and shredded carrot, raw local crab in a lime fish broth, imported cooked King crab in a salad with tomato and hard-boiled egg with home-made vinaigrette dressing, stewed chicken, raw fish dipped in a lime fish broth, manioc poi-poi, a Marquesan pureé made with either bread fruit or manioc, fried rice with corn, diced chicken and fish, dried, salted fish, and our contribution of olive bread. We were pleased to learn that Marquesans traditionally eat without utensils by using their second and third fingers as a spoon to scoop food into their mouths. For dessert we ate a Tahitian brand of chocolate covered vanilla ice cream and homemade coconut cake. The Marquesan hospitality did not end with lunch. We left with dried fish, coconut cake, fresh green tomatoes from Andaline’s garden, 2 seed necklaces, a flower stone from the nearby bay of Hohoi, and a large coffee table book with gorgeous illustrated (in French) photographs of the island of Ua Pou.
After lunch, a number of women from town gathered outside Andaline’s house to weave grass hats and apparel for the festival. Graham learned to weave the hats. Andaline’s sister then took us to her house. Andaline’s sister’s house was much more modest and was constructed from plywood with a tin roof and concrete floor. It had an outside patio that was connected to the house, which you entered through a curtained doorway. Surrounding her home was number of fruit trees and a little land for their pig, chickens, and cats to roam. We learned later that dogs and cats are not pets but are eaten here in the Marquesas. In case we did not have enough gifts, Andaline’s sister gave us 15 pounds of pamplemousse, many key limes, pomme citron, cava, and two green coconuts. Her and her husband also invited us to lunch the next day.
Her husband offered us a lift to our dinghy in his outrigger canoe, so we would not have to swim with all of our many gifts. He could take one at a time, so first Sue climbed in. She was told to get in, while the canoe was still sitting on the beach on top of rocks. As she got pushed off the rocks into the water, she could hear the outrigger canoe cracking and could feel it bulging and flexing as it got pushed along the rocks. Andaline’s sister’s husband (we wish we could remember his name) hopped aboard, just as Sue glanced up and realized that the take-off had been timed very, very badly. A huge breaker was coming right at them. As our friend looked around for his oar, the wave crashed right on top of them. Fortunately it just gave them a good wash. Having found his oar, our friend began stroking madly to take them out into the bay outside the reach of the breakers. But first they had to go through one more. This one was even larger than the first and Sue was afraid it was going to pitch-pole the canoe bow over stern. As it broke right on top of them, they managed to stay upright but the breaker completely swamped the canoe. Safely outside the breakers, they had about 3 inches of freeboard sticking out above the surface of the water, but they didn’t sink! The Marquesans have one of the most beautifully carefree and happily positive attitudes we have ever encountered and we immediately fell in love with this mindset. With a huge grin on his face, our friend chuckled as they searched in vain for the small cut-off soda bottle that he uses to bilge his canoe. We have watched a number of the locals land their outrigger canoes on the beach of Hakamaii. While they have lots of experience doing this and show impressive paddling skills, it is still no small feat. About half the time they land, they get either completely soaked or end up entirely under water. Sometimes, however, their landing goes without a hitch. Regardless, their canoes take considerable abuse and we did not want to risk cracking our plastic dinghy on the rocks. We much preferred to swim with our five gallon bucket to keep our belongings dry.
The following day, we returned to shore to enjoy a lovely lunch with our new friends and their son (about 10 years old) and young daughter (about 5 years of age). We ate white rice, stewed chicken, fried fish, raw fish dipped in lime coconut milk, octopus in coconut milk, bread fruit poi-poi, and dried shredded coconut. We were aware through these dinners that our hosts tended towards rice and some of the less fancy and less expensive foods showing that they normally do not eat so well and that they were going out of their way for us. This awareness brought about appreciation and conservative eating on our part as well. We gave our thanks with a gift of fishing line and hooks, which were greatly appreciated since they sell at a price ten fold here. We played with soap bubbles with their children and watched their son play around on his stilts. The son and his mother (Andaline’s sister) soon left to travel to the Kids’ Day Festival in the distant city of Hakahau. The kindness that we received in Hakamaii was astounding and really made our visit to the Marquesas feel complete.
The swell inside the bay of Hakamaii was increasing as was the wind and we decided to move up the coast to find another more comfortable anchorage. We raised anchor and set sail for the short 6 mile trip to the bay of Hakahetao. We were on a starboard tack at a broad reach sailing in 15 knots of wind, when instantly the wind switched hitting us on our port beam at 15 knots. We had not yet tied off our boom to prevent an accidental jibe, and our boom slammed across to the other side. The winds were incredibly shifty and unpredictable since we were so close to the tall mountains of Ua Pou. Since it was only a few miles, we decided to drop sail and to motor. Soon after doing so, we began to get strong gusts, called willawas, that blew down from the mountains. As we were approaching our anchorage we were hit right on the nose by a 62 knot gust! Since we were only traveling a few miles, we did not bother to stow the sliced bananas that we had drying in the sun on our foredeck. As the gust hit, we were showered by sliced bananas along with the sheet of plexiglass they were lying on. The gust was brief and we continued on our way. We enjoyed the anchorage at Hakahetao, where we explored the rocky coast, and enjoyed a pot luck dinner on the shore with other cruisers, the mayor of Hakahetao and number of locals.
Hakahetao village
During our stay in the Marquesas, we had acquired the usual cuts and scrapes. However, for some reason our cuts were not healing well and were becoming easily infected. While playing with the children in Hapatoni village on the island of Tahuata, we had noticed that the childrens’ cuts were also heavily infected. There is probably some bacteria here in the water that easily infects wounds. Sue had a small scratch that swelled up, became pussy and had a huge red blotch projecting out from the cut, the classic sign of an infected wound going septic. Fortunately, with numerous antiseptic cleanings, the wound eventually healed. Graham, however, who is constantly getting cuts and scrapes, did not get off so easy. He had a badly infected gouge in his knee and a deeply infected blister in between his toes, along with numerous other smaller infections. Even his wasp stings became infected! We decided it was time to leave the Marquesas and move on to cleaner water. Graham went on oral antibiotics, waited to make sure he was improving and then set sail for another region of French Polynesia, known as the Tuamotus.
May 2009
