French Polynesia 2019: The Marquesas Islands
Fatu Hiva and Nuku Hiva Islands are as South Pacific and lush as you would imagine!
4 Jul – We arrived in the tiny “Bay of Virgins” at 12:30 so the passage took us exactly 24 days, quite respectable. The bay is, in fact, the most beautiful I have seen and anchored in. Truly the South Pacific tropical landscape I had anticipated. We got the anchor set and celebrated with coconut rum along with lunch.
Our neighbor boat, a lovely Frenchman, dinghied over to say hello and welcomed us with an enormous Pamplemousse (grapefruit of huge dimensions and so very sweet!) which grow in abundance here.
Despite being exhausted, we prepared our own dinghy and decided to go to shore for a brief exploration. Surprisingly, despite three+ weeks rocking and rolling at sea, I wasn’t rocking and rolling on land as I usually do. We asked a local woman sitting on a bench where we could find the Gendarmerie (local police) to unofficially check in and register our presence, and she said to look for the guy walking around in the gray and yellow uniform. No office, just find the uniform which we never did… no one official seemed to be in the bay the entire time we were there and the locals just told us it wasn’t a problem.
The bench lady asked if we wanted to eat and made known we could eat with a family… no restaurants or bars here, you also can’t buy alcohol here, and we haven’t found the little store yet. It’s a tiny settlement of only about 300 people. And, much to Willem’s disappointment, no bakery in this bay!
We said we’d like to eat the following evening and followed a boy (turns out he’s the son of our dinner hosts) to the house where we would go. I had read that locals invite you to eat with them for around $15/pp but the info was old and now the price was closer to $20. I thought it wasn’t worth it but Willem convinced me that it was good to support the locals and local business… ok, good enough, I’m in.
Our to-be hosts, Sopi and his wife Leah were friendly, as was everyone we met along the way. We were given several very heavy Pamplemousse and made our way for a walk.
5 July – The bay has room for about 5 – 8 boats total and then it gets very deep quite quickly. There’s a manmade concrete-block breakwater and inside there are maybe 10 aluminum skiffs for locals, all pretty much identical. A woman came over with a handful of small unripe mangos and wanted $10 for them – yes VERY expensive here – but we gave her the $5 note we had and she was fine with that. Still, it’s mango season and you can pick them yourself everywhere. But support the locals and be hospitable. (the mangos turned out to be really good!)
We slept the first night at anchor all through the night, so hopefully an easy transition back to normal sleep patterns, but the second night is always the hardest because you’re not quite as exhausted. On the agenda for today is cleaning the hull which is amazingly disgusting after the passage. Unbelievable what can grow while you’re underway and in only a few weeks. I’m also starting to clean up inside which looks like a train wreck. I am extremely organized and like/want/need things put away with no clutter. Willem on the other hand is completely chaotic and scattered, so we wind up somewhere slightly to my side of the middle and I help him find whatever he’s put away and then forgotten where it was… which is just about everything, LOL! He well makes up for this by being the sweet-natured and lovely guy that he is.
6 Jul – Lots of rain and wind funneling down through the valley. Goats perching somewhat precariously on sheer cliffs stand far above us… amazing that they can traverse the vertical cliffs as easily as they do.
Last night we had dinner at Sopi and Leah’s home. $40 for the two of us, but the BBQ chicken was delicious and a sauce of honey mustard to go with it was excellent. Dessert was some sort of starchy thing cooked soft with coconut milk, honey, and vanilla… even old shoes would taste good if cooked with enough of those ingredients, LOL! There is a lot of vanilla grown here and in the rest of French Polynesia. Expensive it is, but really good quality and wonderfully fragrant. I’ll need to buy some somewhere along the way.
Walking around yesterday we stopped to ask a couple sitting on their porch, amidst a field of banana trees, whether we could buy some bananas from them. They said yes but didn’t want money. Instead, they wanted to barter for makeup and fishing lures, plus rum if we had it. We told them we’d be back to bring some things. We took back the branches of bananas and a few Pamplemousse plus some unripe mangos. Unfortunately, it was pouring and we got soaked. Linda was satisfied with the few items of makeup I could spare (I don’t wear more than a touch of lipstick on board so didn’t have much of anything), but Frank was less than enthusiastic with the fishing gear Willem gave him. We agreed we would return a day or two later with a beer or two to supplement the exchange.
We planned to come back to the boat and get into the water to clean the hull, but there was so much debris flowing out into the bay that it was completely brown and we didn’t want to get in. Meanwhile, it is embarrassing to have the hull as dirty as it is. After dinner last night we went to the community hall where at least 100 people were dancing in an organized fashion… practicing for the big competition over the weekend. It is sort of a dance-off with judging for dance quality and costumes between the only two towns on the island. It was nice to see everyone there, and especially young people, dancing on a Friday night rather than drinking or doing drugs!
7-8 July – We have new neighbors, a cat from Port of Spain (Trinidad) and a mono-hull from the UK that arrived with 2 very naked guys on board. We met the guys again (dressed this time) on shore as well as Don and Tessa from the cat. Don dinghied over. He invited us on board for the following evening for sundowners, which turned into a whole evening with dinner. Don grilled an entire leg of lamb on the barbie (BBQ), and after cutting all the meat off, gave me the bone to chew on – I was in heaven! He thought it wasn’t cooked enough but I thought it was perfect!!! If only we had a grill on board!
9 July – We took a very expensive car ride over to the only other town on Fatu Hiva ($150 RT) but we shared the cost with John and Christoph. Nothing there in Omoa, and the famed – and much anticipated – bakery only had frozen baguettes. It was raining the whole time and the post office was on strike, so no sim cards today… maybe tomorrow. We are filling up with water today and will hike to the cascade (waterfall) tomorrow morning, then prepare the boat in the afternoon for our 130nm sail up to Nuku Hiva to check in.
10 July – We planned to walk up to the waterfall today, but first to buy sim cards and “ViniSpot” (local carrier in Fr Poly) wifi top-up cards. We got a late start and when we arrived at the post office, there was a long line. When it was finally our turn, we learned they didn’t take USD and didn’t have internet sim cards. We had to go to the store and see whether they’d change money for us. It turns out they would, but only after we told them it was for cards at the post office, otherwise no dice, only when purchasing something. Then we headed back again before the post office closed as they are only open a few hours and only some mornings and some afternoons. By the time all was done it was too late to start out for the waterfall. So back to the boat to continue scrubbing the waterline!
11 July – We finally made it to the waterfall! It was a nice walk up, a little muddy in spots, but we lucked out with the weather as it didn’t rain. It’s been raining on and off a lot… maybe that’s why everything is so lush and green. But the dodger and the bimini both leak like crazy and you are constantly busy opening and closing hatches. I’m not sure I’m a tropical kind of girl. Semi-tropics might be more to my taste. We’ll see. Once at the waterfall, we went for a swim in the refreshing water pool. It was chilly, but happily not as cold as I thought it would be.
12 Jul – We were planning to sail out today until we found out that you can’t clear in to Nuku Hiva on the weekend. That convinced us to stay for another day, so that we could go see the first night of the dance competition. The two villages dance on sequential nights, Hanavave dances in Omoa and Omoa dances in Hanavave. The third day, Sunday, there is judging and a big feast. We went with our new Canadian cruising friends, Margaret and Dave. I hope we meet up again in another bay before they sail north up to Hawaii at the end of the month and we sail south to the Tuamotus.
The dance competition was excellent. Not put on for tourists, but solely for themselves and we got to partake by luck of timing. Everyone was dressed up, some with locally made headdress and wreaths and necklaces of flowers and beads.
We placed our order for BBQ dinner and took our bottle of lemonade (diluted “KoolAid”) and went outside to find a place to sit and watch the dancing. The costumes were excellent and quite elaborate. What was spectacular in particular was the combination of materials employed in them. There were fabric skirts with a panel of “tapa” (fabric woven from special barks and only made any more on Fatu Hiva now, nowhere else in French Polynesia. In addition, the headdress was made from pieces of the inside of soda cans (silver side out) and waist wreaths (like the hula skirts, were made of bunches of plastic bags all tied up to look like flowers. Everyone had necklaces of either blue or green, and these were made from plastic bottle caps… very environmentally sound in reusing what was available to adorn the costumes and not just throw trash in the streets.
There were, in fact, no trash cans and no way to get rid of garbage, so we needed to keep ours on board until we reach Nuku Hiva. As a side note, I am very proud of us… on the entire crossing from the Galapagos, plus the time in Fatu Hiva, we had only one medium-sized garbage bag with trash. Bottles, jars, and tin cans were filled with salt water and thrown overboard, plastic bottles were in a separate recycling bag, compostable items went immediately over board and the rest was compressed into the trash bag.
The men’s costumes were just as elaborate, if not more so than the women’s, and the dancing/moves equally spectacular. We had watched the practice sessions of the Hanavave group a few days earlier, and if I had to guess, I think the Omoa team will win this time. In fact, I did later find out that Omoa won for dancing and costumes as well. The theme for this year was recycling, hence the creative use of plastics and cans.
13 July – We decided not to leave today. Wind and waves were okay, but strong gusts might be problematic. I’m getting a little concerned at the short amount of time left before my visa expires… but I’m leaving it to the Universe. If it’s not in my best and highest good to stay/live here in French Polynesia for a year, then I’ll stay for the 90 days allowed and then go for 90 days.
14 July – Happy Bastille Day! We decided to go today despite same conditions as yesterday. The weather wasn’t going to improve before Tuesday and that really wasn’t going to leave enough time for me to apply for my CDS (Carte de Sojour) before Friday. We have 130nm to go so will likely arrive Monday afternoon. We started off motor-sailing as the winds were variable off the coast, and we needed to charge the batteries up after over a week on just solar panels. The wind is pretty much on the beam as are the 1.5 – 2m waves. The sun is strong for now and Willem is napping. So far, so good. As we passed Hiva Oa east of us, the wind and waves died down, but then the waves picked back up to over 2m. It was a very uncomfortable passage, motoring much of the night, but rocking and rolling heavily. We made good time though, and arrived in Nuku Hiva Monday morning in time to check in.
Nuku Hiva, Marquesas 15 July – 4 August
15 July – We arrived in the Taiohae (sp?) bay, with its two sentinel islands at the entrance. It was an easy entrance and a large bay. It took us a few tries to get our anchor set but finally we did. I radioed Kevin, the agent (not the yogurt maker) who would help me with my CDS application. He said we could only check in in the mornings so instead of rushing off right away, we had a bite to eat and surveyed our surroundings.
16 July – Kevin suggested an early start, but with the uncomfortable passage yesterday, we both slept well and long. We made it ashore at about 9:30 and after meeting Kevin briefly, headed off to the Gendarmerie (local police) to get checked in. It was all a bit confusing as to whether or not I needed a flight out or a bond or a bond exemption for my visa, but in the end, they just stamped me in and said to make sure I had it sorted out before I left. In the afternoon, I had Kevin help me fill out the forms for my residence visa (CDS) and I’m glad I did. Not that I couldn’t have (eventually) figured it out myself, but it was worth the $40 to get it done quickly and efficiently and with a minimum of stress. Now I get to wait for about 2 weeks to (hopefully) get a confirmation email that my papers have arrived in Tahiti, and then another a few months down the road saying my residence card would be ready to pick up.
17-19 Jul – The last few days have been filled with meeting other cruisers, visiting the local supermarkets, walking around, resting, and just scratching the surface on organizing and cleaning. Need more of all of the above, LOL! Willem wants to go to the Tuamotus for two months so we aren’t here in the Marquesas for 9 months, but I’m not ready to sail off again yet… I’ve been on the go too much, too long, and need a break. I’m tired of fixed schedules and pushing hard. I’m sure I’ll be ready in another week or two, but right now it seems more like work than an adventure to look forward to.
20 July – A young American cruising couple we had met in Fatu Hiva, Katie and Cory from Texas, rented a car and invited us to join them for a day of driving around the island. It’s expensive here… $120/day, so we were happy to share the costs and have a nice adventure. We started early (6am) so we could go to the bakery first and have fresh baguettes and pastries. Have I mentioned that I am feeling like a total whale? I am gaining weight because on board with Willem there are lots of delicious things that I love to eat. Willem is constantly hungry but he doesn’t eat a lot at any one time or ever gain weight. He eats and snacks and loves ice cream and things that I do too, so it’s hard for me to watch (or worse, have to prepare) and not to join in. That and the fact that we are also in French terrain and fresh baguettes and croissants are readily available, are making weight management a challenge for me.
21 – 22 July – Technology. For the mere mortal who has to figure out how to make routers and WiFi and hotspots and all that work in one’s home country, it’s bad enough. But when you are going from country to country you are doing that continuously and it is NEVER the same. SIM cards, and APN (access point names) and pre-paid and hotspots, etc. etc. One has a sense of euphoria when one gets it all working, but if something goes wrong and you can’t figure it out, it’s beyond frustrating.
On the passage from the Galapagos, it was the IridiumGo, where our email stopped working and we could only send SMS text messages (160 char or less). Try working with technical support people using 160 characters, lol! The header text on their auto-generated reply messages alone were over 160 characters so we had no idea what they were saying as the remainder was truncated. Despite multiple attempts to let them know, we couldn’t get help. My dear friend Michele called them and acted as intermediary, but still it didn’t work. We’re still battling that. Then arriving in Fatu Hiva, the ViniSpot didn’t work most of the time. When it finally did, Yippee!!! Now in Nuku Hiva we don’t have a strong-enough connection to the ViniSpots to connect without using the wifi extender. That was a whole different issue. But finally, yesterday, with the help of Cody and a little research on the internet from ashore, we were able to get it all working. Yippee, yippee!!! I’m a happy camper/communicator.
On to the Tuomotus! 4 – 8 August
We set sail in the afternoon, weighed anchor at 14:30 and headed southwest after clearing the harbor. It was a nice afternoon and a relatively good, though rocky passage.
5 Aug – Willem’s 66th birthday! I decorated with big polka-dotted balloons (the only thing I could find in Nuku Hiva) and sang the obligatory “happy birthday” song several times over throughout the day. I made him French toast with dry baguette, which he loved, and then we baked two loaves of honey cornbread birthday cake – same as for my birthday a few weeks earlier. It was delicious hot out of the oven with a little butter and honey – yum!!!
8 Aug – We arrived just at daybreak and rounded Kauehi atoll from the east to enter the pass at the south west. Amazing to see water with little “motus” (islets) and know that there is a circle of reef all the way around. We had some eddies in the entrance of the pass as we arrived about 1 ½ hours after slack with incoming tide, so tide against waves. This is supposedly an easy pass, but many others in the Tuamotus are trickier and need to be timed more exactly. We followed the two waypoints given to us by our cruising friends Don and Tessa, and dropped anchor in beautiful turquoise water in the lee of a white sand islet.
Continue along with our journey with Pacific 2019: The Tuomotus