Isle Marquises

We arrived at the island of Fatu Hiva in the Marquises just before sunrise and slowly sailed to anchorage waiting for the sun to come up. We could see the island on radar long before we got there since it is so high. It has very steep mountains sloping down to the sea on all sides. There are only two little towns on Fatu Hiva with about 600 people total on the whole island. Fata Hiva has no airstrip so is said to be the most unspoiled of the islands. Fata Hiva has an amazing sculptural landscape. On the island they fish, grow noni (for export), coconuts, bananas, limes, and breadfruit.
As soon as we were anchored, some men came out to our boat to sell us wood carvings, or fish but they didn’t want money, they wanted to trade for things like flashlights and rifle cartridges and things they can’t get. They also wanted rum and wine but we had heard that there is a drinking problem on the island so we did not want to contribute to that in any way.
Once we were anchored, there was a steady stream of other cruisers who came up to us to say hi. They had been part of the SSB network too so we all felt like we knew each other . One of the men said “You’re going to want to clean your hull before that stuff dries on there”. We didn’t know what he was talking about because it was spotless when we left the Galapagos. When we got into our dinghy, we could see that for 18” up from the water line was a horrible yellow scum and right at the water line were these beautiful creatures that looked like orchids growing on the hull. They were about 1 to 1 1/2” tall with purple stalks and orange heads. Where they came from and how they could get attached while the boat was constantly moving for 23 days, I have not idea. It is just part of the wonder of the ocean.
It took us 6 hours to clean the boat with both of us working on it. Of course there were lots of interruptions because there were 12 other boats anchored in the bay and I think most of them stopped by to say hi.
The next day, we went to a party that was being held in the town for Father’s day. All we heard was that there was going to be some dancing in the hall at 9 am after church. At first we assumed that this was an annual thing but then we found out that they had been saving 10 years for this party. The artisans (wood carvings and tapa cloth) from the town all put 10% of their earnings into a pot for 10 years to save enough).
Steve and I took our dinghy into town and arrived just as everyone was filing out of church. It was an amazing sight. All the locals were in their Sunday best. The men had leis made of flowers and red fruit and green mint and other spices around their necks. Some of the women and girls had flowers in their hair. Everyone filed down the one concrete street to the hall where the school children put on a folk dance. Then everyone was invited to stay for lunch which was all free. We didn’t want to eat anything because we were visitors but the locals kept encouraging us to eat because they wanted to share this day with the cruisers who are part of their community as far as they are concerned. It was very heartwarming to see how people who have so little share so willingly with strangers.
After the folk dancing and lunch, many of the locals left but some remained and sat in front of the hall playing their guitars and ukuleles and singing local folk songs. We wished we had a tape recorder. The songs were fabulous. The songs were mostly in their local language but they all speak French as well. Only a few spoke a couple words of English but we are able to make due with our limited French (what we remember of it from school).
In the afternoon, Steve and I took a walk to the waterfall. The cruisers who had gone in previous days had said they had trouble finding it and got lost a couple times so we listened really closely to the directions but found that we got lost a couple times too. The path was not well marked and it went over treacherous rocks up the mountain but the waterfall was worth it. It was very tall with clean, clear water rushing over the top and falling into a pool at the bottom. After a strenuous hike, we were more than ready for a swim and the cold water rushing out of the mountains was a bit of a shock.
After 4 days in Fatu Hiva, we sailed to a small island called Tahuata. There were only 5 boats anchored there in a bay where there was no town. We took our dinghy two miles to the next bay where there was a little town and walked along the limited number of cement streets and admired the flowers and their simple houses all of which have fabulously bright flowered curtains. We met a man down by the water who wanted to give us some fresh fruit for trade. We followed him back up the mountain to his simple house and he gave us Grapefruit and Bananas. It was good to see fresh fruit since it had been a couple weeks since we had run out. That evening, back in the anchorage, one of the boats organized a camp fire on shore and we all took in some meat to cook on the fire and a pot luck dish to share.
The next day we carried on to Hiva Oa which is a bit larger island with two grocery stores. We were able to buy some fresh bread there. We were so excited to have fresh bread (I am not really excited about baking bread on the boat) we ate a whole French stick outside the store and had to go back in to buy more to take back to the boat.
Today is Monday, we are going to hike the 2 ½ miles into town, up and down the mountain roads, to use the internet, and visit the Gauguin Centre. Paul Gauguin spent many of his later years on Hiva Oa and they have some of his work (or copies?) in the centre. We visited his simple grave site the other day way up the mountainside.
This town has one computer with internet access for the public and it is at the post office which of course closed at 11:00 on the Friday we arrived and was closed Saturday and Sunday so if you are reading this now, we finally got internet access after 34 days.
Tomorrow we expect to head out for the Tuamotu archipelago. It is about a 5 - 6 day sail. It has unspoiled and beautiful clear waters with great snorkeling. After a couple days there, we plan to carry on to Papeete, Tahiti and the Society Islands.