May 13-June 27, 2012
It has been hard to keep the blog updated due to very poor or non-existent internet service. We made landfall on the island of Hiva Oa in the Marquesas on Mother's Day May 13th. Autuona which is the administrative center for the Marquesas is spectacularly impressive with steep jagged mountains covered with lush green. All of the Marquesas are impressive and very beautiful.
Hiva Oa was the last stronghold of cannibalism in the Marquesas and Robert Lewis Stevenson in "South Pacific Islands" describes an incident in 1864 where an American crew member from a Whale Boat was captured and only saved from being eaten by a missionary that ransomed him from the tribal chief. President Lincoln later sent him a sum of money and a gold pocket watch for this act of kindness.
We spent a week in Hiva Oa and then sailed for Fatu Hiva which is about 42 nm distant. This island is one of the last to make tapa cloth from the bark of mulberry, breadfruit and another tree. The islanders are good wood sculptors and make some beautiful wood carvings. Tattooing is an art form in the Marquesas and most of the inhabitants sport a few of them. When the missionaries wielded more power, the practice was forbidden but it is in vogue once again. Fatu Hiva may be the most beautiful island in all of the Marquesas but none are to be slighted. The locals were friendly and gave us a lot of fruit: mangoes, lemons, pomplemousse (a very sweet grapefruit), bananas. They would not take any money for this kindness. There are only two villages on Fatu Hiva that have anchorages. We anchored in Hanavave which was more protected but had strong katabatic downdrafts.
On May 22nd we weighed anchor and sailed to the island of Tahuata. On the western side there is a very beautiful anchorage called Hane Moe Noa. We dropped anchor and enjoyed the beautiful sunsets. The problem on many of the islands of the Marquesas are "NO-NOs". There are Black NO-NOs and White NO-NOs. They are similar to mosquitoes but rather than having a hyperdermic needle type bite, they take a small chunk of skin which can infect and make nasty sores. Fortunately, we avoided the areas where they mostly frequent and had no problems. This meant not going to many of the beaches or hiking inland during the hours of peak activity.
We followed Tahuata up with another island called Ua Poa. Hakehau is another delightful and beautiful town that had some vegetables and groceries. All produce and groceries are very expensive in French Polynesia. I would hazard a guess that the cost is at least double that of the States and in many cases more. All this gives the Polynesians a very high standard of living which is subsidized by France through all the taxes that are levied on all products. If one is looking for the romanticized allure of the South Pacific, you won't find it here. It's a very modern society with all the French and traditional customs mixed but more European than anything else. So far we have seen nothing that would indicate that Polynesians are anything but a modern society. I'm sure that on some of the more remote islands there exist some of the older traditions but we haven't been there.
From Ua Poa we sailed to Nuku Hiva and then Hakatea Bay (Daniel's Bay). Nuku Hiva is a good stop for groceries and limited repairs. We rented a car with another boating couple and toured the island. It was a very beautiful trip but the roads are no more than dirt goat paths in many of the places. Only a four wheeler could negotiate these places. One of the impressive sights that we saw in Taiohae, Nuka Hiva, was the feeding of the sharks by fishermen when they are cleaning the fresh caught fish. They throw the guts and skeletons of the fish into the water and it boils with big sharks right there at the pier. It was enough to impress me that I didn't want to go swimming in that bay, however, many locals swim at some of the beaches. Daniel's Bay was our last anchorage in the Marquesas; another picture postcard place with incredible views and sunsets. It would be hard to find a more impressive landscape than that offered by the Illes Marquises. These islands are all volcanic and geologically very young therefore they have very few coral reefs. In all of these islands, one has to be very careful with ciguatera poisoning. This is a very debilitating toxin found in fish that feed on the coral or are eaten by bigger fish. The toxins are accumulative in fish and people and can be fatal under certain conditions. The effects go from mild to severe and may last for several days or months. We eat only fish that the locals know are safe but it's not a sure thing. So far we have been lucky!!
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