THE MARQUISES- Nuka Hiva

Nuka Hiva

The next morning we headed off to the “big island”, as this is the largest island of the Marquise’s and the most populated. Landing in the principal bay of Taiohae, we promptly found a spot to anchor amongst the many boats already there. Escapade immediately stopped by for a visit and we chatted until dark.
The next morning it was off to shore. After a quick visit to the Gendarmarie, then the bank for some moola, it was off exploring. This “main” city was really just one long curving street the length of the entire bay, ending with Rose Cosar’s famous Museum. It had 2 or 3 grocery stores, a couple of restaurants, a few pensions, Rose’s place, and not much else. The dinghy dock however had a cultural center, fresh market, an internet spot, and a Crepe Cart! The last, being my utopia. Latte and a fromage crepe- yummy and some ice cream.

Brian going to the bank

Talking & meeting a lot of cruisers, we ran into Liz who was looking for a ride. (We also ran into Elizabeth and Genieve that day. So fun.) Great, we needed crew and I really wanted another girl aboard. After speaking with her & getting the scoop (She was on that Junk replica that was run over and sank by a supertanker off the coast of Taiwan last year! Whoa, heavy) we left for a couple of days to go around the corner. Daniel’s Bay was the spot and it took just under 2 hours to motor over to this next bay. Again Escapade was already there.
The next morning, Brian, Jim, Brendan & I took off on a rain filled hike up to the waterfall. It was amazing single track walk through the jungle up a sheer walled canyon, but we forgot the camera. No matter, the picture is in the front section of the Lonely Planet South Pacific guide. If that doesn’t say anything about its beauty, I don’t know what else would. On the way back, we stopped by the fruit lady’s house and picked up a hank of Bananas. We don’t need those for a while.

In Daniel's Bay

Saturday we motored back over to Taiohae as Jen was expected to fly in. This is the same person we waited for in Hiva Oa. Alas, it was not meant to be. Don received an email right before he was to send a taxi to fetch her that she flew back to the States instead! What? Really. WTF! Anyhow, so glad we met Liz.
That evening Rose, a local legend, was hosting a cruisers party in her almost completed clubhouse. It was potluck with Rose providing some traditional Marquisian dishes. It was a lot of fun and here we met are soon to be 5th crew member Lydia. She was heading to Australia and she needed to get there by Nov. 3rd. Perfect. Two days later, and another trip to the Gendarmarie, it was official; we were now a crew of 5. Off we sailed up to Baie Anaho on the Northeast part of Nuka Hiva. It was really nice here. Swimming, snorkeling, diving and hiking – no store, no bank, a population of 8 people. Liz, Lydia and I hiked the pass over to the next bay, Atiheu in search of ice cream. Liz had been here just a week before on another boat so she led the way. It was steep but super fun. Boy, am I out of shape. So, I did it again the next day with Liz & Don, as Liz needed to post some critical paperwork. Guess what, Escapade showed up. So who’s following who? :) Anyhow, I took off the next day with Brendan and Jim in search of the oldest ruins in the Marquesas. We found them but went way off trail. We also found some green lime shaped lemons, some oranges, and loads of mangos – Yum I love mangos! I can honestly say it was a fruitful endeavor – Meow :) Jim being a fellow Gemini, I baked him a pineapple upside down cake that I gave him the night before we left. MMmmmm, cake.

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THE MARQUISES- Ua Huka

Ua Huka

It was almost 70nm to our next destination which meant an overnight sail. We took off mid day so we would not arrive in the middle of the night. Best intentions but we were a lot faster than we thought and arrived around 2 am! However, it was a full moon so Brian was confident about anchoring in the private bay of Baie Haavei. The next morning, we awoke and took a look around (it was beautiful). Since you needed permission to land on the beach, we decided to go around the corner to the “invisible Bay”. Maybe we could obtain it and / or go to the famous first museum of the Marquesas. It was not to be as we were foiled by a rather larger container / passenger ship blocking the entire entrance. Okay, well, off to the next bay, Baie D’Hane. Third times a charm! The little village was a lot bigger than expected. As we walked up the street and deeper and deeper into the island, it just got prettier and prettier. We had read there was a bakery in this bay and we were on a mission to find it. Along the way, we found the cultural center, a church, a Magesin (little store), some very nice people, and then a cruise ship banquet at the local hotel. Being bold, Don marched right in and started filling a plate full of fresh local fruit. That was until he was told otherwise. However, they did end up feeding us and we met some really nice ladies, vacationing on the island. Elisabeth was from Paris but was living and working in Tahiti, and Genieve was from the Basque region of France but living & working in Bora Bora. Anyhow, we all made fast friends, as they were not part of the banquet either. After lunching, we all decided to a hike up to some archeological ruins (platforms). We were way up there!Anyhow, we invited the ladies back to the boat for Don’s famous popcorn and a glass of wine. It was popcorn hour after all! After exchanging info, we learned that they were heading over to Nuka Hiva before heading home. This was great as we were heading that way as well. Maybe we could meet up, but at the very least we now had contacts in Tahiti and Bora :)

On the trail

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THE MARQUISES- Tahu Ata

Tahu Ata

This was the second island in the chain we were to visit and we were all anxious to get going. Although it was only 4nm across from Hiva Oa, it seemed a world away. It is pretty remote in terms of amenities. We arrived just before sunset and anchored in the nice little bay of Vaitahu. The next morning however, our captain Ben was asked to leave the boat. WTF!!! Okay so now it was just us three, with Brian becoming the default captain. We decided to go to the next bay over with a better anchorage & snorkeling. It was only 30min away and once there, we promptly took the dinghy into the little village of Hapatoni. What was truly amazing was this place had street lights. The road was dirt however. We quickly located one of the many carvers (to which this island is famous for) and looked at his wares. Don tried to get a carving of his boat logo (a Nyami Nyami) made but alas, everyone was busy as they prepared for the upcoming Heiva (massive cultural party) in Tahiti / Moorea / Bora Bora. We watched the sunset from the beach as the bugs devoured our ankles before heading back to the boat. That evening another boat anchored in the bay with us – s/v Escapade. We had met Jim and his son Brendan on Hiva Oa the first day we got there. Their boat is 34’ and it took them 38 days to do the crossing. I would have gone insane!!! Anyhow, we invited them over to the Spirit of Nyami Nyami for movie night. It would be one of many run ins with the guys. The next day we decided to sail up to Baie Hana Moe Noa. We saw this place when coming over to the island. This was picture perfect, with a large, deserted white, coconut lined, sand beach. Now we are talking! There were several boats anchored here as it was also a good snorkeling spot. The following day we had a BBQ / picnic on the beach with Jim & Brendan as they also came to this bay. We snorkeled and hunted green coconuts as we were the only people on the beach. Cool.

PICTURES @: http://www.flickr.com/photos/katnbrian/sets/72157624387504978/

THE MARQUISES- Hiva Oa

Hiva Oa

This is the first place we made landfall, home of Paul Gauguin and the city of Atuona. More like a village if you ask me, but then again it is the 2nd largest city of the Marquises. Wow, really? It’s tiny but very cute and at least it has ice cream cones! I had two straight away.
We spent 8 days here’s waiting for a crew member that would never show up, to replace Ali who decided to fly home to take care of his shoulder. Apparently it looked like he needed some surgery – ouch! Later we discovered that he had actually broken a bone in his shoulder. Wow.
I don’t know what I expected, maybe sandy beaches and light, turquoise water, but it was nothing like that. Our anchorage was crowded with many boats and the water was so murky that Brian could hardly see more than 1 foot when scuba diving the anchors. So I didn’t go swimming. The Marquises as I would find out are very dark - Dark green water color, dark dirt and rocks (well from the volcanoes that formed the islands), and dark foliage. That is when it was not completely dry, as in California dessert dry. The island seemed to be at opposites, as in either or, and there were not a whole lot of beaches. It was different.
However, the fruit was abundant and the people friendly. Actually, they would usually pick you up when making the 5 km trek to town from the anchorage, and force fruit on you – bags and bags of papaya, starfruit and pomplumuse (a delicious type of grapefruit). Hitching (as in hiking) was the only method of transportation other than walking. Did I mention this place is small? Anyway, there were no café’s and only 2 restaurants in town. One just outside of downtown and so expensive, and another just in town that was only open unusual hours of which we never really knew.
The one thing that is a must to mention is the internet tree. If you sat in this archeological park, in the center of town, by this tree, you could pick up unsecured wireless for free! This was huge. Other than that you had to pay an outrageous amount to use the computers at the post office and let’s just say everyone who tried this method never made it online. Internet tree it is! Just wish there was a power outletJ.

May 11th
Today I went to the Paul Gauguin museum. Although this place had no original artworks by Gauguin it was still a lovely experience & and very nicely done. Highly recommended as it is really the only thing in Altuona. Anyhow, I just wanted to share this quote by the artist in a letter to his wife:
“For I am an artist & you are right, you are not mad, I am an artist that I have endured so much suffering to pursue my quest otherwise I will consider myself a renegade, which I am for quite a few people. Anyway I do not mind. What worries me most is less poverty then constant impediments to my art which I cannot pursue as I feel it & that I manage to do it with out poverty tying my arms. You tell me that I am wrong to stay away from the artistic center (Paris). No I am right. I have known for a long time what I am doing and why I do it. My artistic center is my brain, nowhere else & I am strong because I am never deviated by others and that I do what is with in me…”
Yeah, that speaks volumes to me. I like him more now then ever.

May 14th – Random thoughts
Eating starfruit – pick, wash, & eat – so good, my favorite. They are so orange in color here, not like the states where they import them an unripe yellow/green color. It is so weird to be here. It feels like I lost an entire month of my life. Well not lost but misplaced, like I was in some sort of spatial anomaly where time didn’t exists, just water. Then you arrive in a place and life is normal all around you. It’s just a weird feeling.

ALL PICTURES @: http://www.flickr.com/photos/katnbrian/sets/72157624394270646/

Books I read on the Puddle Jump crossing

1. “Simply Divine” – fun and easy read
   
2. “How Starbucks Saved my Life” by Michael Gates Gill – this was a non-fiction book with a lot of good insight. I really enjoyed it.
   
3. “Goodnight Nobody” by Jennifer Wiener – Witty, modern romance / murder mystery book. Great read. I really liked the non cookie cutter ending.
   
4. “Dead as a Doornail (a Sookie Stackhouse novel) – The HBO series – true blood is based on this book series. It is non stop twists and turns with lots of romance and humor. I blazed through it and can’t wait to read some of the others in the series.
   
5. “Angels & Demons” by Dan Brown – 710 pages in 2 ½ days, that good! Need I say more?
   
6. “The Cat Who Could See Red” by Jilian Jackson Braun – okay so I picked up these really old books from the 80’s because it had cats in them. I’m a sucker. They are not as sophisticated or a fast read, and the cats didn’t talk and the author didn’t share their thoughts, but I still enjoyed them.
   
7. “The Cat Who Could Read Backwards” by Jillian Jackson Braun
   
8. “The Cat Who Turned On & Off” by Jillian Jackson Bruan – I actually like this one the best of the of 3.
9. “Monsoon” by Wilbur Smith – an epic saga about 4 brothers and their adventures in life, love, and sailing. It was 950 pages and took me only 4 or 5 days to read. It was so good.