Our First Stop in French Polynesia - The Marquesas!

Friday, June 7, 2013

“The Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia is our next destination after the Galapagos” is what I would tell friends and family when they asked where we were headed next. ‘The what islands?” was the typical response. And fair enough, before researching this trip I hadn’t heard of them either except vaguely remembering that a series of the reality T.V. show ‘Survivor’ was filmed there. 750nm NE of Tahiti, the Marquesas are remote, difficult to get to and off the beaten track for most visitors. The Marquesas are a mountainous archipelago of 15 islands (6 of which are inhabited) with a total population of 9000 people. Culturally rich, stunningly beautiful and with a history steeped in ceremony and tradition we couldn’t wait to discover the islands and meet the local people.

After three weeks of not having slept for more than 4 consecutive hours we couldn’t wait for a night of uninterrupted sleep after our arrival in Fatu Hiva. but … within an hour after we arrived we were invited to a lunch put on by the village at the local church, and to watch a “festival” that night!  We both made it to the lunch … only Mike was able to push on through for the festival, which was a sketch comedy send up of the local villagers making fun of themselves (from what he could understand … it was all in Marquesan!)

The “Bay of Virgins” in Fatu Hiva is a scenic, though somewhat difficult, anchorage.  With 20 something boats in the relatively small, narrow and quickly deepening bay and a number of boats dragging due to the depth or relatively poor holding in the middle part of the bay where a river exits, it wasn’t the most relaxed anchorage we had ever been to … but we were still really happy to have the ‘pick’ down and be able to sleep for 15 hours straight!
After a few days we felt rested and with our minds and spirits back on track we enjoyed some landfall celebrations with our buddy boats and began to explore the village of Hanavave.

The local church
Women preparing decorations for the local festival


This is one of the most difficult islands to reach in the Marquesas as there is no airport so its remoteness and lack of tourist infrastructure is something not easily found. Generally the only visitors are those of us on yachts and the welcome is warm.

The supply ship comes once every three weeks from Papeete, bringing with it staples such as flour, rice and sugar, canned goods, fresh vegetables, eggs and frozen meat. These items are purchased quickly and the store shelves and freezers are reportedly bare by noon the same day. Other than locally tended crops of root vegetables and a plethora of fruit trees – bananas, mangoes, pamplemouse (local grapefruit) and limes there is very little in the way of agricultural subsistence. 

This is one of the most dramatically beautiful anchorages we’ve been in with towering black basalt rocks set against the lush, tropical vegetation. The town of Hanavave has a population of 500 or so residents where everybody is loosely related to each other. There is no bank or ATM and many locals prefer to exchange goods such as soap, shampoo, children’s games and fishing lures and line for fruit or their local handicrafts.

We were in the market for some bananas and a carved wooden Tiki. Luckily we happened upon Temo – a local carver and artisan who invited us into his home for the afternoon to look at his work. Prices here weren’t cheap but Megan snagged a great wooden, carved tiki for the boat!

Having had limited use of our legs during the passage we took the opportunity to stretch them and to see some of the island’s beautiful interior by trekking to the local waterfall for a dip in its freshwater pool.




There are no restaurants in the village and after 21 days of cooking on board we were keen for a night out and a break from the galley. Kati – a local woman has been hosting cruisers in her home for years. We quickly jumped at the invitation and at $15pp for a buffet of fresh yellow fin poisson cru, beef and chicken curry, rice, papaya salad and dried bananas with coconut shavings we were in culinary heaven. Hands down this was the best local meal we’ve had in a long time. We brought a bottle of wine and met other cruisers who had recently done the passage. We swapped war stories and got a sense of where many cruisers were headed – mostly NZ or Australia but few were on our aggressive timeline to get there this season!

After 5 days of sleeping, eating and relaxing we decided to pick up the anchor (by hand as the windlass still wasn’t working... ugh … 130m of chain is HEAVY!!!) and head north to Hanamoenoa Bay on the island of Tahuata where the cruising guide promised a shallow, sandy anchorage with a nice beach and resident manta rays - perfecto!




On arriving a neighboring boat mentioned that manta rays were in residence and would usually appear in the bay at about 7am to feed on the plankton. Not letting this opportunity pass her by, Megan was in the water by 6:30am, swimming out to the opening of the bay in hopes of finding these gentle giants. As predicted - on cue at 7am out of the depths, 3 medium sized mantas gracefully swam by with their mouths wide open, focused on feeding. We stayed with them as they fed in a circuitous manner for almost 2 hours. This became our morning ritual at Hanamoenoa Bay and one of the best experiences we had in the Marquesas. To be allowed unhurried time alone with these amazing creatures will stay with us forever.



Having been deprived of any spearfishing in the Galapagos, Mike was excited to get in some practice shooting with his new spear gun and hopefully spear us some lunch. However, instead of hunting the usual pelagic or reef fish, he had his sights set on something new – octopus. 

The visibility in Hanamoenoa (and generally in the Marquesas) wasn’t great  - due to heavy rain and lots of plankton on the surface layer so seeing anything at the 'hunting level' - around 10m was a challenge.  Mike found an octopus hiding in some corral, and after a few attempts to get him by hand, came back to the boat for the spear gun and was set on octopus curry for lunch!

Octopus aren’t the easiest prey to shoot with a spear gun – once shot, they pull back into their crannies in the reef, and the strength of the tentacles of even a small octopus is amazing!  (And the small ones are the ones you want, since they aren’t as ‘rubbery’ as the bigger guys).

After a long ‘hunt’ and struggle to get him out of his hole, Mike emerged to the surface with the octopus wrapped around his arm!


Since this was our first time preparing fresh octopus (and knowing that octopus is notoriously difficult to do right), a bay wide VHF radio transmission asking for advice was sent out over the airwaves. Within 10 seconds we had 5 boats responding with offers of pressure cookers, tenderizing methods and recipes.  Oh … and of course expressions of interest to join us!  Thankfully, our friends on Chilli Cat had seen another octopus that morning, so Mike went out and caught another one to make enough for everyone!

We decided on a curry-based recipe using a pressure cooker. This would a) tenderize the meat and b) feed all 10 people who were now coming for lunch! Megan jumped in the dinghy and with a quick 5-minute lesson on how to use a pressure cooker from neighboring boat Dolphin of Leith we were set.


A disbeliever from the outset – Megan was pleasantly surprised with the turnout. Some of the thicker pieces were still too tough and could have been cooked longer (or more thoroughly tenderized first), but the tentacles were soft and delicious!

As the wine continued to flow, our plans to leave the bay that evening quickly changed and the festive mood turned into a bit of a party on Lazy Bones and lunch then extended into a sunset potluck dinner.


After another day spent nursing our hangovers, we pulled anchor at 3pm and set out on a 95nm overnight sail to Nuka Hiva in the northern group of islands. Unfortunately there was minimal wind and we had to motor a large majority of the way. About an hour after leaving we had a few fishing lines in the water and as soon we sat down to dinner our line snagged a shark.  A big shark … so big Mike disappointingly had to cut it loose as there was no hope of retrieving the lure from its jaws or getting it on deck! (Sorry, no picture – we were rushed as dinner was getting cold!)   

Arriving at Taiohae Bay in Nuka Hiva at sunrise we were now entering the ‘big smoke’ of the Marquesas. Fresh food, French baguettes, ‘grocery stores’, Internet and laundry services were a stone’s throw away - luxuries we hadn’t seen in almost 5 weeks! 

We spent our first two days doing admin jobs such as visiting the gendarmerie to officially ‘clear-into’ French Polynesia, having our cooking gas bottles filled, having our laundry sent away ($15 per load…), buying (and eating) as much fresh food as our fridges could hold, stocking up on the local funny money, which is the CFP (Cour de Franc Pacific) and just walking around, soaking up the atmosphere of this sleepy town.
Isn't the money pretty?!
Megan going a little overboard with the fresh bread!

Back in Tahuata we met a lovely young British couple named Jess and Duncan who were traveling on Alliance and who are also heading to Australia. Jess’ dad – has been crewing with them since Panama. We agreed it would be great to share a hire car for the day to explore some of the island and to scope out possible anchorages on the north coast.





We worked in a counter-clockwise direction around the island, starting in Taipivai to visit the Paeke archeological site to look at some original tikis as well as petroglyphs. 

The landscape on Nuka Hiva is incredibly diverse. Throughout the day we had variations in terrain from tropical vegetation to desert scrub, to alpine forests to pastoral valleys similar to Switzerland!

We made our way to the north of the island and to the quiet seaside village of Hatiheu where we were the only visitors. We strolled the ‘street’ and browsed the local museum, which has a pretty comprehensive display of archeological artifacts, the documented history of tattooing, and many carvings, etc.




We then stopped at Chez Yvonne for a nice lunch of fresh, mixed seafood and a cold Hinano beer followed by a swim!
Continuing on there were vistas after vistas. The views over Hatiheu Bay from the Teavaitapuhiva Pass
Continuing west on the coastal road we were getting into some seriously rugged 4x4 driving, faced with huge boulders that had fallen onto the road, new detours had to be found. We stopped in what we hoped was the settlement of Pua for a rest and a snack of coconut flesh and milk.










With no road signs to guide us, we knew we needed to head in the direction of the airport. Unsure if we had taken a wrong turn along the way, our worries were alleviated when we saw the classic island airport ‘sign’ J

After three days in the town we had to keep moving and pulled up the anchor at first light to set off around the east side of Nuka Hiva, heading for the highly raved about anchorage of Anaho in the north.  Anaho Bay, which is accessible only by boat or by horse/foot over the mountain, is a really unique spot, which reminded us how fortunate we were to be able to get to such places in the comfort of our “home” on Lazy Bones.   

After 5 hours of motor-sailing and accompanied by some bottlenose dolphins on the way, we turned into the bay of paradise.


This bay has it all – good protection from the wind and swell, shallow water for anchoring and a decent reef with of course – manta rays!

We spent 3 days here swimming, walking the beaches and socializing with other cruisers. 



We also walked over the ridge to the local farm to stock up on fresh produce. Green tomatoes, mangoes, pamplemouse, bananas and cucumbers were on offer. We’ve been very fortunate to be able to communicate with the locals in French and are definitely given a deeper insight into their lives and communities because of it.

The plan was to head directly from Anaho for the Tuamotos – a 5 day sail but as our day of departure drew near, the winds were just too light to justify leaving so we took the opportunity to continue our circumnavigation of the island and headed for the west coast.

We’d read that the west coast was serious territory for wahoo fishing and after snagging this guy, we believe it!
Almost 5ft long and probably 50lbs this was the biggest fish we had ever landed. After cleaning and fileting it, we had enough for 3 fresh dinners, 5 frozen dinners and we gave away fully half of this beauty to other cruisers in Daniel’s Bay.

The main reason to come into Daniel’s Bay, or locally known as Hakatea Bay, was to hike into the Hakaui Valley and to the basin of the 350m Vaipo Waterfall – the 3rd tallest in the world.




What an AMAZING hike! We passed through a small settlement with currently 10 inhabitants and a solar powered pay phone, which actually had a dial tone!!



 The trail had us crossing rivers and cutting through dense vegetation.




 The reward was a dip in the fresh (read: very cold) water in the pool below.



The only downside to this bay and the beaches in general in the Marquesas are the presence of nonos, a small, aggressive biting fly – hence the unattractive clothing on our walks!
 Huge Pomplemouse (grapefruit) ripe for the picking

Along the way coconuts abound!
Given our proximity to Taiohae, we decided to duck in there for a one last day to stock up on food (again), some diesel, catch up on Internet and do some laundry – not able to stomach the cost this time we schlepped our clothes down to the public wharf and washed everything by hand using the town’s water!

With the winds still light, but forecast to increase, we pulled anchor at midday and sailed out of Taiohae for our next destination – the Tuamotos. It’s as if the manta rays knew we were leaving and wanted to give us a fab farewell. As we sailed through the opening of the bay two huge schools (20-30) appeared alongside our boat. Unable to contain herself, Megan grabbed her snorkel and jumped in for a last encounter with her new BFFs. What an amazing send off from the Marquesas.

All in all, we wish we could have spent many months exploring the various islands of the Marquesas, and can’t wait to come back on our next trip! Up next - the Tuamotos!

No comments:

Post a Comment