“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.
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!
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.
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!
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