We find ourselves in a very small anchorage within a medium sized island on a ridiculously large ocean. This place is land of extremes. To give you some perspective globally, the island of Hiva Oa (which is in French Polynesia) is around 3000 miles west of Mexico and about 2000 miles east of Tahiti…yes, it’s ok, until now I didn’t exactly realize there was anything out here either. The population of the town of Autona is about 1000 and it’s the largest “city” for about 1000 miles…one of only 3 on this island (total island population is about 1,900…and it’s one of the most populated islands by a long shot) “remote” does not come close to describing this place. This video should give you some reference and a neat view of the mountain / volcano we’re right next to.
I don’t think it’s actually active anymore but I haven’t exactly checked either. After our first day of arrival, we did a little sightseeing. Ok, well, by “sightseeing” I mean “made the 3 kilometer walk to town a few times” but it counts right?
We also saw the famous outrigger canoes both old and new.
Apparently what was once their primary mode of sea transport has now evolved into their national sport.
A few days later we found that Tiffany and Alison have given up all hope on our fishing prowess and snuck off one morning at 6:00am to commit that most grievous of sins…buying fish. In a desperate bid to “make it up to us” they also bought us some local staples…breadfruit and baguettes.
Now you may think they left that early in the morning because Allan and I were asleep at the time. That would be true but also because of the way time works here. You see, in the Marquesas, everyone is awake around 6:00am to about 11:00am, then in what only can be described as a beautiful marriage of French culture (who take long lunches) and Island Time, the whole island effectively shuts down and they all take off work from 11:00am until 2:00pm. Stores open (if they feel like it) again at (around) 2:00pm until about 4:30pm at which point everyone calls it a day. Sun sets at about 5:30pm and everyone is basically asleep no later than 9:00pm. These people lead fairly ideal lives, assuming you aren’t living at the anchorage. As the ship is anchored 3 kilometers from town, this mid-day sabbatical means that we walk to town in the morning and back again in the afternoon in order to spend a whole day there.
Speaking of the anchorage, nestled there right next to us is irrefutable validation that people who play RPGs can actually be successful in life
…and yes, I paddled over, knocked on their boat and asked them. They named their boat after the Chocobo, the giant flightless bird you ride around on in the Final Fantasy games, which is awesome! I should also note they are a married couple (there are other women out there who play games Anna, I got her business card) and have two (two!) PS2 systems onboard and they report that, for anyone who is considering bringing their gaming consoles with them on their boat, the PS2 stands up to the rigors of seagoing life much better than the PS3 and the power drain is less than the power needed to run a TV onboard. Needless to say I made it a point to become friends with these people.
-Greg
What does breadfruit taste like? I have always wanted to know.
Well… I think it’s kind of nasty… But then, I don’t really like potatoes either. It’s similar in consistency to a baked potato when it’s cooked, and if you cook it over a fire or in ashes like they tend to, it has a really strong flavor of ashes (ick!). Not my favorite. On the other hand, when you slice it and fry it – yummy french fries!