As we had a short respite here in order to prepare for our wanderings into the 100 or some odd remote (even by Polynesian standards) islands of the Tuamotus, we decided to take care of some of the day to day chores that had built up.
Like, defrosting the freezer with our hair dryer, because apparently this is an important part of the cruising lifestyle
And hand carrying diesel fuel to fill the boat back up (last gas station was Hiva Oa, remember?)
We also bought food and in a French colony that means we acquired fresh baguettes. I find that I have yet to devote the proper space in this blog to the natural wonder of the world that is real French bread. As a native of Northern California I will go toe to toe with anyone who claims the superiority of French wine or cheese, but ladies and gentlemen, when it comes to bread these people have us beat.
Since we are talking of chores, I should take a moment and discuss showering. Yes, showering. Not that we didn’t shower before, it’s just that we didn’t shower for the amusement of the local athletic establishment prior to this anchorage.
So we have left the southern part of the Marquesas and are now in the more populated Northern Islands. By “more populated” I mean a total population of 5,000 spread out over four islands vice a total population of 3,000 spread out over four islands. Needless to say, a total population of about 8,000 people is a small, small amount for an island chain that has it’s own flag, identity and has considered being a separate country than the rest of the other four major island chains in French Polynesia. The other French Polynesian chains are the Tuamotu Islands, Society Islands, Gambier Islands, and Austrial Islands chains. Tahiti and Bora Bora are part of the Society Islands, FYI. I was curious about this odd independence of such a small amount of people and did a little reading and asking around at the tiny museum in Nuku Hiva, which is where we are now.
Let me say this and don’t laugh at me when you hear it, but the Ruskies have got absolutely nothing on the Polynesians when it comes to putting up with difficulty. These people have been plagued (syphilis), cannibalized, colonized, converted, warred upon, beaten down, re-plagued (smallpox) and then one of their islands in the Tuamotus was hit by 141 atomic bombs (let me say that again: One hundred forty one atomic bombs, 6 of which were hydrogen bombs!) by France when they were conducting nuclear testing. In the Marquesas alone the population was devastated by a whopping 95% before people stopped dying in droves and they were able to begin rebuilding their society. According to one book, The Marquesas alone started with 800,000 people at the start of the 19th century and dropped as low as 2,000 at one point! Now, to be fair, before us Westerners got here, they weren’t exactly a peaceful people with everything going on perfectly; islands were constantly at war with each other, raids for human sacrifices occurred and cannibalism most assuredly was practiced. Still these people took a beating and are starting a long bounce back from pretty dire straights. Despite all this they are the nicest people you have ever met, they put up with me bumbling through a language that isn’t theirs but that they adopted in addition to their own in order to better communicate with their sponsor country / people who colonized them. All in all, I respect the heck out of ‘em.
So we were going to stop at Ua Pou, another major island in the Marquesas but we gave it a quick flyby instead. Tiff explains:
We did get some awe inspiring pictures of the giant spires formed by dormant volcanoes that this island is known for. Spires like this are all over the island and are so high many are enshrouded in clouds.
We pressed onto Nuku Hiva and into Taiohae Bay, which with a population of 1,700 is the “big city” and capital of the Marquesas. We were greeted with sights of civilization such as pizza, crepes and a grocery store. What I describe below is by far the most advanced cruising port in the Marquesas.
I would include internet in the list of modern conveniences; however, when I say “internet” I would think most people would picture things like Facebook, YouTube, Wikipedia, email and the like. If I said I had internet you may write me nasty emails saying, “Hey, why haven’t you responded to my Facebook message I sent you!?” This would because it is, for your reference purposes, a 60 minute process to download and read a 2 line text email. Pictures and videos ain’t happening. Web 2.0? Right, we’re working on web 0.3 here. Little perspective on Marquesian internet access for ya: I asked one of the locals and they told me that the internet is in fact satellite based – but wait, here’s the bad news – the ONE SERVER for the ENTIRE ISLAND CHAIN is in Tahiti. Remember that island that’s about 2,000 miles away? Ya, that’s where the ONE server is. You thought dial up AOL was slow? Lightning compared to what we can get here.
On the up side, by giving up all hope of accessing the web, I get a lot more time to wander about, get in trouble, get humiliated by high school kids in volleyball and find interesting things for this blog, like a local tiki park created for cultural preservation (though the locals spell it “ti’i”). This one is my favorite: a naked tiki holding a war club in one hand and the head of another tiki in his other hand. Why do I call the Tiki a he? Nope, no assumption here, lets just say this guy could easily fit in at a particular bay on the island of Fatu Hiva. It should be noted that of all the islands in French Polynesia, the Marquesas are known for their exquisitely detailed and precise tikis…
In addition to the Tiki park, it first must be said that this place is simply gorgeous. Not just this town, all the islands we’ve come to so far have been jaw-droppingly amazing. These people live out their lives within mother nature’s personal art gallery. No words can accurately describe the abundance of picture perfect plants that surround us on a daily basis. The flower bush in this video was just on the roadside. It is not overly unusual, I just picked it to give you an example visual assault of perfection that we are bombarded with on a typical day:
Speaking of natural beauty, as it were, I also discovered that if you think that school clothing regulations in the US educational system are lax, you will have a very different perspective once you see what these kids wear at recess:
(Continued from previous post… Tahuata, French Polynesia)
Finally, Tiffany made the discovery that lead us down the path of our second great adventure for the day: six coconuts laying about on the island. Actually, they’re lying all over the place, you actually have to work to avoid tripping over them as you walk around. However, it was Tiffany’s idea to bring them back to the boat and attempt to open them. This next video illustrates a fairly simple Polynesian math equation:
1 coconut + 3 gringos + 1 dull machete = hilarity
I remind you all of that footage was from the first coconut. Now, being Americans, we decided that the best way to proceed with the other coconuts is to both increase the number of tools at our disposal and increase the amount of power those tools put out. This met with slightly better results…kind of.
Finally, we took a moment to regroup and figure out what we had learned. Drawing out lessons from our experience so far as: “use a sharp blade over a dull one” and “take the protective husk off first” we refined our process and found some success with the third coconut.
Tahuata was going to be a quick, overnight anchorage on the way from Fatu Hiva to Ua Pou (all still in the Marquesa group of French Polynesia). Hardly worth noticing, probably about a sentence or two in the next blog post. We pulled into the first anchorage and set down for the night not expecting the quiet little island a stone’s throw from Hiva Oa to have much for us in the way of lasting memories.
…and then we woke up early the next morning to go swimming with the wild dolphins who had just popped by to say hi and handle some business.
That little comment by Tiffany at the end make you feel a bit voyeuristic? Imagine being 15 feet from them and watching. I was serious about them handling some business.
Now I apologize. Dolphins are faster and more maneuverable than me in the water and I’m still getting used to the whole “filming rapidly moving objects in the water while bobbing like a cork on the surface and unable to see my display screen because it’s in a waterproof bag” thing. I will endeavor to improve. Please bear with me.
So after what was agreed on by all to be a most auspicious start to our day we thought it could not possibly get any better, but you’d think after our first shocker we’d stop underestimating this little island of nirvana-like joy.
We sallied forth onto land and found the picture perfect village of Hapatoni. The whole island’s population is around 650 and this is the tiny village next to the big town, so I do mean small.
You may have noticed during that video that there was a streetlight above the street Tiffany and I were on. This may lead you to the question, “Gosh Greg, how do they have power out there?” Tiffany and I were curious so we took a look around and found the island (or at least the village’s) main and only power plant.
We also saw a really nice little local church. Did I mention that French Polynesia is by overwhelming majority Catholic? They have a couple of assorted Protestant churches and, interestingly enough, one island that is predominantly Mormon. Ha ha! Yes, I learned French, I play the ukulele and I’m Catholic. I’m almost a local!
(Continued from previous post… Fatu Hiva, French Polynesia)
I wandered out into the village our last night in town with my trusty ukulele and by using equal parts luck and my limited knowledge of the French language, ended up finding a group of guys hanging out by their pickup truck playing music while their spouses served dinner to some other cruisers. The words “restaurant” and “living room” are rather synonymous here.
Not being part of the dinner group I sat down with the guys and lent one of them my ukulele, which they in turn informed me they called a “Kamaka”. Their ukulele is actually an 8 stringed instrument (4 paired strings) that sounds somewhat similar to a banjo, except with an island flair.
Ok, so you heard them at the end of the video, they wanted me to play. Play my ukulele (kamaka, whatever) with a group of people who invented the instrument on a tiny little island in the middle of the South Pacific? Can you say once in a lifetime brag-to-other-people’s-kids-because-I-don’t-have-any-of-my-own opportunity? Heck ya! Only one minor SNAFU. You have to understand, I started learning this instrument a month ago. I’m mostly self taught (though my friend Rod did give me a heck of a boost to get started and Tiffany assisted when I wasn’t too embarrassed to ask.) This is my first instrument…I can’t even read music! (Likely they couldn’t either, but that’s aside from the point) and this is exactly the second time I’ve played with someone else. Notice I opted to not cover the previous little “incident” in the blog.
But there was no way I was letting this opportunity pass me by. If these guys voted me off the island, then so be it, at least I’d swung the bat…or strummed the kamaka as the case may be. Overall, I think I did OK. I’m playing the lead (and speaking broken French) at the beginning.
There, it may not have been great but you know what, how may of you have been told by a Polynesian musician in response to your playing, “good music”? That’s what I thought. Obviously, I still need practice and for a guy who learned strumming about 2 weeks ago, I think I did OK.
We wrapped up the evening with the leader of the group, Serge, showing me that some songs are universal. There was a little Eagle Scout inside me that was very happy to hear this,
(Continued from previous post… Fatu Hiva, French Polynesia)
Secondly, speaking of local kids, getting humiliated by the locals in an afternoon volleyball game. I feel no need to elaborate on this point. They play this every day. Some of the women also do what appears to be Jazzercise, so how’s that for Americanization?
Thirdly, hiking. Fatu Hiva is an amazingly beautiful place, though it is not without it’s dangerous predators
Assuming you have the wit and the skill to overcome these dangerous jungle creatures (oh yeah, and the heat – bring water, a lot of water) then you are in for a visual smorgasbord. With sights that easily rival Ireland in lush greenness, a 2 hour hike through to the waterfall in Fatu Hiva does not disappoint.
Not to mention, you can take your lunch with you and picnic at your own private 100 foot waterfall. This is merely a bonus. (We didn’t go swimming because not only had we heard about the eels and the crawfish living in the water, there was some sort of scummy foam on the top of the pond. Bummer 🙁 ~Tiff)
As Tiffany mentioned at the end of the video and as you might surmise about the topography of an island formed by a volcano, this place is steep. We found out how steep when we decided the next day, without any idea what the heck we were signing up for, to hike to the top of one of the mountains. We also found out why all the travel guide books say that only 4×4 vehicles are allowed in the Marquesas.
There were no flat parts, by the way. After crawling up this mammoth for 3 hours and gaining a new appreciation for the Fatu Hiva roadwork department, we finally got to a pinnacle that provided the views we were looking for:
After what could easily be qualified as a “bumpy” night transit south, against the wind and the waves we find ourselves on the island of Fatu Hiva in French Polynesia. (For our non-sailing friends, it’s called “bashing” when you drive into the wind & waves. It sucks. A lot. This single fact alone actually explains why the entire international cruising community constantly sails to the west; in order to avoid bashing as much as humanly possible.)
We anchored in the Bay of Penises. Now wait one second. Before you get all uppity on me, look, don’t blame me that the Polynesian people came up with overly descriptive names for things, because that’s the freaking original Polynesian name, alright (well, the English translation at least). It’s due to the rock towers that surround the bay. I’m serious, look it up. (Tiff’s note – the name of the town is Hana Vave in Fatu Hiva) For those of you too lazy to look it up, I explain the whole issue (inserting my own obvious bias and providing nice views of the anchorage, but not of the male reproductive system) here:
Having arrived at what arguably could be the most amazingly named place on the entire planet, we spent our two days here:
Firstly, by exploring the village. Being as the total island inhabitants number at about 650 split between two villages, this took about a grand total of 15 minutes. We did however discover some precious little tidbits. Such as, everyone eats coconuts here and I mean everyone.
Also, speaking of chickens and coconuts, you may want to think twice before you buy that “all natural” tropical coconut meat or coconut oil in the grocery store.
Polynesians do have cats and dogs…lots of cats and dogs, but they also keep other interesting animals on leashes.
We also ran into an interesting event going on as we arrived: all the school aged children were leaving. Because of the minimal population, there are only grade schools on the island. Anyone wanting a high school education has to travel by ferry 10 hours or so to Hiva Oa. The nearest college is in Tahiti (again, about 2000 miles away.) So kids who want an education spend a lot of time away from home from the 8th grade on.
By the second day of doing the 3 kilometer hike every day, Tiffany and I decided to break out the cruiser bikes. No, not Harleys. Cruising bikes have a slightly different meaning in the sailing world:
They look like clown bikes because they fold (the better to store inside a boat). We managed to find our way down to the beach in Atuona where we encountered some beautiful corpses rotting in the sun…
…ran into the world’s largest rainstick
…observed the elusive Marquesan ninja jumping crab
…stumbled upon a Marquesan dance practice (they didn’t look like they needed practice though)
As a final note of the extreme distance we are from anything even closely resembling civilization, I leave you with Tiffany & Alison’s observation of some powerboats that made the same trip we did. The prices they are discussing in the video reflect the amount of money each boat paid in US dollars to refuel with diesel fuel (which is cheaper than normal gas in case you didn’t know) at Hiva Oa after transiting from Mexico.
We were that far from the last gas station, just so ya know.
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.
This video succinctly captures the mood of the moment.
Though we have spent weeks at sea and accomplished something that many dream of, I have to say on some levels I am sad to see this transit end. Over the past 22 days I really have enjoyed my rituals of personal development (the ukulele, French and Bible) and I know that now we have hit land those rituals will be impossible to maintain in the face of beautiful beaches, amazing island hikes, delightful food and tropical paradise. Don’t worry, I’ll cope 😉
While everyone else was working at dropping the anchor and launched the dingy, I was tasked to establish friendly relations with the natives who, in classic Polynesian fashion, came out to greet us.
After which we all hopped in the dingy and got our butts to land.
Our first stop? We’re sailors, where do you think? Two words: Money & Beer.
Which is a good thing we got money, cuz everything here is nutzo expensive! To give you an idea, we got in during the morning and went into a burger joint for our first landside meal. Tiff got a burger, I got a local “cheap” fish snack (poisson cru for you Frenchie speakers) and we each got 1 beer. $30.00 US later we decided we’d finish celebrating on the boat. The local beers were eight bucks each in a little snack shack! Big upside to sailboats: you bring your own hotel with you.
…and yes Daniel, I survived, so no, you don’t get my hot tub or my Xbox 360.
