It's been a while since our last blog post. Blame it on poor or non-existent internet conectivity in French Polynesia, Niue and Tonga. But we are back, hopefully, with what appears to be a strong connection here in Suva, the capital city of Fiji.
March 29 -- left Atuona on Hiva Oa for Tahuata some 25 miles south of Hiva Oa. The seas were churning in 15 –20 knots of wind, influenced no doubt by the land masses of the isl;ands. We motored through an adverse current making 3 to 4 knots of boat speed, and perhaps 2.5 knots over the ground. This short trip took a little longer than we’d anticipated. We decided to head for the village with its small breakwater and landing area. The cruising guides all suggested the holding would not be too good. In any event, we dropped anchor at about 20 meters depth but this fairly close to the shallows with coral heads. We heard the constant roar of the breakers on the coral and wondered if we should have gone the bay to the east where three other sailboats were anchored.
Francois and Ed took the dinghy ashore and explored the small village. Other than for a small magasin (general store), copra and noni fruit operations and some wood carvers, there was little on offer. I stayed on Skylark. A small boat with a couple of islanders onboard approached and as best I could understand their French, they suggested the bay to the east would be safer as winds were expected to rise around where we were. When Francois and Ed returned, they reported the natives were friendly and they’d met a man who did wood carving, copra and possessed a rare coffee table book with a pictorial history of the island.
With the swells constant and the uncomfortable sound of the roaring breakers we decided to move to the bay east of us. It was much better there, a quiet, protected bay. There were three boats there including a well restored Westsail 32 from Alaska. The scenery was great with coconut trees covering the steep slopes.
Our peaceful little anchorage at Tahuata
The hillslopes of Tahuata have a dense cover of coconut trees left there by nature for the benefit of the island's inhabitants...
We could see fires in several spots among the trees. It seems that the islanders semi-process the copra in situ and bring down the product through the rough terrain in sacks (on their backs) for further drying before sale and shipment. Some fires burned through the night.
That evening, large numbers of shark-like fish were all over the bay stirring the waters in some sort of feeding or mating frenzy. The fish frequently came to the surface. Ed and Francois went for a swim – to take a look as there appeared to be no danger of being attacked. The fish were not large (perhaps one meter long) and were otherwise preoccupied with what they were doing. There were however some other sea creatures that stung as they swam around.
The next day, Tuesday, March 30,, Francois and I dinghied back to the village and took a walk. We looked up the man Francois had met the previous day and he showed us some of his bone carvings. I bough a small carving with the Marquesan cross on it for Miew Ling and also took the opportunity to scan the famous coffee table book. The man was quite pleased with the interest we showed in his island and way of life. He gave us a frozen shoulder of pork from a pig he had hunted recently and a large bunch of bananas. He would not take any payment for them and even walked us back to the dinghy carrying the bananas for us. The night was restful but the smell of smoke from the fires among the coconut tress were quite pungent. One fire seemed to burn out of control and was rather large.
The hand of bananas -- gift from a kind islander
Next stop, the island of Fatu Hiva, southern-most of the Marquesas before we head to the Tuamotus.
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