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Lydia - Lydia's Blog. 21-27 March 2016. Isles Marquises.



Monday 21 March 2016.
The previous blog was sent shortly after midday on 21 March so this is just
to add what happened that evening and night. At sundown we celebrated
Nigel's birthday with small eats and a specially chilled bottle of Moet
Chandon champagne. Sailing into the setting sun with the sky and clouds
slowly
changing from bluish white to gold then pink then crimson while drinking
champagne was a perfect way to celebrate our last evening before
completing our crossing of the Pacific. Shortly after an excellent curried
chicken dinner, (one of my favorites), we suddenly noticed the hankee
foresail appeared to have become very loose. Having turned on the spreader
lights and hooked on life line to inspect, we discovered that the tack metal
fixing holding the spare forestay on which the hankee was hoisted had come
apart. We managed to tie down the tack using a spare spinnaker sheet to the
bow fitting so it would last jury rigged until we arrived at Hiva Oa the
next day.

Tuesday 22 March 2016.
Our last day crossing the Pacific. Shortly after breakfast a yacht appeared
on our AIS screen, the first we had seen since we had left the Galapagos
Islands. It turned out to be the ARC catamaran Zoom about 9 miles ahead of
us. At 10am we first sawthe high peaks of Hiva Oa slowly becoming visible on
the horizon out of the heat haze.It was our first sight of the Marquesas and
a most welcome one. As we drew closer the wind increased and the seas rose.
Donald decided as we came abreast of the eastern end of the island to take
down the hankee and the two spinnaker poles of our foresails in case we
encountered even higher winds coming down from the mountains of Hiva Oa. In
relatively calm seas this is a complicated manoeuvre at the best of times
but in winds of Force 5 and lumpy seas it was an altogether more hairy task.
On several occasions the self tacking staysail nearly knocked me overboard
although I was naturally securely attached by lifeline. In letting down the
hankee in these winds I got rope burns purely because I had failed to put on
gloves first. Nil points!

By early afternoon under yankee alone we crossed the Finishing Line at
Atuona harbour having done the crossing of 3,105 miles in 20 days at an
average speed of 6.5 knots. In the little harbour, although crowded with
other ARC yachts arriving before us, we nevertheless found an ideal spot,
anchored fore and aft and went thankfully ashore to sign in and receive the
traditional welcome of very pretty flowered garlands around our necks. After
we had cleaned up we went ashore and joined the crew of Alcedo for some
happy hour beers and finally to a restaurant whose single pizzas were not
only most tasty but also so large we had to ask for a pizza box for all the
slices that we simply could not eat.

Wednesday 23 March 2016.
After getting up late we completed our entrance clearance formalities and
walked the 40 minutes in the heat into town.We notice flags at half mast and
on enquirng the reason were told of recent bombs in Brussels which had
killed many and injured many more. We were appalled but realised how totally
cut off from the real world we have been for so many weeks. Paul Gaugin
died on Hiva Oa in 1903. We visited his grave in the peaceful little
cemetery on high ground overlooking the bay and the other islands beyond. We
had lunch with the ex cavalry crew from Corango who are all such fun at the
Make Make cafe. For dinner that night Donald and I went to a smart hotel
with an Infinity Pool where we joined the ARC crews of Ain't Fancy (Dirk and
Bettina) and Maeva Maris from Switzerland.

Thursday 24 March 2016.
We discovered that the all important pin holding the boom on to the
gooseneck of the mast had managed to work itself free thus rendering the
boom and mainsail useless. First thing that morning we tackled the problem.
It took 2 hours of great persistance and ingenuity playing with raising the
boom, changing its angle etc etc to coax the pin back into its hole, but
succeed we finally did. In going ashore in the dinghy we dropped its little
stern anchor first so once moored the waves would not batter the dinghy
against the rocky landing area. We hired a car ( Toyota Hilux) for the day
to explore the island. On advice from Alcedo's crew we took the road to the
little airport then right at the only round about on the island before
heading north to the coast. The road went from tarmac to concrete and
eventually to packed shale. Only a really strong 4 wheel drive could have
taken these roads or tracks. Once we arrived at the north coast the road
wound its way eastwards very steeply up and down with precipitous drops on
the north side going straight down to the sea. The views of the rugged
cliffs, coast and sea with the waves crashing on rocks far below were
spectacular to say the least and well worth every minute of the one and half
hour drive to the final little settlement at the end of the road. Here an
enterprising woman ran a small cafe which offered a sufficent but limited
menu, no alchohol. After lunch we drove half a mile inland to explore and
view one of the best preserved and most ancient Tiki religious sites in
Polynesia set at the base of a semi circle of impressively steeply rising
mountains. In due course we returned amazed at the battering on those
roads/tracks a hire car could take. On returning to Lydia we found we could
not raise the little stern anchor which was stuck fast to we had to leave
its line attached to the shore.

Good Friday 25 March 2016.
We went ashore to collect our laundry. Since we still had the car until 10am
we drove into town to collect some more fresh fruit and cash. On return we
still faced the problem of the stern anchor which refused to budge. Rather
than cut the rope and lose the anchor, Alvaro gallantly agreed to swim down
and see if he could dislodge it. No sooner was he down a few feet when the
anchor saw a determined Alvaro coming for it and promptly released itself!
Once all aboard Lydia we weighed anchor and set sail for Stephen's Bay on
the north west side of Tahuata Island to the south. In due course we entered
the beautiful little sheltered bay there with crystal clear waters, a good
sandy beach and anchored to join several other ARC yachts among them our old
friends Into the Blue, Chilli Bee, Zoom, Wishhanger 2 and Paradise Found. In
due course Laura and Kathry from Into the Blue swam over to us looking like
gorgeous mermaids and were immediately invited aboard for G&Ts. We invited
their parents Andy and Gina from Norfolk for drinks that evening and also
the charming Austrian couple Hubert and Margrit with their neice Sylvia. A
jolly time was had by all rocking gently in the evening swell under a
starlit sky. After this we were all invited to join Mary Beth and her
husband Mike + Jose on their huge Lagoon 600 catamaran Paradise Found for a
BYO drinks party for all ARC yachts in the bay. I had never seen over so
large an ocean going catamaran and was most impressed. Eventually we all
poured ourselves off their yacht to return to our own yachts, fortunately
with no police breathalizers in sight.

Easter Saturday 26 March 2016.
Another beautiful day in a paradise island anchorage. Steve, Alvaro and I
swam over to the rocky shore nearby for snorkelling. The water and air
temperature were perfect and it is undoubtedly going to be difficult to get
used to sailing in England again. On returning to Lydia the crew got to work
cleaning her waterline which had become very green and weedy since leaving
St Lucia. It proved excellent physical exercise scrubbing holding onto a
line around the yacht with a mask and snorkel as the waves broke over you.
Eventually she looked as good as new and we could hold up our heads
alongside Into the Blue whose crew were hard at work on the same task.
After lunch we weighed anchor to set sail for Resolution Bay a couple of
miles down the coast where there was a small township and a Roman Catholic
church which we planned to attend for Easter Sunday communion. On the way
we had to discard all the food we had so carefully stored in the freezer
because for whatever reason the freezer was only on half freeze and the
remainder of the meat, chicken and sausages we had bought in St Lucia and
Panama had alas gone off. On anchoring in Resolution Bay we went ashore,
another case of dropping a stern dinghy anchor and making hazardous leaps
for the little stone steps on the stone landing place. We discovered there
were no restaurants in town, although Donald thought he had found one only
to discover it was an extended family having an Easter Saturday private BBQ!
We did however find the one shop in the place which was remarkably well
stocked. All the locals were very relaxed and more welcoming than on Hiva Oa
possibly because they did not see so many visitors. We returned and had
drinks with Andy and Gina on their Oyster 56 Into the Blue in which they are
taking their immediate family around the world plus boy and girlfriends.
That night an inter island cargo ship appeared and anchored in the bay.

Easter Sunday 27 March 2016.
In morning we rose early to get ashore in time for the RC church service at
8am. It was raining. However our landing stage was taken up by a large
raft with 2 outboards which was ferrying things from the cargo vessel to the
village. In the end the dinghies taking those ARC worshippers just had to
drop them quickly but could not tie up on the landing stage so in our case
Donald who had not planned on going to church himself kindly took our dinghy
back to Lydia. Those not interested in churches or church services please
skip the next paragraph.

The church must have been fairly newly built was very pretty. The walls
roughly in the form of an A with the altar at the apex of the A were made of
local lava stones with a beautifully inlaid wooden roof. The east window
with modern stained glass had the madonna and child as a young polynesian
woman with her naked brown skinned son. There was no piano or organ but a
large upright drum on which a woman beat time with her hands. There was the
traditional cross which Jesus crucified over the simple altar. The altar
area had lovely arrangements of local flowers. On the walls around the chuch
were traditional pictures of the four stations of the cross. The three large
double doors of the church were made of local wood with beautiful patterned
carvings on them.The lecturn was fashioned out of local tree again with
carvings and polished so it almot shone. Same for the stand that carried the
little "house" containing the communion chalaces Although our ARC party
comprising Gina and Devla from Into the Blue, Mary Beth from Paradise Found
and Claudine from Wishanger 2 plus Steve, Alvaro and me, arrived at 7.50
just as the service was beginning. I rather expected it would be in French
and we would all have Missals in our pews. However, the spontaneous prayers
and singing were all in Polynesian. There must have been about 40 locals,
mainly middle aged women and some children all beautiful dressed mainly in
white for Easter Sunday. The priest and his assistants were all dressed in
white robes. There were not service sheets or hymn books but all the
congregation clearly knew all the words and the songs/hymns. The singing was
some of the most beautiful and harmonious I have ever heard. In the meantime
the rain outside came down in a complete deluge, so much so that the no one
could hear anything the more man reading the lesson (from the Bible in
Polynesian) anything he said. During the service the rain quietened
slightly. At the communion stage (which almost all took) I think I could
make out what was being said by the priest. The communion was only the wafer
but interestingly the priest and his staff did not take communion
wine.Overall it was a lovely service with unforgetable singing in a little
community on a tiny faraway Polynesian Island in the South Pacific and an
Easter Sunday service I shall never forget.

On returning to Lydia after buying some more provisions at the little shop
we did necessary chores such as cleaning out the fridge and freezer. Rather
than remain in Resolution Bay we decided to return to our original anchorage
in Stephen's Bay which was altogther prettier and better for swimming.
During the afternoon the gallant crew from Carango paid us a visit and had a
beer on board. Peter their skipper had noticed on an ARC leaflet that there
was a possiblity of "Pig Sticking" provided by Stephen who had a shack and
owned Stephen's Bay. Being good ex cavalry men the thought of "Pig Sticking"
and memories of the Raj was too good an opportunity to miss so they signed
up not quite knowing what to expect. We did know there were pigs on the
island and we has seen about 50 beautiful wild horses roaming at the top of
the island when we first sailed out from Hiva Oa. As Peter learnt having
contacted the fabulous Stephen, the actual "Pig
Sticking" on offer was not on horse back with lances but sitting in a tree
at night and shooting little pigs as they came to eat fruit, guns not
provided! As a result Corango bought their food which Stephen cooked on a
BBQ on the beach with some of his own fruit and vege. We had an early night
as we planned to weigh anchor at 3am the next morning to sail to Ua-Pou an
island about 75 miles to the north.

With all good wishes from the crew of Lydia,
Nigel


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