Jus'Do It 3 - missing log from Nuka Hiva!!!

Tuesday 1.04.2008

Having left Ua Pou (yesterday) at 11ish, we set the sails on a straight course for Taiohae Bay on Nuka Hiva, the most populated island of the Marquesas. There’s 16 knots of wind and we average 7-8 knots on a close fetch. There are lots of birds feeding and fish jumping – it’s a thoroughly enjoyable sail and we arrive in the bay at around 4pm. There are around 50 boats in this large, protected bay - a comfortable anchorage with no swell. As it’s another spectacular setting (steep hillside all around ,black sand and rock beaches and little houses dotted all around) we decide to stay for a couple of days - especially as we’ve a bit of sorting out to do!

We’ve found a hatchery in one of the cabin lockers – what’s going to hatch we’re not quite sure, so Annie gets to work to combat the potential invasion!

Step 1) spray cabin with insecticide and shut off all airways

Step 2) empty locker of all cans, wash and re-stow

Step 3) spray locker and neighbouring lockers with bleach

Step 4) stop for a beer

Step 5) get another (super Oz strength !) bug killer from Phil and Fay and spray again

Step 6) wash, sponge out and spray again!

Put the boat back together and go for dinner! We find a very busy little restaurant and have a surprisingly good meal. Back to the boat for a Stewy slide and video show on his computer – what a camera man he is!

We’re up early – Annie chases everyone except Ian off the boat so she can continue the purge on the bilges. The shore party go to suss out the local services and in a very short space of time we have some vitals, gas, laundry, diesel and car hire all organised. While Stewy and Ian go to fill the diesel tanks, Annie has a solitary wander to look for shells (a few small finds!) and visits the local craft centre. We lunch aboard and rest until collecting our car at 4.30pm. First of all we drive to the end of the village where Karen and Annie meet an elderly American lady, Rose, who gives us some advice on where to go on the island. We explore the village then drive as far as Taipivai, a small village set along the riverbank at the bottom of a steep sided valley. We stop at the grocery store and sit outside with a cold beer to take it all in. The church is just coming out – it’s about 6pm – and locals of all ages stroll by, all of whom say hello. We chat to one elderly lady in our very limited French; she tells us she lives in a house high up on the hill and is interested that we have come in on a boat. An very elderly man,slow walking and bent over, comes up next, shakes all our hands, then goes into the shop and returns with a little tin of pate for us all! He then shuffles off smiling; it seems he just wants to make us feel welcome. Everyone is warm and friendly and it’s hard to believe these islands were once heavily populated with fierce tribes who regularly practised cannibalism. During his travels through here,  Robert Louis Stevenson observed; “They were not cruel with the exception of this custom, it is a race of extreme gentleness……..”.  In The Guide  to Navigation and Tourism in French Polynesia”  we learn that all women and men of lowly standing would not get a chance to eat the meat and that the eyes were reserved for the notables. Victims were clubbed over the head, then put in the native oven! The victims were either killed in combat or chosen from their own clan when needs must, and tasted gamy with the flavour of a sweet potato! Apparently all this has now ceased –although some of us did’t bother with the pate!

We head back – the roads (so far!) are much better here, but there’s the same white knuckle steep hills with sheer drops on the side of the road. We go back to the same restaurant as last night – lots of fish orders tonight!