Pat Bon - Marquesan Delight & Depravity

08:56.427S 140:06.145W
We’ve just set sail for the next set of Polynesian islands in our adventure - the Tuamotus! We lifted anchor at 0400 and are now 6 hours (40NM) into the 540NM passage from Nuku Hiva to Fakarava, the coral atoll we’re heading for.

We’ve spent 12 days in the wonderful Marquesas, having arrived just before dusk on Sunday 23rd March, following the 3,160NM passage across the Pacific from the Galápagos Islands. After a few days to get some boat jobs done and some fresh provisions, we left on Thursday 27th March for the nearby island of Tahuata and the village of Hapatoni for the traditional fire pit feast. From there, we headed for the island of Oa Pou (pronounced Wah Poo) where we dropped the anchor in a small bay on the west coast with a small village called Motukara, along with 1D, Mageia and Amelia. I decided to take a swim ashore to take a look around, only to find the whole village in the large church. As it was getting towards dusk, I quickly swam back to the boat as sharks tend to feed around then and I didn’t fancy becoming supper! We spent a rolly night in the bay there and headed off early to another bay up the coast, where there was a waterfall and small chocolate maker we could trek to.

Well the waterfall was lovely, up the hill and through the jungle. It was a reasonably well trodden path, but when we arrived, there were several workmen with chainsaws chopping up a fallen tree that disrupted the peace a little. We all went for a nice dip in the cool pool under the falls, as it had been a sweaty walk up! From there, we followed another track further up the hill to the chocolate maker - that was not such a fun experience! Manfred had clearly lived a hermits life in the hills for far too long where he grew some cocoa bushes. Allegedly he first came to Oa Pou as a helicopter pilot helping lay power lines across the islands, but then he said he was a masseur and then a pastor - all pretty unlikely. Tramp like in his appearance, he was clearly a perverted dirty old man, as his topic of conversation with the ladies in our group was simply unacceptable! We beat a hasty retreat back down the hill, passing a truck heading up the hill with some more unsuspecting tourists going to meet the grim Manfred! Oh and his chocolate was pretty grim too!

We then headed off to the largest island in the Marquesas, Nuku Hiva. We were heading for the bay in the south-west tip called Hakatea or Daniel’s Bay, where there was the highest waterfall in Polynesia (and 28th highest in the world) that several of us wanted to hike to in the morning. There was also meant to be a restaurant in the village in the bay, which we booked for Amelia, Mageia, 1D and us. As it was getting very dark, we headed off promptly in our dinghies to the beach, only to find quite large rollers breaking on the beach - well, we all got very wet! We eventually found the ‘restaurant’ and looking pretty bedraggled walked in. Not so much a restaurant, but someone’s private house with a trestle table laid on the veranda. A big BBQ blazing away was the only reason we decided this was the place. We did have a lovely meal - only 1 dish available - tuna steaks and whatever they had in their garden. It was very tasty, but, in our soaked state, what we all really wanted was a cold beer - nope, no alcohol available😂. At least we couldn’t blame beer for the next drenching when getting back into the dinghies and we were very grateful for the sterling efforts of Stu & Taylor helping to get everyone back afloat from the beach!

After a blissfully calm night, the following morning most of us decided to head off early to the waterfall. After a dodgy start, where we got horribly lost in the jungle, only to end up where we started, we found the correct track. It was an amazing walk through a steep sided gorge, wading across the river several times. We finally got to the waterfall, however there was only a trickle flowing down the cliff, so it was not that impressive really. The pool was also a bit mucky, but I did take a dip just to cool off and came face to face with a very large fresh water crayfish!

When we got back to the boats, it was a short hop round to the main harbour in Nuku Hiva, Taiohai’e, where we dropped anchor and went to a nice hotel restaurant in the small town. There wasn’t much in the town, but we had a great welcome event put on by the locals. Various traditional crafts were on display and we learnt all about coconut harvesting and processing. Copra (the dried coconut flesh) is one of the main exports of these islands, so this is an important part of the lives of the Marquesan people. We had another fire pit feast that evening, with much dancing by the local warriors and ladies! We also had a great dive near the entrance of the bay and experienced the majesty of a huge Manta Ray swimming right over our heads - a bit like the open sequence of Star Trek, where the USS Enterprise passes over the top of the camera!

The following day, I organised a beach BBQ for the Ocean Cruising Club (OCC) members, but as many of our friends in the ARC fleet weren’t members, I opened it up to the whole World ARC fleet! Much to my surprise 24 of the yachts wanted to join in, so nigh on 100 people and organising becomes far more challenging - WC’s, permissions, tables, and where to hold it! Well Kevin, the OCC port officer in Nuku Hiva came to the rescue and after some to’ing and fro’ing, we got permission for a ‘bring your own’ BBQ on a beach in the main anchorage. Kevin also found a half oil drum BBQ and organised some wood and charcoal. The boats all brought along their own food and some sharing dishes too and with a great BBQ going we all had a great evening which ended with Jan from Mulan strumming away on his guitar - the rain held off too!

Yesterday we took a half day sightseeing tour around the island and saw some amazing views from the high mountains and beaches along the northern coast. We were also taken to an archaeological site which is where the local tribal clans met up to discuss tribal matters, celebrate events and rather macabrely where human sacrifices took place before the French took control of the islands in the mid 19th Century when this practice was stamped out. These were usually captive enemies and cannibalism was common, where the eyes and brains were eaten by the chiefs to take over their enemy’s wisdom, power and vision. In addition, the bones were used as arrows, spears and jewellery with the skulls put into a huge Banyan Tree, where the roots grew around them. That tree still exists on the site and it is now over 600 years old - the skulls were all removed by the missionaries however but the site remains a sacred ‘taboo’ for the Marquesan people. One other shocking fact we were told was that in the early 20th Century, over 90% of the Marquesan population was wiped out by diseases brought in by the Europeans. Leprosy, TB, Yellow Fever etc all took their toll and Richard the tour guide remembers his grandfather had leprosy and he only died a few years ago! I think there are only about 6,000 Marquesans left living in the islands and some more living in the other Polynesian islands and France, so when the population was decimated, many of these tribal sites went to ruin and have been taken over by the jungle simply because there were no people left. Sadly, as with colonialists throughout the world, there was a concerted effort by the French to destroy the local culture and language and it is only recently that it is starting to be cherished - you hope that it’s not too late ….apart from the human sacrifices that is!!

So we’re heading to the Tuamotus now which are very, very different islands. The Marquesas are volcanic rocky mountains rising up from the sea, whereas the Tuamotus are just coral atolls - lagoons ringed by coral. The coral formed around islands like the Marquesas many millennia ago and over time the volcanic mountains eroded away, leaving the constantly growing coral rings, which is all that is left behind. There are passes through the coral, many of which are navigable today, that allow boats to enter these incredible lagoons in the middle of the ocean. These passes are where rivers once flowed down the mountains, the fresh water preventing the coral from growing! How amazing is that! The islands after the Tuamotus are the Society and Leeward islands and there we have the mix of both the mountains and the coral reefs encircling them - older than the Marquesas (they have coral encircling them), but younger than the Tuamotus (the volcanic mountains have not eroded away yet)! That’s gonna be the next story tho’

Love and light to all