Land at Last!
Trip Start
Nov 08, 2008
1
25
31
Trip End
Ongoing
Nuku Hiva,
Marquesas Islands,
French Polynesia
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
The Marquesas are beautiful volcanic islands, with steep cliffs that drop into deep blue water. The hospitality of the people of the Marquesas is what made the place special. In Nuku Hiva people hang out by the dock to see what fishermen are bringing in, to drink a few beers, to play the ukulele, and just to hang out. Many of them also do a good business trading and buying goods from people on sailboats
spotted the Marquesas
. We were asked if we had all kinds of goods, from alcohol, to clothes, to firearms and ammunition, to saddles. Luckily, we brought a couple cases of rum from Panama and were able to trade for some fresh food, like pamplemousse the most delicious grapefruit that you have ever tasted. At one point I was eating one and a half of these a day, and they are BIG.People like Andre and Sebastian invited us to dinner, drove us around the island to see the sights, and took us fishing. The men in Nuku Hiva, like much of Polynesia, are really good at fishing with harpoon guns. They slowly swim down to depths of more than 15 meters and then stay underwater until a fish comes close enough to shoot. I didnīt try fishing with the gun (Adrien and Marcos did), but I snorkeled at the surface while they did. Amazing how long they could stay underwater. And after all that time they would swim up slowly as if they didnīt need to breathe at all. One guy in particular was always the first in the water to see if a spot was worth stopping at. In each place he went in the water he came up with a fish on his harpoon in only a few minutes, even in places where he said there was nothing to catch.
We did have another small crisis with the boat here. Our outboard motor for the dinghy died, just as we had motored to the entrance of the bay to do some snorkeling
Land!!
. We had to take turns rowing for over an hour to get back to the boat. The motor was old so we left it behind, and rowed every time we wanted to go to shore thereafter. After Nuku Hiva, we stopped for a few days in Ua Pou, a small island south of Nuku Hiva, where every tree is laden with fruit, and if you can remember how to say hello in Marquesan (Ka-O-ha) the people are eager to have a chat or offer you some fruit. We spent a few days here, hiking in the hills, snorkeling, and just enjoying the views from the bay. The island has spectacular gray rock spires that rise out of the green hills. They are often covered in clouds, so when they are visible it is like a hidden, dark part of the island is suddenly, temporarily revealed. Near the bay, under a rock cliff surrounded by lush trees and guarded above by a bearded Billy goat, is the most idyllic shower Iīve ever had the pleasure of using.
One night, the village had a movie night for the kids, so we went to shore and cooked a big leg of pork on the barbeque. We ate along with the village, and watched movies in French under the open air roof of their community center, right on the water. We met a couple who invited us to their house the next day to get fresh fruit. The next day, Adrien and Marcos set off with two big bags and loaded up the boat with mangoes, avocados, lemons, bananas, breadfruit, pamplemousse, and other fresh goodies. Only then were we ready to set off on the 5-day journey to Tuamotu.
Comments
most idyllic shower?
like shower shower? or like water cascading down the cliff?