Fatu Hiva & Hiva Oa

May 4 – May 7, 2014

Fatu Hiva

Hanavave “Bay of Virgins”

We had a very relaxing sail from Hiva Oa to Fatu Hiva. We left around 7 in the morning and arrived in the Bay of Virgins by early afternoon. I encourage you to go online and look at these places and read the history. For example, this bay was named something else (I will let you figure that out), but when the Catholic priests came they promptly changed the name. This cove has dramatic volcanic cliffs and trees that show every color of green imaginable. It is crazy beautiful.

Bay of Virgins

Once on shore, we realized that there is just one paved road here. It will lead you to the main village. Along our walk we saw a school, a church, one very small market, and the medical and post office took up the same small structure. We repeatedly tried to go to the post office, but it was always closed. A local told us to knock on the door, but no one was there. No way to get cash or wi-fi here.

We have met many other cruisers. Everyone is extremely friendly and willing to share their stories with us. When we first anchored in Hanavave, we were surprised by the number of Catamarans we saw. There were at least eight. People are from all over the world…Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Italy and Brazil.  Some are couples like us, some are solo and some, especially the Catamarans, have children. When I asked about this, they explained that they had been sailing for years and were home schooling the children onboard… Wow! One boat has six children onboard, two in diapers! This is something that I never considered (the home schooling, not the six children). Good for them… The kids seem very happy.

We hiked with a big group to the waterfall. Once you go past the paved road the trail is marked by small stones stacked on top of huge lava boulders. It is a gorgeous 300 foot waterfall which goes into a large pool. It was a one hour uphill hike, so the cold water felt amazing.

On the walk back, locals came out of their homes and asked if we needed various things. We always asked for fresh fruit and were always given a baguette as well.  We would either buy some of their wood carvings or give them dollars. This is the last island in French Polynesia where tapa cloth is still made by hand. As we walked we could hear the sound of women pounding the tapa.

From generous locals! The bread did not make it to the boat...

 One day, while getting back on our inflatable boat to leave, the children started asking us for things. One of the things was candy. My sweet, generous husband casually said “ Bonbons” and I swear we suddenly had a swarm of kids clinging on to our boat and they would not let go.  We managed to leave most of them behind, but four refused to get off…One girl Caroline and three boys. We went to Et Voila and gave them their Bonbons, some goggles and snorkeling masks. They promised us they would share with the other children… Hmmmmm… doubtful.

Caroline.

They wanted to go fast!

There are no restaurants here, so the locals invite you for dinners in the evening. When we went onshore to go to one of these dinners, a girl came up to me and gave me a big hug… Caroline. The dinner was at her home. They served amazing fresh lobster, papaya salad and my favorite Poisson Cru in coconut milk. After there was music played by our hosts and Caroline was dressed beautifully in traditional costume dancing for us. Lovely.

Caroline  dancing for us after dinner.

Lessons: Do not feed the children.

Quote: “If your heart is in your dream, no request is too extreme”. Pinocchio

French word: Bonbon Translation: Candy

Books: Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

WHY I LOVE IT HERE (In no order whatsoever):

*There is no need to think about fashion. We can wear absolutely anything and it is acceptable… no shoes are required.

*No makeup here, just sunscreen and bug juice, which rapidly slides off your face and body anyway.

*When we call for Alec to drive us somewhere we are told that he has gone fishing…and he really has.

*Just before sunset, we can see the locals with their kids lined up at the dock with fishing lines to catch dinner.

*My Vitamin D levels must be soaring.

*I love how easily the locals roar with laughter when we  explain that we have two dogs with us.

*If you slip on gravel and fall on your butt while walking and gazing up at the fruit trees, people will actually run over to help you and ask if you are alright.

*Small children run around naked and shoeless.

*I love how some locals tell you the sharks don’t bite in Taahuku Bay.  Then you ask someone else and they tell you there are no sharks. Then you ask someone else and they say that they are everywhere and they will most definitely bite you. We just try to stay out of the water.

*Gorgeous fruit trees everywhere. There are Mangos, Bananas, Grapefruit, Papayas, Coconut, Star fruit and wild berries. I especially love the limes. They are good on our fish and to flavor our water.

*Every day I feel like I have done a Hot Yoga class.

*My joints do not bother me at all.

*The air is very, very clean.

*Theo is happy.

*I am happy.

*I ate worms and I don’t care.

*We can take a shower outside with chickens roaming by.

*I am sunburned, scarred, bruised and sweating profusely, but no one questions this here. If I was at home I would be asked all day long if I was feeling well or if I was a victim of abuse.

*The customs agent was surprised when we explained to him that Greece is a part of Europe.

*I have no idea what time it is and have no to do list until July.

*We can hitch a ride anywhere very easily…no thumb required.

*The people here all seem genuinely happy and are always laughing…maybe at us, I don’t know.

*The only scales in sight are to weigh fruit, vegetables and fish.

*So far, the dogs have nothing to bark at…or they are just too hot to make the effort.

*People here pronounce our last name correctly .

*We meet people from all over the world and get to hear their stories.

*No one ever asks what we do for a living …ever!

*No CVS, Walgreens or Gossip Magazines in sight.

* I have not seen anyone texting and walking at the same time.

*When it rains here, people go outside.

* I get to fall asleep to the sound of gentle waves.

May 8 – 11, 2014

Tahuata

Hana Moe Noa Bay

We are now anchored in an uninhabited, idyllic bay on the island of Tahuata. This is the first place in the Marquesas where the “white man” came. Moe Noa means “long sleep”. We will always remember this anchorage because it is simply paradise. It has a white sand beach with palm trees, turquoise water that is clear, rainbows, and there is no noise….just peace and quiet. We have been swimming, snorkeling and kayaking. At night there are campfires on the beach. This has been a good time for us to clean the boat really well. Before it was too hot, but now we scrub for a while and then jump in the water for relief.

Nothing is perfect… I have read there are NoNos on the beach here. NoNos are blood sucking sand flies that attack during the daytime. I am not afraid of much, but I dread the NoNos. Their bites are supposed to itch terribly and last a while. Theo doesn’t believe me, so he went to the beach today to scout the situation (without bug repellent)… He came back with coconuts and a bright red crab clinging to a stick. Needless to say, he boiled the crab and ate it. We will find out later if he met the NoNos.

Our view for a while

On our last day here we swam and snorkeled all day. The Manta Rays were in the bay and we could not get enough of them. At first I hesitated to get out of the kayak, simply because I have never in my life been in the ocean with a wild creature bigger than myself (or Theo for that matter). I finally jumped in with my fins and snorkel. I immediately felt peace. They were so graceful and calm. The closest I have ever come to this feeling was in Hawaii with the Sea Turtles, but this was something completely different. The wing span on them was at least 6 feet and they have huge mouths that open to eat plankton. There were three of them and the largest one was the most “playful”. He would swim straight toward me with his big open mouth, and when he was really close he would quickly dive just below my body. I had to stay completely still so I wouldn’t kick him with my fins. He kept circling and doing this over and over…amazing. We are hoping to see them again tomorrow before we pull our anchor up.

Happy Mother’s Day!!

Lesson: Do not crack open a coconut on the stern steps of your boat…coconut stains terribly and it lasts a while.

Quote: “When you seek happiness for yourself it will always elude you; When you seek it for others you will find it yourself”. Dr Wayne Dyer

French word: Dormir Translation: To Sleep

Ocean Sightings: One very large Manta Ray that jumped completely out of the water twice as we were arriving in Hana Mae Noa Bay… Later we snorkeled with three of them. All kinds of reef fish, one  octopus, Sea Urchins.

NoNos: Zero

April 12, 2014

Hiva Oa

Hanamenu Bay

We swam one more time with the Manta Rays and then sailed to Hanamenu Bay on the Island of Hiva Oa. This bay has a completely different feel than the last one. We are in a lava canyon and there is a small beach with palm trees… it just doesn’t seem to go together… strange. It looks like a mirage you might imagine in the desert. We can hear goats on the cliffs around us but cannot see them.  Two other boats are anchored here with us.

 After lunch we went onshore to explore and search for a fresh water spring that is supposed to be very beautiful. We could hear the water and followed the sound to a very well maintained oasis. All the rocks were placed perfectly around a pool of clear water which was surrounded by breadfruit and palm trees. There were some young adults at the pool when we arrived. They were from LA and Santa Barbara. They seemed very, very nice but my gut flipped a little when I realized that one of them was holding a large machete (for coconuts). It just went against my better judgment to hang around, so we jumped in the pool.  The water was really cold, but we didn’t care... It felt great. We explored more and found passion fruit and lime trees. We filled up our bag and headed back to the boat.

Fresh water oasis

We walked over a creek that led to the ocean… really pretty. Once we were on the beach we became very, very sad. NoNos… They attacked from everywhere and we could feel them biting us. They are aggressive, obnoxious, hungry little s***heads and they gang up on you… Bullies. There was no getting away from them and we are covered with nasty bites… banana pancakes tomorrow morning and then we are out of here!

Lesson: ALWAYS reapply your bug spray after swimming in a stunning fresh water pool.

Quote: “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind”. Dr. Seuss

French: Mil moustique Translation: A thousand mosquitos

NoNos: A thousand

Ocean Sightings: Zero

May 13, 2014

Hiva Oa

Hanaiapa Bay

We had a very rolly ride to Hanaiapa, but it is a very beautiful anchorage. Arriving into the bay we had dolphins enter with us. There is a waterfall, blowhole, palm trees, little white dots on the cliffs (goats) and there are no other boats here. We took the kayak onshore to explore and ended up walking for nearly 3 hours. We had no idea that there was so much to see. This part of Hiva Oa is very well maintained with paved roads, streetlights and immaculate plants, trees and flowers. The natural beauty of it made us want to keep walking to see more. We were already tired and by the time we turned around to go back to the boat and we had forgotten to bring water with us.

We heard someone calling to us from a house to our right. We stopped and a man was waving us in to his home. He kept calling it the “Yacht Club”. We walked up his driveway and, sure enough, there was a bright colored sign that said William Yacht Club. We told him where we had traveled from and he pulled up some chairs and served us each an ice cold citrus drink which was the best tasting thing ever. Then he continued to bring out fruits and shredded coconut. William has lived in Hanaiapa for a while and he has three books filled with messages from cruisers that have walked by his home over the years. From what I saw, the first entry was made in 2003. We were honored to write in his famous book. We waved goodbye with bags filled with grapefruit, bananas and papayas.  As we continued to walk down the road we heard another gentleman calling us to his home.  He greeted us with kisses, showed us pictures of his family and offered us more fruit. We tried to explain that we did not need any more fruit, but he would hear nothing of it. We hauled all the fruit plus a huge stalk of bananas that he insisted we take with us to our kayak.  Getting in the kayak with all of this AND the bananas was very tricky given the high tide and waves crashing on the dock… but we did it. Once we unloaded everything we went back to the village to give our generous hosts some new shirts and baseball caps we had brought with us. They loved the hats!

Et Voila

William and Wanda

A happy goat!

We were exhausted from walking all day and went to sleep as soon as the sun went down.

 

Mambo and Isabel are enjoying their vacation.

Mambo was exhausted too!

 

A beautiful sky!