Best of Times, Worse of Times

Monday 29 May 2006 The last two days have been a study in contrasts. We had our best experience so far in the Marquesas, one that is destined to be one of the highlights of our voyage. The next day (yesterday) is destined to be one of the low lights.

First, the good. We decided to stay at Ua Pou another day or so after we heard there was going to be a beauty pageant at the village community center, which is a market work days but is fairly new and open with beautiful 18" glazed tile floors. A ticket cost $25US but included dinner, music and dancing by boys and girls, and of course the beauty pageant which appealed to us dirty old men. They really decked the place out during the day with palm leaves woven around the interior columns, flowers and lights. We could hear a live band with ukuleles and drums playing all day getting ready. It turns out that most of the cruisers in the harbor were there and we had about a third of the tables. They made us feel very welcome but they did segregate us on one side which is to be expected.

The dinner was nice but not too special which is what you get at large banquet deals. We had green-lipped mussels from New Zealand poached in wine and beef bourginon (sp?) with home made fresh cornbread, baguettes and others, with a bar in one corner for drinks. The announcing was in French and Marquesan, and he tried to do some English, but none of us could understand any of the "English" but it was a nice try. It started out with these three tiny white girls in native costumes. There had been a rumor that the pageant was going to be for 12 yo girls so we thought may be this is it. Turns out these girls were about 7-8 yo and they started hula dancing. The hip action would have put a Vegas stripper to shame. It was awesome, and the lecherous old men were thinking it was $25 well spent. They did a couple of numbers and their mommas were very proud, and daddies, one of whom was one of the local gendarmes.

Next up were some men/boys in wraps and nothing else so the lecherous women were thinking they got their $25 worth. They did a couple of intense, almost violent, dances to the drums with lots of shouting and thigh slapping and chest beating, along with fierce stares and facial expressions. Then, three women in fancy outfits wearing sashes with names on them were introduced. We think they were the older "Miss Ua Pou"'s but still not sure. They were lovely despite being more the native norm of about 20-40 pounds heavier than considered model quality in the US. Then the real hula dancers came out and everybody went wild - men, women, children, locals, cruisers. They were a mix of ages with one obviously the local dance coach who was gorgeous and very Marquesan. Not skinny but well proportioned. They all had bare mid-drifts of course. All the dancers had cloth outfits and no palm skirts. They knocked everyone off their chairs with the dancing. It obviously took a lot of energy to do the wiggling they were doing as the sweat rolled down their bodies and they panted after each dance and took a break. The drummer in the corner was even hot, sweaty and tired.

The beauty pageant wasn't for 12 yo girls. They were about 18 and there were three of them. The first was the prettiest by all counts with beautiful dark Marquesan features. Her carriage was very calm and graceful. She also lost hands down. The next two were "Productions" with music and choreography, very well rehearsed and designed to be professional and sexy. The judges and the crowd bought it too. They all did the traditional pageant sequence - gowns with a speech, swimsuits and then a "number". The last two really hammed it up. In between sets, the live bands (two of them) did island favorites with some American and French pop music thrown in. After the coronation where losers and winners wept, the dancing for everyone else started. It was a fun night with the highlight being the hula dancing and just being part of a local, not-made-for-tourists function. This was definitely something for the locals mostly and they let us come.

The worse of times was yesterday. We were set to leave in the morning but White Swan was under the weather from the night before and the skies above were definitely not better - dark and ominous. We decided to wait a day and glad we did. A squall came through the anchorage with rain blowing sideways in 30 knot winds with one gust to 37. We turned on the engine in case our stern anchor came loose so we could miss the boat next to us which was less than a boat length away. It was nasty and a little scary. White Swan's stern anchor did pull loose and they got within 10' of us before they pulled up both anchors and moved. Two other boats in the middle with only bow anchors drug and had to move. A big catamaran lost there stern anchor when the anchor shackle fell off. There was so much spray in the air you could not see 100'. Very, very nasty. Everything got wet, even under our normally dry cockpit. It would have been awful outside.

So this morning is mostly clear and we will weigh anchors and head off for the Tuamotos, finally.

Hakahau Bay - Ua Po - Marquesas

Thursday, 25 May 2006 - We are anchored with bow and stern anchors at the little harbor of Hakahau Bay. It is a small, but spectacular, bay that is only tenable because of the massive breakwater that goes across half of the entrance. Big waves still come through on the one open end and three boats anchored over on that side are bucking up and down crazily in the swells. We are half way over and pointed out to the ocean but much better protected. We are not protected from the 15 knot wind on our starboard beam though and the wind pushes us hard against the two anchors making the stern one squeak loudly in its fairlead going over the side.

This is still much better now than it was yesterday on the way over from Nuka Hiva. It was without a doubt the hardest and hairiest passage we have had, and it was only 25nm from Daniel's Bay to here. It started out rough but OK as the wind (15-18 knots) was more on our beam with big swells and wind waves but easy to handle under sail. Then the wind picked up and it was doing 20 kt and shifted more to our bow which meant we were close hauled as much as we could and still make our course. There may have been a cross current setting us west as well. Then, a squall came through. We started reefing before the wind got there, but only by a few seconds. It did not look like much and never rained more than a few drops but the wind went to solid 30 kts with one gust to 35. We were already taking water over the weather side and I was soaked from that. Now it was bath time and I had more salt water in my mouth than I usually get swimming. And, Maggie Drum has high freeboard (high sides from the water) and a center cockpit so we are usually dry when other boats are wet. We were following our friends on White Swan from Port Townsend and they were definitely wet.

Well, it got worse. We got the port rail buried in the water which has only happened one other time since we have had the boat and that was with our friends Terry and Diane Emigh from Anacortes on a blustery return from the Foul Weather Race with the Anacortes Yacht Club in the San Juans. I think we were all freaked out at the time but Maggie was fine. It was the same here. We were working the winches frantically trying to reef our roller reefed main and jib. We did do it obviously and made it through but the adrenalin was pumping for sure. From there it never got below 18 kts and up to 25 frequently all the way into the harbor. We were exhausted but still had to find a spot and put out the stern anchor, which we hate. We were never set up with a proper stern anchor rode and ours now is two pieces of old halyard tied together with bowlines in the middle which is workable but a hassle. I just went out and put on chafe protection on it and it seems to be working fine.

Ua Po is famous for the volcanic (everything is volcanic here) columns that jut out from the ridges and valleys here. The columns are massive and pointed, making them look very ominous. I imagined us coming into the valley of the evil Lord of Mordor(sp?) in the "Lord of the Ring" novels. Very dramatic.

We will stay here a couple of days with White Swan and then head out to the Tuamotos. I just updated our position on Winlink and on Yotreps and will keep it updated on our travels from here. We heard yesterday a boat report a gust to 60 kts on the SSB net. There is a big low pressure system out there evidently and we will be getting weather reports before heading out. We want to have more settled weather for the Atolls there. It is a 500nm passage so should take us 3-4 days. When we get there we have to wait for good sunlight to get through the coral infested waters and difficult passes in to the lagoons. Oh well, something new. We are ready to mush on.

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Daniel's Bay

Well, the bugs are starting to deteriorate the cruising experience here.
We, and most of our cruising buddies here, are altering our plans based on
the bites we are getting from mosquitoes and no-nos. Some friends are
refusing to get off their boats at some of the buggier places, even when the
shore-side attractions are strong.

For example, we were in the famous Daniel's Bay for the last two days but
left yesterday afternoon to come back to Taiohae Bay to checkout from Nuka
Hiva, and to escape the bugs there. Daniel's Bay is named for Daniel, of
course, who is an old man now who has lived there for the last 60 years and
who has been a welcoming spirit to cruisers most of that time. He speaks
passable English and has a wicked sense of humour which he uses constantly.
The bay itself is beyond description beautiful, with one of the world's
longest waterfalls up the valley.

Cindy's knee was still bothering her so she stayed on the boat while I went
with friends from Sydney, BC, to go on the "grueling" hike to the waterfall.
It started with an adventure just to get to shore with breaking waves 30
yards off the beach and river entrance. We actually went in the river
entrance to a tiny lagoon behind part of the beach and timed it to miss the
breakers behind and to the side of us. The beach and the valley are at the
bottom of some of the steepest and most stunning volcanic ridges we have
seen. The land at the bottom where Daniel and his cousins and brother live
has been maintained almost like a park with flowers everywhere, fruit trees,
coconut palms and grass that they keep well trimmed. This is finally what I
always imagined the Marquesas to be like.

They had three pickups there but the "roads" only go about a half mile so
they use them to carry stuff just around between the beach and the boats and
their houses and workshops. They have to go 6 miles out in the ocean to the
town to get supplies. This is also where the first season of the hit TV
series "Survivor" was filmed. They asked Daniel to move from one small bay
over to another one and he got a new house out of the deal and he likes the
new place better.

The hike up to the waterfall was excellent, going through endless old
archeological sites of raised stone platforms that had been artfully built
by excellent craftsmen - large stones placed with great care and precision
to make straight lines and corners. And, we could not even see most of it
because the jungle has reclaimed so much after disease wiped out the
villagers here hundreds of years ago. 3000 people lived here then and now
only about 12.

The waterfall is only really visible from a distance. When you get to the
bottom, the steep canyon walls prevent you from seeing most of it. The pool
at the bottom has a milky color to it like glacial runoff does at the bottom
of glaciers. A huge freshwater eel (5" diameter and 40" length) greeted us
and waited for handouts at the edge of the murky water. I got some good
pictures and boy oh boy is he one ugly fish.

I will try and post some pics later, in between scratching my insect bites.
I am now an oozing mess.

Anaho Bay - the best yet

Tuesday 16Mar2006 After we got our Monitor wind vane pilot back we decided
to go around the east side of Nuka Hiva to Anaho Bay based on good reports
and the cruiser guides. We were going to the famous Daniel's Bay to the
west and then on but decided we should not pass up Anaho, and we are not
disappointed as it is the best part so far of our journey. We had to motor
right in to the trade winds at first but then put up the main and jib for a
leisurely sail up the rugged east coast. We could only make about 2-3 knots
in the light air but were in no hurry until two other boats powered up from
behind us so we turned on the engine to beat them to the anchorage to get
the most favorable spot possible.

The bay is at the end of a long inlet and around a dog leg to the right
which made it very protected and the best anchorage so far for many reasons
- not the least of which is no swell. The bay is also drop-dead, pick up
your jaw off the ground, gorgeous, with spectacular rock formations that
remind you of flying buttresses on a huge cathedral. Of course, everything
that is not rock is green, with the ever present coconut palm trees and many
flowering trees and shrubs. There are a very few houses with about 4
families here and no passable road in or out. Most everything comes by
small boat, which for the locals is mostly the small plywood proas with
their outboard and outrigger. The next bay over with a town with a road to
to Taiohae is Hatiheu, but the road is just a 4WD track for 45 km.

We dinghied over to Hatiheu (about 4 nm by water) out in the ocean but the
swells were small and wind light. You see small goats everywhere on the
rocks and hills. The bay at Hatiheu is not as protected but just as
beautiful with volcanic spires going up 2000 ft on all sides. The village
has about 20 houses with a really nice stone and wood church with twin
steeples set back from the beach with a cemetery behind it going up the
steep slope. We went into the small magasin (store) and got some ice cream
and other treasures. It was especially well stocked and the people were
very friendly. Down the road (a few houses away) was a neat little open-air
restaurant we decided to visit for lunch on the way back. P.S. There were 6
of us - Maggie Drum, White Swan and Andiamo - all from Washington.

We started off for the archeological sites we had heard about and found
ourselves shadowed by this tall, quiet Marquesan man with a yellow hard hat,
coveralls and calf-length rubber boots. He was Alfonse and was our
volunteer guide. He spoke some English and walked along with us up the road
a fair bit and showed us where the sites were. The sites were spectacular -
the largest we have seen and extremely neat and cleared off. The one site
had 1200 villagers at its heyday. There were lots of tikis (carved rock and
wooden tikis) and a huge set of banyan trees that completely dwarfed us
beneath them.

We went back to the restaurant and offered to treat Alfonse to lunch as he
refused any payment for guiding us. The menu had lobster, shrimp, fish,
pork combinations. It was a feast except that Cindy had Poisson Cru which
is raw fish cooked in lime juice and coconut milk which she did not like.
It was good but the idea of raw fish did not get out of her head. The food
was excellent and we had a great time - except for the flies, which were
thick and all over the food. Alfonse seemed to be grinning at us gringos
trying to swat them away.

Which brings up the cons to all these pros: bugs and heat. We all got
completely eaten up by mosquitos and no-nos despite several layers of Off!
and DEET bug juice. We all are itching from bites on all extremities -
serious itching where you wake up in the middle of the night and slather on
cortizone or other anti-itch creams and take Benzadryl. The heat is
something else too. You wake up in the middle of the night completely wet
in your sheets and turn over so the fan can try and dry out part of the
sheet and part of your body. You have to keep the portlights and hatches
covered with screens to keep the bugs out which reduces the wind flow. So
all is not perfect here but still pretty nice. This has been our favorite
spot so far and we all really enjoyed the day - despite the bugs and heat.

Nuka Hiva

We have been having trouble getting and staying connected on the SSB radio
for emails and blog updates so everything has been delayed. The anchorages
we are in are ringed by high and steep volcanic ridges between us and
Honolulu in Hawaii which is the closest radio station for email. That is
still over 2200 miles away. So, I am going to try to send this via the very
SLOW internet connection at the yacht agency on shore here at Taoihae Bay on
Nuka Hiva.

Cindy fell off the dink while trying to tie us up to the quay a couple of
days ago. It was low tide and even at high tide, the top of the quay is a
climb up. The surge got her leg tangled with another line from a boat while
the dink went away from the wall and over she went, getting her leg caught
in a line going down, which wrenched her leg/knee. She is now the official
gimp on the boat, wearing a brace, taking pain killers and generally being a
pain in the rear (not). She will be OK but the leg is sore. You have to be
very careful out here.

This Saturday was a special day on the island, and in the Marquesas. They
inducted a new priest, the first one who is a native Marquesan, at the local
Catholic cathedral. We went to see and it was full of pomp and circumstance
with beautiful singing by the congregation. Most of the island was there in
their best church clothes (island shirts, pants or shorts and sandals for
the men and mostly white, simple and fancy at the same time). Flowers were
everywhere including on heads and behind ears. We will try to send some
pictures. Many of the older women were crying. The bishop (not sure where
from) was there for the all afternoon and night festivities after the church
service. The singing was incredible. The Mormon Tabernacle choir could not
have done better.

On a sourer note, we found some cracked welds on our Monitor wind vane which
is an autopilot to steer the boat with using wind direction. We like it
because it is powered by the wind and does not use electricity but had to
decommission it on the voyage over from Mexico as previously noted. We took
it off (BIG job at anchor in a rolly bay) and took it in to the agency who
knew a local welder. He took it off to his shop after the agency could not
reach us on the radio (wrong frequency) to tell us the cost. Well, he
wanted $350 to do a 15 minute job and I told them we would not be aiding and
abettig highway robbery. We know things are more expensive but in Mexico it
would have cost $20-50 max and in the states may be $100 max so we will get
it back today and get it done down the road (hopefully for cheaper). Partly
it is the principle of the thing. I would have paid half the quote and felt
like it was way too high, but oh well....life in the islands.

Today we hope to get ready to leave tomorrow for other anchorages on Nuka
Hiva where it won't be so rolly (or rainy). We need to get some diesel
which either requires a Med-tie (anchor off the dock and back in and then
tie up the stern off the dock and pass a long hose over) or lugging jerry
jugs, which is what we are going to do. We need 78 gallons for full but
will get 40 and call it good. That still leaves us with about 160 gallons
which is three times what a lot of other boats can carry. We are sailing
more now but it is insurance.

The Tuamotos are the next island group and they are over 600nm away and very
remote with few services so we will stock up with food today as well. I am
getting a little bored at times so will have to get on some other boat
projects to break up the reading I am doing. Currently I am reading a
biography on Ben Franklin who was an interesting and brilliant rouge to say
the least.

From Tahuata to Hiva Oa then off

We have had some hectic days lately. From our anchorage on Tahuata island
at Hanavave, where we saw fantastic spinning dolphins jump straight out of
the water and spin several times before coming down, we wet up to Hana Moe
Noi with its beautiful white sand beach and crystal clear waters. I
couldn't sleep very well that night and we got up way early and started for
Hiva Oa again where the Gendermes insisted we had to go to "check out" of
the southern Marquesas islands.

The seven mile voyage from there to Atuona was a nightmare. The seas were
ten feet, on the nose of course, with 20-25 knot winds, also on the nose, of
course. The whole boat was covered in salt water again but what else is
new. We had been very happy to have the fresh water rain take most of the
salt off from the passage, and now we want more rain. But, we got there
around 8:00am local time where we found the small harbor completely full of
boats anchored so close to each other with bow and stern anchors that you
could spit from boat to boat. We found a small place in the back of the
"bay" with only 7 feet of water (we draw 5.5') and rowed into town to "check
out". We got there by 9:00 and it took about 2 minutes to write our name
down in the log. We then took off to get a few veggies from the veggie
truck, got a nice piece of yellow-fin tuna from the fish truck, and then
went to the largest grocery store, which is like a large 7-11 to get other
things. We had a $28 lunch (beef curry, cheese burger with fries, and a
coke) and got back to the boat by noon.

By this time the depth sounder was reading only 5' and we were still
floating which means my depth sounder is not very well calibrated, but at
least we were still floating. We pulled in both anchors and got out of
Dodge. We back-tracked through the Bordelais Channel were the winds and
seas were against us and found both the wind and the seas had flattened out
now that we were not beating in to them. But, we had a great sail through
the now pretty channel accompanied by the best dolphins we have seen on
Maggie Drum. They weren't jumping or anything, just cruising along with us
at 4 knots and playing bump and run with each other. The water was very
clear and we watched them for so long on the bow that we could identify each
individual by the spots and marks on their backs. Kewl!

We got around the corner of Hiva Oa, headed north. We had to decide whether
to go up to an anchorage on the northwest side of the island or to keep
going to Nuka Hiva, and we decided to go for Nuka Hiva just as the sun was
going down. It was another 75nm there anyway so we just went for the
overnighter to get it out of the way. Neither of us were able to sleep on
just the one nighter. We got there too fast and before the sun came up just
as a big monster pleasure boat (about 120') came up behind us for the same
destination. We got in to the beautiful harbor of Taoihae Bay and cruised
around the harbor checking out the other boats there for friends and just
for fun. The anchor was going down just as the sun was coming over the rim
of the ancient volcanic caldera several thousand feet up. We were tired and
napped until noon. Then we got the dink down, went to shore and walked the
whole length of the waterfront to a hotel/restaurant on the opposite side of
the bay overlooking the harbor and had a wine and beer (only $11). Some
friends got two six-packs of Hinano beer and it cost $39. They were 500ml
cans but still!!

We need to get diesel here and get some welding done on the wind pilot and
may be get a pizza in town before we go on. It only sprinkled here
yesterday but other cruisers who have been here a while said that it had
rained for two weeks straight, so life is smiling on us. It is gorgeous
here and even though it is the most developed town in the Marquesas, still
not very developed because it is so hard to get here. Less than 3000 people
live on the entire island. Off to the Gendermerie to check in and try to
get some fresh baquettes (they sell out by 10am everyday).