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| Our new digs; topographically, this place is basically the opposite of the atolls of the Tuamotus |
Long time readers may remember that SV L'ORIENT sailed 28 days non-stop from Panama to Nuku Hiva in the beguiling Marquesas, arriving in that fateful month of April 2020. During that month at sea, with little to no internet news, we missed the massive escalation of COVID-19 through the world and arrived quite surprised by the state of affairs in French Polynesia. What's that French warship doing in the bay? We are restricted to our boat? Really? Everything is closed on shore? We envisioned our arrival as being a 3-year carnival of alcoholic drinks served in coconuts, Polynesian festivals and food, and lots of water-based recreation. The harsh reality was a bit different........retreating from French Polynesia to Hawaii after only 8 days under the threat of forced repatriation and separation from our boat (and home). Tears were shed as we left the bay past the French warship, sent to Nuku Hiva to maintain order in an uncertain time.
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| Approaching Nuku Hiva and redemption |
So while we've enjoyed the Society Islands and the Tuamotus since our return, we've obviously had the Marquesas circled on our chart. Getting back successfully to where it all went wrong two years ago would be special.
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| Nuku Hiva- very few beaches here but you CAN train for your next attempt at Everest |
We feared that by sailing inside what amounts to lakes for the past 3 months (the Tuamotus atolls), we may have gotten a bit soft. That ended up being OK, but the sail itself was challenging. We patiently waited for the promise of Southeast wind to propel us on our 540 mile Northeast journey........4 to 4 1/2 days at normal cruising speed. That would have been a joy-ride. As has been the case consistently in French Polynesia, the wind forecast was off by 50 degrees and we ended up bashing upwind the entire trip. This type of trip is notable for not being able to sleep, food and drinks being difficult to control, the sound of glass and other things breaking downstairs as the boat lurches violently.......The climax ended up being the last 9 miles.........first our mainsail control line shredded (mainsail out of action); then the genoa furler broke (genoa out of action). Hmmm. The wind picked up to 30 knots + right on the nose and it took 4 hours to motor sail/tack to get to the mouth of the bay, which was visible yet not attainable for most of the 4 hours. But we made it, albeit with red wine and glass shards sloshing in refrigerator #3, food in places food shouldn't be and our sail handling rigging and controls inoperable. The boat was a dumpster fire and took 3 full days to repair and clean.
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| Nuku Hiva's "downtown" |
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| Some local women in the "restaurant" and some creepy tikis |
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A well deserved beer after 4 1/2 days of bashing upwind
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But that didn't stop us from enjoying Nuku Hiva (finally). We gave our administrative contact there a long-overdue bottle of wine for helping us escape 2 years ago and explored the island under much better conditions than before.
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| Church in Nuku Hiva- Christian imagery coexists with the tikis |
All of the Marquesas are really "off the grid". These are mountainous volcanic islands with very few people on them. Most have limited infrastructure. After we left "the Nuke", we sailed to Fatu Hiva - the most off the grid of them all. So remote and small it has no port, no police, one tiny store, no restaurants, and about 600 people. This (and most other islands in the Marquesas) are beautiful in a stark, pre-historic way.
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| Approaching Fatu Hiva- where the hell do you anchor ? |
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| I don't think we are in the Tuamotus anymore |
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| Another jungly hike- very few stretches of level ground in the Marquesas |
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| The ocean is out there somewhere |
The holy grail for sailors in the Marquesas is to anchor in the Bay of the Virgins, Fatu Hiva. As you may notice from the pictures, there is nothing particular virginal about this place but, boy, those rock outcroppings sure remind me of "something". And you would be right - Polynesians called this The Bay of Penises until the arrival of missionaries not keen on this imagery.
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| Amazing colors at sunset, aka Happy Hour |
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| The anchorage at Fatu Hiva and a few of the neighbors |
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| French missionaries seem to compete to build the most remote church |
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| Not sure why Marquesans seem to build directly under large potentially falling rocks |
Fatu Hiva has amazing hiking, waterfalls and just breathtaking views - after the eighth hike Kirstin got a bit tired of my little word play that we had walked "Fatu long".
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| Indecipherable "road sign"; 5 to 2 vowel to consonant ration is normal |
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| This hike is labeled as "easy" in the guide......"treacherous" is closer to the truth |
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| Tom on strike for better hiking conditions |
The key reason we went to Fatu Hiva was to get as far east as possible in the Marquesas; then future sails would all be west (or down-wind) and this would take the weatherman (and the half empty bottle of vodka that no doubt is at his desk) out of our lives.
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| Beware of falling rocks...interesting road placement |
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| Looks like there was a house under this one |
Next up was Tahuata, where I'm writing from now. The sail to Tahuata was fast and that was the key! Key to what? Ending the curse, of course. We had been trawling hour after hour with no results. Days and days of fishing with no bites. Changing lures, buying replacements, etc. But as we approached Tahuata, the wind picked up to 24 knots. Our speed went up to 7.5 knots.......a lot of intensity as the boat bashed through waves like a runaway freight train. With masts, sails, rigging tensed at these higher speeds, Kirstin and I were totally focused on the boat (especially since a lot of recent repairs were being tested in this moment as well). Then suddenly.........bzzzzzzzz (the sound of a fish trying to make off with our lure in his mouth); I had totally forgotten we had our fishing line still deployed. And our higher than normal speed served to excite a tuna to bite. So, we reduced sail to slow the boat and enable me to bring the fish in but only got our speed down to 6.5 knots. How do you reel in a 150 lb tuna with the boat moving so fast? Who cares! Our fish was only 7 lbs. Hahahaha. Anyway, we hoisted him on board. Since I don't like using a bat or knife to kill fish, we took our bottle of cheap rum and shoved it in his mouth. Cheers, Mr. Tuna........you're dead.
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| Our first fish in 2 years; Mr. Tuna's cause of death was officially alcohol poisoning |
And just like that the curse has ended. I'm always reminded when cleaning a fish why a career as a general surgeon would have been a bad idea. Kirstin did the best job possible with my "hack job". But we ate "ocean to plate" tuna. Yum. Watch out tuna and mahi everywhere ! The L'ORIENTals are back in the game.
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| These valleys and outcroppings create very high wind pulses and cause boats to swing wildly |
We plan on slowing down now and exploring the place at a slow pace. More to come.
