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| Yet another strange form of life in Polynesia |
Having arrived back at Taiohae Bay, Nuku Hiva (which surely means "super rolly" in Marquesan) we were anxious to make sure the boat was in good shape after our month in the US. Aside from barnacles and green slime ALL OVER our hull, L'ORIENT was mechanically OK. But, no problem.........we knew we could jump in the water (and under it with scuba equipment), clean the boat, and we'd be out of there.
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| Shopping in Nuku Hiva with our purchase limiting trolly- totally rusted and nearing its end |
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| The Nuku Hiva fruit bazaar - it sounds weird, but sourcing fresh food is a constant challenge this far off the grid |
One small problem intervened. During my time in Naples I compress all my medical visits into the week or two that I'm visiting my mother. Since we live essentially in the sun outside, a Dermatologist is consulted regularly. I pointed out a small bump on my hip the size of a pea and he chortled, looked at me like I was a hypochondriac, and said "Don't worry, it's nothing". By the time we arrived in Nuku Hiva, "nothing" had become the size of a golf ball and was quite painful. Uh, oh. The nightmare sailing scenario.........being in need of medical care on an island with 2200 people.
We ambled to the the small makeshift hospital (although the largest for about 800 miles)- essentially a cement blockhouse with outdoor triage and hoped for the best. A French surgeon took a look at the problem right away and scheduled my surgery for........five minutes from now. "Lay down, Monsieur". I gave him the important elements of my medical history, primarily that I take blood thinners and leak like a sieve when punctured. Not sure he understood. His intervention was successful though and he patched me up and told me to wait outside for five minutes for the local anesthetic to wear off. As I stood in the outdoor triage area, a nurse looked at me in that horrified way you see in zombie apocalypse movies and walked toward me......and pointed at my hip. A large red stain was growing on my gray shorts and spreading quickly. Clearly, my blood thinner comment to the doctor had not been taken seriously. So, they took me back in, patched me up, and sent me on my way........even washing my blood soaked shorts.
So this minor surgery and the seven post op visits I endured to check progress and change the dressing were expensive..............compared to a bottle of cheap wine, that is. The total bill for all this medical care was $25.16, which I paid partially in change. Ha-Ha-Ha. Unbelievable. Moral of the story is that healthcare isn't big business everywhere in the world. I even exchanged a fist bump with the surgeon afterwards at lunch - there are two lunch options so chances were good we would run into him. Oddly, lunch was more expensive than my health care. Kirstin because my personal nurse thereafter, and seemed to take to this new responsibility quite well. She would take pictures of the wound each day to track my progress, but I only consented to look at the pic once as I found it nauseating.
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| North bay in Nuku- still rolly, but different scenery at least |
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| Some rugged terrain in Nuku Hiva |
But with a hole in my hip, Kirstin had to clean the boat and the propeller herself as I was banned from the water for 2 weeks. She did a great job despite having some reservations regarding sharks and solo scuba diving (a big safety no-no).
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| North coast of Nuku- a small village that doesn't get much tourism |
We visited two of the northern bays on Nuku Hiva, having heard that they are not rolly. This advice was half right.........in that the bays were indeed located on the northern side of Nuku. For whatever reason, they were both rolly as hell, limiting sleep (again). For me, Nuku Hiva is a beautiful island that is tough to make comfortable when you're on the boat. Be it dinghy rides, swells, whatever.......it's real cruising.
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| A few more tikis - remnants of the past |
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| L'ORIENT is the boat in the center; this counts as a crowded anchorage in the Marquesas |
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| A rare white sand beach on this volcanic island group |
We topped off our fuel in Nuku Hiva, did a final bit of retail therapy and began our 4-day passage to Kauehi (which neither of us can pronounce).
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| Trying to influence a vendor with my abundant charm; she's clearly not buying what I'm selling |
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| Kirstin's jewelry tastes have gone totally native |
Being in the US for a month had no doubt made us soft and a 500 mile passage in these waters is no joke. We've had people who don't sail actually ask us if we anchor the boat at night on long passages........like in the middle of the ocean. Really. It's 3 hours on watch followed by 3 hours of fitful rest/sleep for 96 straight hours. We were excited about the trip because traveling South/Southwest, the wind would be favorable. We left expecting 12-17 knot wind which would move our boat quickly; what we also got in the second half of the voyage were seas from all directions and some quite boisterous evening squalls.
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| View from the captain's chair at night on Kirstin's 3:00 AM to 6:00 AM watch- a lot to keep track of while you try to forget that whales sleep on the surface |
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| Tracking squalls with our radar- a squall could pack 50 knot wind, so getting surprised by one could be a big problem; the large one 5 miles to our east nailed us. |
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| Small squall viewed from shore |
Of course, as we got to the pass into Kauehi atoll the wind began seriously roaring......like close to 30 knots. Great. We bashed our way through the atoll entrance, anchored, and found one of the most idyllic islands yet. We were virtually alone there, with one boat anchored a mile away. Save for a small thatch hut, there was no evidence of the hand of man.
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| Our own beach (again) |
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| The water is clear enough to see pebbles in 10 feet of depth |
The water was amazing. I finally returned to the water with my hip wound, and all was well. The startling juxtaposition of going from mountainous Nuku Hiva to totally flat Kauehi in the span of four days was shocking.........a completely different universe.
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| View off the bow in Kauehi |
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| Wash day in Paradise |
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| Kauehi is so different topographically from the Marquesas; this could also be a French nuke test site as well though |
We wanted to break up the trip to Tahiti, so instead to going straight there from Kauehi, we stopped at my personal favorite island, Fakarava. For a few days we enjoyed the "restaurants", swimming holes, and even did some shopping at the appropriately under-rated gas station mini-mart. All amazing.
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| Flying fish are attracted our navigation lights at night; generally a few "jumpers" are found dead on the deck in the morning. |
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| The fish of Polynesia are quite safe if our luck and faulty technology don't change. I have no idea how my line exploded in this way |
But L'ORIENT had her haul-out appointment at the boatyard and we needed to be there for her make-over. So we sadly left Fakarava for the hustle and bustle of Technimarine in Papeete. We had lots of work to do at this haul-out. Kirstin and I have a love/hate relationship with boat yards........on the positive side, you get needed under-water maintenance done like painting the bottom, maintaining the prop, bow thruster, etc. That's all good. But boatyards are hot, very dirty, and depressing in that your clothes, skin, and boat get covered in atomized boat paint....kind of like coal dust. And it's nearly impossible to wash it off. Yuck. And you can't go in the ocean either (no beach). We got everything done (almost), and now our boat is truly better than at any time of our 12 year ownership. Our boat work injuries were minor this time; my hand is either sprained or slightly broken..........Kirstin's back and joints hurt but she's tougher than me so she never complains.
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| Boatyard guys driving our home around the yard |
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| Practicing my commanding pose in preparation for my next delusion of grandeur |
After we left the boatyard, storm clouds...........like scary ones formed over Tahiti as we motored back to the nearby airport anchorage. Perfect. Why? Because we put on our bathing suits and broke out all the cleaning supplies we had on board and prayed for rain. The boat was black with grime from bow to stern. We suds up the boat and our prayers were answered..........a deluge of rain that Noah would have appreciated. We scrubbed for 3 hours with squalls hammering us (and more importantly rinsing us) on and off. We're not done cleaning yet, but this monsoon and our efforts got us 90% to being back "on brand" in terms of cleanliness. More to come, and enjoy the pics.
