10.45S; 138.56W
Around the world with the Aqualunies
Jonathan & Gabrielle Lyne
Sat 1 May 2010 19:53
Friday 30th April, 2010
Leaving the Marquesas Islands.
After leaving Hiva Oa (Paul Gaugain's island) on Wednesday we had champagne
sailing to Fatu Hiva, smooth rolling sea and a reach with 10 knots of
wind. We arrived in Fatu Hiva at about 4pm in the Bay de Vierges, was once
known as the Bay de Verges due to its very phallic rock formations in the
bay. It is a very dramatic bay, narrow with high cliffs each side and then
mountains rising up beyond those. It is also a very wet island with
rainfall nearly everyday for an hour or so, therefore it is also very
green. When I can get back onto wifii again in about two weeks time I will
put some more 'photos on the blog. We had dinner on board that
evening. Got up early the next morning to do a walk to a waterfall up the
valley which was in full flow and beautiful, no swimming in the pool below as
it is said to be polluted. Lots of development going on with a new
cement road being built for the numerous 4x4s that seem to exist. Lots of
people employed by the French goverment who keep the running of the islands
pristine. Wild chickens and pigs everywhere and as with the other islands lots
of horses, which look healthy and well looked after. On Nuka Hiva they run
wild on the upper plains and are related to the horses left by sailors from the
past. The younger Marquesan men still go hunting wild pig on horse back
with a pack of dogs and spears, it is almost a rite of passage and a preferred
way of hunting. The tattoos a lot of men are covered in and some of the
females have are beautiful and we were very tempted to go and have little ones
done by a specialist on the Island of Tahuata but never got to the village in
the end.
This morning we left the Bay of Vierges and motored around to Omoa village,
but the sea rolling in was huge, the supply/passanger ship was anchored off, we
did go into the tiny sheltered area but very busy with supply boats going
backwards and forwards to the ship and a massive swell still so abandoned trying
to get some French bread and to look at the tapa cloth being made, now the only
place it is done in the Marquesas. Tapa cloth is made from the bark of
trees, dark brown from the Banyan tree, cream from the Bread Fruit tree and
white from the Mulberry tree. The Mulberry tree tapa is the most prized
and in the past if a girl was born the more wealthy families planted Mulberry
trees so that she could wear white tapa on her wedding day. Now we are on
our way to the Tuamoto Archipelago and our first landing is planned to be on
Makemo, it will be great to be able to do some swimming inside the reef,
although you still have to get local knowledge as in the past some of the pearl
divers have been bitten by sharks. We are now sailing along with 15 -20
knots of wind and making about 7.5 -8 knots, we hope to be there in two
days.
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