Astra Blog: Marquesas (Part 1) 29.05.08 - 02.06.08

Astra Blog: Marquesas (Part 1) 29.05.08 –
02.06.08 As we entered the
anchorage in the dark, it was a very pleasant surprise to find that daybreak
illuminated the beautiful After 18 days at sea,
legs - some more than others - were severely challenged on the one mile walk
from the bay to the Next, a short walk to
the Gaugin museum. Containing no originals, instead the walls were covered with
a variety of reproductions of Gaugin’s works by local artists. It suffices to
say that the quality of the reproductions, and the moral acceptability of the
originals, left the crew’s opinion divided. An interesting facet of the museum
is a reconstruction of Gaugin’s abode, his Maison du Jouir (House of
Pleasure).
Strummer,
one of the yachts we overtook in
crossing the Pacific, was due into the anchorage on Saturday afternoon.
Excitement was abound as Strummer was
unable to put his engine into forward and he was going to require towing. Jeremy
had been in contact with Strummer and
had rallied together a number of tenders to act as tugs. In addition to Astra, Adventure (one of Jeremy’s radio chums),
Camille, and Aries Tor also sent tenders to assist.
A 50 ft catamaran was coming into the anchorage at the same time, oblivious to
Strummers plight and the flotilla of
dinghies thus necessitated. As the catamaran had a little more pulling power
than the dinghies, Ash commandeered the cat’ for towing purposes! Having towed
Strummer past the breakwater, the
four dinghies took over from the catamaran and manoeuvred the yacht into a
suitable position for anchoring. The same evening we had
Adventure over for dinner. Sally made
roast beef and all the trimmings (including a very good Yorkshire pudding) and
we all had a pleasant time eating a delicious meal and swapping stories and,
afterwards, books. Regular book swaps have become a necessity to satisfy Sally’s
voracious appetite for reading! As our leg muscles were
slowly coming back to life we set out on a walking trip on a trail into the
jungle to see the Tehueto Petroglyphs, some very old stone carvings. We had not
gone more than a mile from the boat before the trail started looking quite
overgrown and the heavens opened. Stoically, we trudged on. One unmarked
bifurcation in the trail followed another, leaving us to guess as to the correct
route. Fearing for his electronic equipment (two phones and a GPS) Jeremy took
shelter from the drenching downpour and eventually, as the rain showed no sign
of abating, he and Sally turned back. George and Ash,
undeterred by a bit of moisture, carried on into the jungle at a jog.
Eventually, the trail disappeared into thick, almost impenetrable jungle. Rather
than retrace their steps they thought they might have a better chance of finding
the correct trail if they were to descend the slope and follow the river back.
This proved exciting if not a little treacherous as having got down to the river
level there was no easy way back and the jungle either side was so thick that
the river itself was the only navigable path. They were making relatively good
progress down the river until Ash leapt towards the bank shouting “Snake!” To
this day Ash maintains “it was a bloody big snake – there is nothing else it
could be” despite the fact that Lonely
Planet claims that there are no snakes in Eventually they were
able to make their way back from the river to the correct trail and found the
staggeringly unimpressive lumps of rock known as the Tehueto Petroglyphs. They
returned, in the still torrential rain, covered in mud but
triumphant! Something of a
leitmotif in the story of our stay in Having lugged his
laptop up to Atuona from the boat, Jeremy was happy to find that he could get
internet connection in the local post office. The one problem was that not long
after our arrival the post office shut for lunch. Jeremy worked out that the
WiFi from the Post Office would be available over the road in Snack Make Make,
he would just need to plug his laptop into a power socket. In spite of our charm
and orders of Hinano and poison cru the owner remained un-obliging and would not
let Jeremy plug in his laptop. Jeremy had to go back to the Post Office in the
afternoon to finish his internet business which he almost completed before they
threw him out for a second time. Our last evening in
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