Graptolite - Southwest to Tuamotu Islands
Graptolite's Sailing Log
Martyn Pickup & Heike Richter
Wed 2 Apr 2008 16:54
We got in some food supplies in the morning and stocked up with some more
fruit from the mango tree we found yesterday. It must have been a scary
sight with the Graptolite hunter-gatherers brandishing boat-hook and machete
in the forest.
In the afternoon we were invited to a party being held to celebrate the
inauguration of the new Mayor of Atuona. There were local girls there doing
traditional singing and dancing and local lads dressed in green grass
war-dress doing a Hakka. Thankfully, there are no worries about sexual
stereotyping here. The food was excellent although you had to be quick on
your toes to get the best bits of the roasted pigs.
We then had just one final task before leaving, which was to take on diesel.
We confidently turned up at the islands only petrol station with our jerry
cans to be told we could only have a miserly 40 litres. Now this is a volume
may have got us out of sight of the Marquesas but it was not enough to reach
any other island group with any degree of safety. To be able to leave we
were forced into a form of piracy where we took it in turns to put on
disguises to get more 40-litre rations. One of the later raids involved
Heike with a pillow under her clothes and a bandaged arm. A bit
over-the-top, I thought, even though I suggested it. Dragging the full jerry
cans back to the dingy a local woman offered Heike a ride in the back of her
truck. Doubtless, the kind lady had a very low opinion of the skipper who
would send out a heavily pregnant woman to carry fuel.
Just before dark we upped anchor and headed out of the bay back to sea.
M