16:40.113S 170:05.510W - French Polynesia highlights
Irene IV - World Adventure
Louis Goor
Fri 17 Jun 2022 09:06
Happy Bloomsday to all ye James Joyce fans!
Yesterday evening’s 18:00 radio net call was very informative. Aboard Irene
IV we had assembled a collection of facts about our stay in French Polynesia
to share with our friends aboard Makara. They, sad to report, were
experiencing auto pilot problems and had spent the whole night and day
sharing helming duties – no mean task, it is fair to say. However, true to
their word, Makara came up with plenty of juicy facts and experiences to
share with us too.
We took turns sharing our pearls of wisdom and golden experiences. French
Polynesia is famous for its fine tattoo artists. They use sacred designs
which bring good fortune and health to those who participate. The Makara
crew have participated extensively. Susan, on Makara, tells us that the
tattoo tradition actually dates back to the 1700’s and the voyages of
Captain Cook, or Tut, as the Tahitians called him at the time. Once the
custom was established it became deep-rooted in French Polynesian culture.
She informed us that an infant could not come to the family table until a
tattoo embellished their body. With the arrival of the Christian
missionaries, all tattooing was banned. Gradually, the art has been
re-established and is thankfully back to being an integral and proud part of
French Polynesian life.
We countered with our first fact: historically, in the Marquesas, the
population had a ratio of 2.5:1 men to woman. As a result, polyandry was
common amongst women, who often took a male concubine into their homes,
known as a “pekio”. This may explain why there is a third gender in French
Polynesia, known as “mahu”. Traditionally, the first-born son is chosen at
birth to be feminine and live as a woman. We saw much evidence of this on
our travels through all the islands in the region.
Makara’s next fact/experience was reporting on their special visit to the
marae, sacred temple, on Raiatea, Taputaputātea. Since July 2017, the site
of this monumental marae is on the UNESCO World Heritage sites list. The
Taputaputātea marae was the political and religious centre of most of the
Polynesian islands, including the Cook Islands and New Zealand, during the
17th and 18th centuries. The large slabs fashioned out of coral, are
tributes to their various gods, some as much as 3 meters high. The marae
also housed many of the region’s best known and gifted canoe builders. When
the Makara crew visited the site, they were fortunate to see some canoes
arriving which had travelled all the way from Hawaii. The marae has a dark
history too, the chiefs and peoples at that time practiced human sacrifice.
Heidi shared her experience on an ocean tour in Huahine. The guide showed
them that the outline of the big island, Huahine Nui, looks like the form of
a reclining woman giving birth, usually translated as “sexy woman”!
Liz shared our experience hiking, getting lost and bush whacking on Maupiti!
Louis shared our experiences of the Tahiti Pearl Regatta, both the sailing
and the party elements!
Makara countered with a fabulous quad bike tour they experienced, to the
centre of the island of Tahiti visiting the magical Blue Lagoon and swimming
with the sacred eels. On Moorea they visited a vanilla farm and learned that
each vine is hand pollinated – remember that next time you add vanilla
essence to your cake mixture!
We ended with a final interesting fact: parents in French Polynesia are not
possessive of their children, they often share them with those less
fortunate, or even totally give them away. Sometimes the sharing is simply
that they feel another person is a better parent or suited better to that
particular child’s personality.
All in all, both boats concurred, French Polynesia is a very advanced
culture, and filled with jewels to uncover - we hope to be back again.
In discussing our favourite part of the rally so far, we all agree that the
long 18-day Pacific crossing from the Galapagos to the Marquesas trumps all
else.
The day before, Susan and I had an SSB radio conversation about the domestic
side of living aboard a sailing yacht. She told me of a hack that she uses
to keep vegetables fresh and crunchy during these longer passages. This is a
challenge about which many chapters of advice have been written, some of
which I can now add to! We try to use as little plastic as possible, as you
well know, but so far it has seemed to me the best way to store vegetables
in the refrigerator is in plastic bags with paper towels wrapped around the
vegetables to soak up any moisture. Boat fridges are not the same as house
fridges, they are not evenly cold, and are often unreliable at keeping a
constant temperature. Susan says she has had great success with wrapping
vegetables in aluminium foil. Lettuce has stayed fresh for 3 weeks, she
exclaims! I love this idea! Aluminium is very recyclable and, as far as I am
aware does not kill fish. I have already started my experiment. Most boats
use mesh hammocks to store fruit, keeping it well aerated and allowing
constant vigilance as to what is ripening and needs to be eaten first, as
all is completely visible. Ours hangs in the main saloon and, I think, adds
to the comeliness of our watery home.