Safiya in the Marquesas

After a brief pit stop in Fatu Hiva to stretch our legs and enjoy a celebratory drink (or two) with the other early arrivals, we set off for Nuku Hiva on Wednesday evening.

The Marquesas are the Northernmost group of islands forming French Polynesia. There are 10 inhabited islands of which Nuku Hiva is the largest and most northerly.

March to October is the rainy season and boy does it rain, one morning we left the boat to go shopping and left our hatches open....oooops, wet beds!! The vast volume of water that falls means that the vegetation is very green and lush, but on the downside the sea is very muddy from the amount of soil washed into it (not like the crystal clear waters that we have been used to) and it is a breeding ground for mosquitoes.To reach Nuku Hiva we had a passage of some 150 miles and another night sail to arrive at the bay of Taiohae which is the "capital" of the Marquesas islands. I use the word capital in the loosest sense of the word! The town is a sleepy little place with the quay being centre of activities. Every morning the fishing boats arrive with their catch which they clean, fillet and gut on the dockside. Behind that is the market that sells locally grown fruit and veg. Enormous grapefruit, mangoes, avacadoes, bananas and lemons grow like weeds here. Anything else has to be imported and is in very short supply. We have been told that to get the best produce you have to be in the market for 5.30am because it will be sold out by 6am! I don't think we will see tomatoes or lettuice again until we reach Tahiti.

Being a French owned territory has its advantages, the local bakery sells fanatastic bread and croissants. The French influence is also prevalent in the cooking and after nearly three weeks of boat cooked food it was a pleasure to enjoy a very nice typically French meal washed down with French wine.

After a couple of days in Taiohae during which we cleared in, provisioned and refuelled we decided to cruise around the island for a few days. We anchored in one bay and took a hike to Vaipo waterfall, a breathtakingly high and narrow waterfall casacding from 2000 feet. it is reputedly the worlds third highest waterfall and it was a gruelling three hour walk to reach it. After doing very little exercise for the last three weks our legs really felt it the next day!On our way back a local family invited us into their home for lunch. We enjoyed a simple but totally fresh meal of BBQ fish, breadfruit and salad made from shredded green papaya and mango washed down with homemade lemonade. it was delicious and very welcome afetr our exertions of the morning.

We plan to stay in Nuku Hiva for another week before we move on to the next archipelago in French Polynesia - the Tuamoto islands. Over the next week we have Harveys birthday to celebrate (10th) and an Oyster party on Saturday.