Saturday 24th  March:  Hiva Oa, Iles Marquises, South Pacific Ocean 10 17.8S  139 18.6W

Today’s Blog by David (Time zone UTC -9.5 (sic))

Have you heard of Jacques Brel? He was a top French chanteur and acteur who repaired to Isles Marquises between engagements where he campaigned on behalf of les Marquises for its share of the French Aid money going into French Polynesia (and by all accounts not leaving Tahiti). He died in 1978 and has pretty much the same celebrity status here as Paul Gaugin.

Gaugin you will recall we have run into twice before.  He spent time as a labourer in the 1880’s working on the French attempt to build the Panama Canal where he caught and recovered from Malaria (that’s nothing, we have all done that!) We then ran into him in the Galapagos where he spent time for inspiration and now again we have caught up with him in French Polynesia.  We hope to get further on west than he did though!

There is a museum dedicated to him in Hiva Oa, where he based himself for the last 13 years of his life. 

Back to the Voyage ….

We have had a couple of enquires as to our welfare, there having been no Blog since we were about 50 miles out.  We do apologise.  The process of arriving in a foreign port after 17 days at sea is a pretty full on and active one. Apart from all the local formalities (which truthfully the World ARC arranged for us) we had to sus out the place. The anchorage is special although very crowded because there are 15 or so ARC boats here at once:

With spectacular views:

But we are about 2 miles from the town – well, village.  This is a typical French overseas “possession”. A central command community larged Gendarmerie and military presence. Everything very clean and tidy – no evidence of poverty – quite the contrary; obesity is prevalant here too. I cant say we were not warned, but everything is eyewateringly expensive.  A 33cl tin of beer was US$0.55 in a supermarket in Panama, US$1.00 in Las Perlas, $1.50 in Galapagos and is close to $2.75 here. Bananas $.50 each and fresh oranges (which we havent been able to buy since Panama) are $1.40 each.

On our first night we walked into the village. We found a bank ATM that paid us money and then stopped a passer by (well, actually the only person we had seen) and enquired where there might be a bar with a good Craic going down for four thirsty mariners.  In summary, such a place doesnt not exist – we were directed to a restaurant/relais for the biggest Pizzas we had ever seen (oh, and did I mention expensive?) .

Thursdy was a day of cleaning and fixing the boat and yesterday we hired a car and “did” Hiva Oa.  The car was fortunately a 4x4. Our destination wass 10 miles away as the crow flies but it took us 90 minutes to drive there over the  unmnade roads which cling precariously into the side of the volcanic mounts that comprise the interior of the island. Simone will be glad that she was not with us! The intrepid quartet stopped to stretch their legs – the road is in the background.

Our destination was the Lipona archeolgical site near Puamau. With lots of stone statues and things (getting technical here),  this was a place of worship and sacrifice. Peter seemed to fit in well:

And he found David a Frog:

So, as the day drew to an end  we were driving to another archaeological site described as “a must for culture buffs” but which we found to be a little too overgrown to be of real interest.

Tomorrow, we are going to  drop south about 12 miles to an island called Tahuata for a change of scenery overnight. Supposed to be clear water and good snorkelling – a marked contrast to the primordial green gloop that passes for water in thus anchorage.  Will be back here on Monday to drop Richard off before we set off to explore the rest of Isles Marquises while awaiting Simone’s arrival in Nuke Hiva on  April 7th