10:27S 138:40W Bay of Virgins
Toucan
Conor & Marion Wall
Mon 6 Jun 2011 04:38
Land Ahoy, Fatu Hiva, Marquesas Islands
Bay of Virgins, Fatu Hiva and ‘Toucan’.
We arrived in the Bay of Virgins on Friday 3rd June, the day after Marion’s
birthday and we drank the bottle of Champagne that was given to us by Malcolm
and Angela to open when we crossed the Atlantic. But then, in St Lucia, there
was so much rum flowing that we just did not get the opportunity to drink it.
Now was the perfect moment, a big crossing behind us and a birthday to
celebrate.
The wine came after the Champaign with Peter & Sandra who
arrived shortly after us. Galapagos to Marquesas.
The scenery around the bay is magnificent with the really tall mountains
shooting straight up all around us with amazing rock formations and rocky peaks.
The sunset on the bay is stunning with the colours changing by the second as
clouds roll in and out. I could not do it justice describing it, you will just
have to go to Google Earth and have a look for yourself. Hopefully someone will
have put a photo or two there.
This road ended here, the road to nowhere. A dirt track continued
but all washed away and unusable.
View from near the top of one of the peaks.
Or you could wait until we get internet again and hopefully I will be able
to download some of our photos.
Friday we rested and Saturday we climbed to the top of one of the peaks
that gave a stunning view of the valley and the bay where the boat is anchored.
There is a small village here with a tiny shop that sells very little, a few
tins of this and a few tins of that, no fresh produce and little else. The
villagers all live in similar dwellings and most have large gardens in which
they grow their own produce, hence no need for the shop to sell any. The locals
do not have a need for money, it would seem, and prefer to trade, we traded some
items from the boat for bananas and grapefruit both parties very happy. The
items that they ask for are things like fishing hooks, rope, shackles, fenders
etc. but also clothing and pencils. Some prefer to ask for rum and cigarettes
but we do not go there with those two items. So first trade got rid of some
fenders that I never use and some small things for the young girl of the family
that we did the trade with.
Copra, the white bit of the coconut, drying before being sent to
have the oil extracted.
The daughter had just made confirmation, hence the outfit. Me with
the fruit for fenders exchange.
The villagers are very friendly and today Sunday we went to Mass in the
small church. The whole village was there and all dressed up in colourful
clothing with most of the women wearing freshly picked flowers in their hair.
The choir was amazing, if you closed your eyes you would have thought you were
in Heaven. One hour of music and the service in the local language that we could
not understand but the message was I’m sure the same as you hear the world
over.
The waterfall from a distance.
There is a waterfall here that we hope to walk to tomorrow. It takes about
an hour of hard walking but we are told that it is stunning. One hundred meters
sheer drop into a pool of cool water that you can swim in.
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