First Impressions
Rhiann Marie - Round the World
Stewart Graham
Wed 21 Apr 2010 08:13
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Wednesday April 20 2211 Local 0711 UTC (21
April)
10:27.8S 138:40.1W
Yesterday we made landfall in Fatu Hiva
in the Marquesas. Since then we have explored the village ashore, had dinner
last night at the house of a local family eating many dishes including raw fish
and chicken casserole, rice, papaya, pampelmousse and so on. The meal was great
and we shared the table with several other crews from yachts. When everyone else
had left we spent time with the family and they asked that we came back the next
day (today) when they gave us a load of fruit from their garden and the
girl Lorena guided us in the direction of a very impressive
waterfall and swimming hole. More later.
Afetr leaving their house last night and
wandering our way through a veritable garden of eden to the shore we heard
traditional music playing through the beautiful still night air, along the
shore. We wandered along and found a family and friends sitting by the shore
looking out over the star and moonlit bay of Vigins with its spectacular phallic
rock formations, playing a form of Ukelele and Guitar and singing gently in that
archetypical polenesian style. We were asked to sit down with them and we
enjoyed a memorable, almost unbelievable introductory experience to
Polynesia. We went back to the boat enchanted with Fatu Hiva and went to bed and
slept the whole night, which was the first time in 14 days.
Today we had an easy morning. Trish was very
industrious with the laundry and Angus and I messed around with phones and
e-mails and then decided to re anchor in the 25 - 30 knot winds further into the
bay. This was a waste of time as we were perfectly well anchored but the
catabatic winds piling down of the peaks were slamming into us and we hoped to
get in under the lee of the mountains, but to cut a long story short it was
a waste of time and we ended back up where we started with 100m of chain on the
ground.
Then, satisfied that the anchor would hold we
went ashore to hike up the jungle covered hills to a waterfall. About a few
hundred meteres away Trish and Angus gave up and I carried on alone, along an
ever tightening and indiscernible path.
The waterfall was a couple of hundred feet
high, and falling down a wall to a pool where one can swim.
Upon arriving out of the jungle I came upon a
couple sitting on the rocks by the bottom of the waterfall. The woman was naked
and as I offered my bon soir's the woman went to cover up, but out of politeness
I insisted that she shouldn't bother.
The swim was very refreshing and the conversation
afterwards with the couple ( her now partially covered up) was really enjoyable
made all the more special by the dramatic location.
Now I, like us all I am sure, try not to form
impressions of people at first glance. But honestly sometimes I fail terribly in
this regard. Today as we took our rib ashore we went past a boat, and let me be
completely frank, it was so bad I had to slow down so Angus could take a photo
of it. Now this is not, I promise you, any kind of snobbery, but I just fail to
understand how someone, anyone, can live or sail in an overflowing skip. So
there I was falling victim again to my own ignorance and
forming impressions about whomsoever could be associated with
this boat. I know how this must sound, but I am being frank and I recognise
this character trait as a weakness and I am working on it.
So who do you think I met at the waterfall - yes
the beautiful maiden that had emerged from this "boat" and her ever
adventurous partner from the Ukraine. They seemed a very
together couple and humbled me when they told me they had sailed directly
from Panama to Fatu Hiva and this had taken them two months. This he said
was because their sails had "burst". He also had sailed and worked in
Scotland and knew of people, companies and vllages that I knew. He had
sailed to Orkney in November 95, and he just, well
- travelled.
Now to be clear this kind of thing is not for
me but it seemed that he, they, were doing exactly as they wanted to do and
were masters of their own destiny - wandering wherever they wanted, not
beholden to anybody or anything. Having thought long and hard about this I
still think the boat could be, well lets say - tidyer - otherwise
I will try harder not to form opinions about people on first
impressions.
It has blown upwards of 25 knots all day and
tomorrow we will sail to Hiva Oa and check in with the authorities there as we
are currently illegal immigrants. I will also try to meet up with our friends
from Nika where hopefully the spare Autopilot computer I have aboard will fit
Nika and will restore his Auotopilot as he, John, and Helen were 4 or 5
days behind us in the Pacific and lost their auotopilot. They have been hand
steering for the past few days, hour on hour off, and dont expect to make
landfall till Saturday.
It is a salutory reminder of how a passage like the
one we have just completed is only a hairsbreadth away from turning into a
nightmare from what we would describe as an easy passage. We must never let our
guard down or become complacent. When it goes well it seems easy but that can
all change in an insatant at any time for any number of
reasons.
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