Marquesas - Niku Hiva

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Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, Sailing Yacht Woodsia arrived in the mysterious land of Marquesas. The people spoke a strange tongue but they all looked like Kiwis. It is a tropical island with tall volcanic mountains that jut sharply into the deep deep sea (1,185m high and 40 - 100m deep). It was warm and the hills were lush and green, a magnet to clouds that had never seen land (it rained a lot).

Anyway, fairy tale stories aside on our arrival at the island of Niku Hiva, we were welcomed into the harbour by other yachts blowing their horns and just in time for the Bastile day long weekend. The locals don’t actually celebrate Bastille day but have their own indigenous celebrations in July that just happens to coincide. We were treated to several nights of local food, dancing and boxed French wine at the community hall (shed). We caught up with Steve, Di & Paul from “Independent Freedom” , Geoff and Merel (Miss Molly) and other cruisers for a couple of fun nights had by all. Kim was taken by the buffed guys dancing in grass skirts and nearly jumped over board when the following day they sped past the boat in their outrigger canoes.

We were told of an ancient ceremony site that was a couple of hours hike from the village. The layout was ideal for an episode of Survivor tribal council, doted around were stone tikis that looked like aliens and a huge Banyan tree that must have been over 200 years old. Our walk was made easy thanks to a local who gave us a lift there. Thankfully it was the uphill route.

Following the usual provisioning of fresh food & taking on fuel we moved to a very sheltered bay on the NE of the island inhabited by a small village. No rolly swell…yay!!! The houses were close to the golden sandy beach with a backdrop of a volcanic mountain. We spent several wonderful days with Geoff & Merel, cooking up a storm in the galley and simply catching up. We hiked to a large rugged, exposed bay on the east coast whilst enjoying the breath taking view. A few days later we moved to a neighbouring village for some fresh supplies. We visited the local store which had no fruit & veg. Thankfully Merel can speak French so we had a local escort us to a friendly neighbours back yard. They supplied us with ample mangos, bananas and the exotic fruit pamplemousse. The pamplemousse is sweet and juicy and resembles an oversized grape fruit. Eating it demands plenty of slurping noises as the small internal pockets/sacks explode in your mouth. Very tasty!! Geoff also fixed our lure so that we no longer have a visible trace. The lure proved to be a success when we picked up anchore one morning to pop around to another bay. Half a mile out, we caught a medium size dorado…the drought has finally broken!!!

We didn’t stay in the Marquesas as long as we had scheduled or explore the other island as the turquoise waters of the Archipel Des Tuamotu beckoned. Not to mention that it rains a lot and swimming is limited to jumping in then swimming back quickly to the boat. Sharks are fairly common and Si saw a 2 metre shark swim happily past the boat….

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Photos

Small Dorado at D'Anaho
Wait to you see the monstor we caught off Fakarava

Comments

[Di]

ooo pamplemousse
i'm thinking that pamplemousse would make a wicked margarita?! :)