Nuku Hiva – last stop of the Marquesas (again)

Turtlebones at anchor in Ua-Pao

OK – I did it again. This is Shawn masquerading as Sharon. There is a reason! Believe it or not Starlink changed policy in May and now for ocean access Bill & Sharon had to “upgrade” – pay more, and be limited to 50 gigabytes per month of usage. 50 gigabytes you say – that is massive. Well we did 100 in the first 30 days (and the Iridium GO Exec was limited to 50 megabytes). So I was trying a different way of making a post but by email, but it attributed the email to Sharon. Sorry Sharon!

For those seeing this the second time I have added some text, previously undisclosed, of a sexual nature, to make it (maybe) worth your while seeing this twice.

So back to the story…

Although we were enjoying our stay at Ua-Pou – a mostly protected anchorage with about a dozen boats, we were forced into another unexpected departure. Because of the crowded nature of the anchorage everyone had a stern anchor out to keep the boats from swinging around. Bill has a secondary anchor with maybe 20 feet of chain and a couple hundred feet of rode/rope. We had to reset overnight on Saturday because the winds shifted and the stern anchor dragged. Afterwards a food sleep (some checking of neighbours overnight) and we awoke to a beautiful Sunday morning.

Breakfast Sunday AM in Ua-Pow

Bill and I headed into town early – the bakery was only open from 5am to 8am then closed for the day. Although there were no baguettes, they did have some coconut cakes, a crepe style bread/pastry, some donuts and more. We also went back to an outdoor “fruit place” – someone’s back yard with a scale on a plastic table, and picked up some more grapefruit, some local oranges, many starfruit and a dragonfruit (pink thing in the picture).

Needless to say, the winds seem to vary dramatically over a 24-hour period and where through some period you are being blown on the main anchor toward shore and the stern anchor stops the swing, at other time the winds change 180 degrees and you are being blown hard towards the sea. After breakfast the winds picked up and shifted again to the stern. What we had determined after resetting the stern anchor 3 or 4 times was that although it would stop the swing, our stern anchor could not “hold the boat in place” and it would drag, so we would run up on the forward anchor towards the sterns of other boats.

About 11am on Sunday morning we decided resetting it a fifth time would not help, pulled up both anchors and headed for Nuku Hiva – the last island on our dance card for the Marquesas. 

Anchorage in Taipivai, Nuku Hiva

We had a nice sail with the headsail only and motored into a very deep (a long way in, not down) anchorage on the south-east corner of Nuku Hiva. There was only one other Cat in the anchorage, we had good depths at 20 feet and no need for a stern anchor! A very nice and secure place for the night. Monday was an overcast and rainy day, so we did nothing all day – perfect.

On Tuesday we decided to head into town. Our expectations were low as Google Maps showed nothing but a cemetery, Wikipedia said it was a town of about 350 people and the “books” we referenced (which are all 10 to 12 years out of date) said little other than this was the famous Comptroller Bay in which Herman Melville was stranded. Sharon has been reading Taipi and had been recounting aspects of the story to Bill and I so she knew something of the history.

Artisan Festival in Taipivai

We headed into town – an adventure on its own as we travelled a short way up a creek until the water was too low, and then pulled the dingy onto a small beach with other boats. We walked into town and were greeted with an artisan festival (carving) and about 30 pickup trucks and 75 plus tourists who had “convoyed in” from the main town. We could not even get in to look.

So, we asked some directions and wandered into a magazin/store and had an ice cream bar, then up to a local paepae/archeological site. This one was more in the “middle of town” and had been turned into a park.

At paepae in Taipivai

It ended up we had gone in a circle and when we looked next door, there was the artisan festival again but all the trucks had pulled out. We went back to the artisan show and chatted and looked at the many pieces. I bought a turtle with a tiki carved on the back, and Bill and Sharon too interest in a large, beautiful piece about 4 foot long that I will let Sharon describe. Because this was a more “upscale piece” (more expensive), the wife (Crystal) of the master carver had to come over to negotiate, and then she offered to introduce us to her husband (Mattiew), the master carver.

Tribute to Herman Melville and Taipi

On the way what should we pass but a special tribute to Herman Melville. We were told that the actual paepae he had lived in back in 1842 was a bit further inland and was now totally overgrown. I think this was a highlight moment.

Crystal, Bill, Sharon and Mattiew

So this is the additional content in the second version of this post. Notice Crystal’s hand pointing at Bill’s penis, and Sharon reaching down in that direction. What you are not seeing on the carving on the log behind them all is a totem pole like carving with a tiki, (see the eyes near Crystal’s butt?). That is not the nose of the tiki down by Bill’s knee but the very prominent penis. We first ask to take Crystal’s picture and she sat on the log for the picture and afterwards broke into hysterical laughter as she realized she had say atop the penis. So when I asked them all to gather again for a photo she was busy trying to point at the penis (on the log not Bill). Needless to say this was an ice-breaker for the afternoon!

What an awesome hour or more we spent chatting. Mattiew and his crew were carving large teak and other poles which were used for the support of the traditional houses that sat on the paepae stone platforms. The one with the “tiki”, human face and body acted as a guardian at the front, then another carved pole then a large uncarved pole in the back. Mattiew was passionate about the traditional Marquesian arts and recounted a gathering of first nations people from Canada, South America, all of the Pacific Islands as far as New Zealand, where they shared traditional dance, food, language and more. He also told us the creation story for the islands and how locally in these islands alone they do a series of festivals over a few years where they start in Nuku Hiva (big island), then Ua-Pau (little) the Hiva Oa (big), then Fatu Hiva (little) and so on until all seven are visited in the order they were created, and back to Niku Hiva.

We are invited back for December for the festival, but I don’t think it is on our dance cards.

After a great morning and afternoon we returned to the boat. This was another adventure as the water level had dropped more and I needed to jump from the dingy and walk it forward over the sand bars. I likened myself to Humphry Bogart in The African Queen, but and not expecting an Oscar nomination. Bill jumped out once we were back to the bay/ocean and we pushed the dingy through the surge and off to Turtlebones.

We raised anchor (one of that had held well) and headed for Taioha’e, the biggest city in the Marquesas and capital. It was a short passage which was good as it was already mid-afternoon. We arrived to the busiest harbour we have seen buy far – 50 boats at anchor and the famous Arunui which is a combination passenger boat and supply freighter that does a 3 week circuit around the islands of French Polynesia. From what I had read before you need to book this a year in advance but it is a great way of seeing many islands over 3 weeks.

The Arunui 5 – Passenger and supply boat

So we found a place to anchor, say many of our previous “friends” from other anchorages (Thursday’s Child, Trinity) and settled in for what might be the last town we visit in the Marquesas.

So, it is now Thursday – we have done some walk about here (mostly running into town for baguettes) and they had a fruit and vegetable market, so we have done some reprovisioning.

Another insertion for version 2 (again) of this post – a total departure to tech land! We have pretty much (finally) nailed the combination generator/charger/inverter so that when the generator runs we get max-power to the charging and nothing is overloaded, reboots or overheats. This is a good place to be! Bill also spent more time in the engine room, cleaned the filter on the water maker (which although brand new a month ago was disgusting), and we ran several more tests on throughput of the water maker. Bottom line is we are making about 60% of the water we “could” and have isolated it to those pumps.

We also went into the marine store today got more dingy repair glue, a new fan to cool the pumps in the water maker and we looked at a brand new dingy for $1000. Tomorrow Bill and I will sneak in some scuba diving, we have tried reaching out for horseback riding, but it is in a bay on the north end of the island. I think we need another run into the marine store to look at dinghies as we are now at the point we need to pump it up between the boat and the dock.

We will likely leave here on Saturday – but whether to the Tuamodos or an anchorage in the north end of Nuku Hiva is still in discussion.

Stay tuned! (and I will try not to post as Sharon again!)