by Judy Handley | May 18, 2006 | French Polynesia - Marquesas, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 213, Year 1: A Day of Rest
Date: Thursday, May 18, 2006
Weather: Beautiful Warm Days with Cool Evenings—No Change
Location: Hanavave Bay, Fatu Hiva, Marquesas
I named this log entry “Day of Rest” but you have to understand that for a Martin and a Handley, this does not mean that you really rest ALL day. In between resting, Mark took down the headsail and repaired the stitching on the bottom edge and the side seams and replaced the sheets (the lines that control the Yankee). He then made multiple trips to town to get jugs of water to fill up our tanks. I rearranged books on the shelves and we shrink-wrapped some books to store to make room for new books. Other than that, it was a day of rest.
As we are watching the sun go down, we are preparing to leave beautiful Fatu Hiva early in the morning. We have really enjoyed our stay here but it is time to move on. We were going to leave this morning, but last night neither Mark nor I felt very good. Then during the night I had a fever, but it broke by morning and I am on the mend. So this is why we decided to “rest” instead of push on today.
After crossing 3,000 miles of the Pacific to reach the Marquesas, we certainly haven’t been disappointed. This bay is not your white beach and coconut palm tree anchorage. It’s more like being in the Tetons, with palm trees. The rock formations in the bay are spectacular and the colors of green that drape the mountain sides are unlimited. The daily life here is much like that in small isolated towns in southern West Virginia. My mother’s family is from a place named Wikel in Monroe County, West Virginia. This little village has more people than Wikel, but it is very similar in every other way. Each morning we wake to the smell of wood smoke, which is probably coconut shells burning, and the people in Hanavave share their lives peacefully with the chickens that roam everywhere, lots of mamas and babies, a few goats, and pigs. Fruit trees and flowering bushes are everywhere and just literally dripping with fruit and blossoms. We have only seen one cow that lives near the waterfront, but there are lots of wild goats that roam the mountainsides above the anchorage. The children play volleyball and soccer on the town pier and seem to be very happy and always helpful. The adults are the same–always helpful and friendly. Our time here will always remain a precious memory.
The one thing that people here haven’t discovered is the internet. Even though every home has a satellite dish for their television reception, otherwise this seems to be the black hole of communication. I can send e-mails out and receive in the evening only, and for some reason, our logs are not being posted on the website. Our son Justin who manages the site is in Africa and he is having similar internet problems. He does have web access, but it is extremely slow. We might have to wait until he returns home next Wednesday to get the logs posted. Our daughter Heather is working on this, but we’ll just have to be patient and see what happens. Apologies to those of you who read the log daily. We are hoping that when we move to Tahuata and Hiva Oa, our next stops, that communication will be better.
by Judy Handley | May 17, 2006 | French Polynesia - Marquesas, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 212, Year 1: A Mountain Walk on Fatu Hiva
Date: Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Weather: Beautiful Warm Days with Cool Evenings—No Change
Location: Hanavave Bay, Fatu Hiva, Marquesas
How do we spend our time in this lovely anchorage? I get up and check the morning net to see how the boats we were traveling with who have not arrived are doing. Randy of Procyon arrived in Papeete and is in good condition. From what I can gather from broken communication, it seems that his bowel blockage was caused by swelling as a result of his fall. From what I heard this morning, he is not having to have a second surgery. Sheri will reach Nuka Hiva tomorrow, so all is as well as possible on that front. The folks that are still out there are having absolutely NO wind. None of us can figure out where the trade winds have gone, but they are certainly not in the Pacific Ocean right now. Boats leaving here going to Hiva Oa and other parts north are all having to motor. We have even heard that there are winds from the west in the Tahiti area. What is going on out here? And what is going on back in the northeast US? Unprecedented rain with lots of flooding is what we are hearing. As our British friends would say, “Things seem to have gone pear-shaped.”
After checking the morning net, we ate breakfast and then this morning Mark was off to help Aqua Magic change props and put on new zincs. I stayed “home” and baked bread and brownies and tried for two hours to send e-mails-but no go. The propagation out here is really poor and it seems that the only time to send and receive is in the evening. And even that is not working quite right yet. I sure hope these logs are reaching the website, but from what I have heard from a couple of people, they are not. We’ll get this worked out, but patience is in order for the time being.
We had fresh bread for lunch and then it was time for island exploration. We thought we knew how to get from the village to a waterfall high on the mountain, but somehow we managed to make a wrong turn. We walked the road in one direction and got to the top of a mountain-but no waterfall. We had a spectacular view of the mountains dipping down to the ocean, but we continued to search for the waterfall. We went up another road and came to a clearing where the road obviously ended. There was a little building and a shed with lots of bee hives underneath. Great find, but still not a waterfall. We went back down and tried one more time. We climbed through beautiful rainforest, but again came out into a clearing with no waterfall. By this time, we had crossed the mountain stream and seen beautiful fast running water over rocks, so we were satisfied-and exhausted-and returned to the village. As we walked down the mountain, we heard the tap-a-tap-a-tap of someone making tapa cloth. We stopped to watch the woman beating the bark on a stone to make cloth, but she wasn’t interested in trading for anything I had with me. So I will probably leave here tapa-less, but with great memories of watching them being made. I make a quick trip to the one little store here to buy canned butter and then went to trade for some fruit. I traded a small bottle of shampoo for a huge bunch of bananas, five pamplemoose (grapefruit), and whole bunch of citron (lemons). I also gave the woman a top for her daughter that I had bought in Panama that didn’t fit me quite right. This was just a gift-in-kind. People here are so friendly and it is a nice feeling to leave them with something that they need. What the woman want is perfume, fingernail polish, bright lipsticks, watches, smallish earrings, decorative pins-none of which I have onboard. What the men want is fishing lures, boat fenders, and bullets-again, none of which we have extras onboard. So we are at a bit of a disadvantage for trading. Shampoo is very expensive here, so I could at least get fruit in exchange for that. Anyone heading this way should stock up on the other items, however. The trading can be great fun.
Our final chore of the day was to get containers of water and take them out to Windbird. The drinking water here comes from that elusive waterfall at the top of the mountain and is quite good and safe. We are having watermaker difficulties, so we will fill up by carrying jugs of water from shore before we leave.
We had sundowners on a boat named Shiraz that came in yesterday. Steve and Renee are from Indianapolis and they had invited Bob and Cindy from Figment and Judy and Roger from Hanoua out of Brunswick, Maine. Bob and Cindy and Judy and Roger are all quite young, around the 40 mark, and when I asked them how they are affording to do this, they simply said that they will probably return and work at Walmart to a ripe old age to pay for this, but they are doing it in the prime of their lives so they can enjoy it to the fullest.
Mark and I are turning in early tonight. We are both exhausted. We had thought we would leave for Hiva Oa in the morning, but I think departure will depend on just how much our bodies can recuperate overnight. All is well; we are just plain tuckered out!
by Judy Handley | May 16, 2006 | French Polynesia - Marquesas, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 211, Year 1: Working on Your Boat in Exotic Locations
Date: Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Weather: Beautiful Warm Days with Cool Evenings
Location: Hanavave Bay, Fatu Hiva, Marquesas
I hope that the log for Day 209 has finally been posted on the website. I sent it last night (Monday night) at about 9:30 pm local time. Late this afternoon we received a message that none of our e-mails send last evening had gone through. They have been sent again and hopefully successfully. We are hoping that this was just a chance occurrence and that we will not have similar difficulties with future e-mails, but only time will determine that. Please hang in there with us while we figure out the communication system from here in the South Pacific.
We’ve often heard that cruising is really just all about working on your boat in exotic locations, and now we know why that is said. We have been here since Sunday afternoon and all we have done is work on the boat. All of us who have arrived here recently are absolutely amazed at how dirty our boats have gotten since leaving the Galapagos. The bottoms of our boats have become literal gardens of gooseneck barnacles. And we all have a brownish-green slime growing about half way up our hulls that is very, very hard to remove. We have finally done as much as we can do for now. The hull is not as white as it once was, but you learn to adjust your vision of what is acceptable. It will do. The barnacles have been scraped off the bottom. And now we can start to enjoy where we are.
Late this afternoon we went to town and visited with one of the wood carvers here. His name is Christian Vaki. He carves and his wife makes tapas-cloth made from tap-tap-tapping the bark of local trees until it is beaten into a pliable, cloth-like material. I did end up buying a bowl from Chris and might go back tomorrow to buy one of his tikis. We also visited the tiny general store in the village, the only commercial venue here, and checked out what they have for sale. We saw the children playing at recess in the school lot adjacent to the store. We learned that the store will take American dollars and give you change back in Francs, but since this is the only store in town, all other dealings are done with individuals. And what they want is something in trade, not money. I have a bag full of earrings, extra shoes, a bolt of materials, and various other items ready to trade tomorrow.
We will probably stay here until Thursday morning before moving on. We will certainly keep you posted on our progress. If a log isn’t posted you will know that it is because we have had poor communication to the internet.
by Judy Handley | May 15, 2006 | French Polynesia - Marquesas, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 210, Year 1: Beautiful Fatu Hiva
Date: Monday, May 15, 2006
Weather: Beautiful with Periods of Liquid Sunshine
Location: Hanavave Bay, Fatu Hiva, Marquesas
This place really is special. There are only two villages on the island of Fatu Hiva. One is called Omoa and I suppose the village here is called Hanavave. If you didn’t have a GPS to tell you that you had arrived here, you could go right past and never see that there is village here. The anchorage is in a little bay surrounded by tall mountains on all sides. The cliffs rise straight up except at the head of the bay where there is small flat area before the mountains rise. The flat area is the village and the surprising thing to me was that it looks like a small country town with little prefab houses, a church, and a school, also modern construction. There is no traditional housing here. The French subsidize living and most homes have very nice flat screen TV’s with DVD players. Some have washing machines, but the kitchens are still outside as they would have been prior to modern housing. The people are extremely friendly and seem to speak a mix of French and Marquesan and most speak or understand a little English.
I said it feels like being out in the country as the sounds of birds wake you in the morning and little white goats meander on the steep cliffs above us. There is always the smell of a wood fire burning and the vegetation is lush and plentiful. The breadfruit trees look a little like walnut trees and you can hear chickens as they roam about on the mountainside. But when you stand back and look at the unusual rock formations, high craggy mountains, and swaying palm trees, you know you aren’t in West Virginia.
We spent the entire day today cleaning the bottom and sides of the boat. When we arrived yesterday we were warned by others that the bottom of our boat would be thick with gooseneck barnacles that would need to be removed within 24 hours. Otherwise they die and become most problematic to remove. We were also told that the algae growing on the side of the boat would be very hard to clean off. And, oh boy, were they right about this. Mark cleaned the entire bottom with spatula from the galley and I cleaned and waxed one side of the boat. The other side will have to wait until tomorrow.
We didn’t even go into town today during the day, but we did go in for dinner tonight. Felix and Monica aboard Makani had set up a private dinner at someone’s home and invited a few boats to come along. There are no restaurants here, so locals invite cruisers into their homes. It was dark here as we walked through town and there were lighted displays of the Virgin Mary in the front yards of many homes. There was a religious service underway on the side of the street. People here are deeply religious. When we arrived at the house where we would be having dinner, we were asked to remove our shoes before entering the house and were all given flowers to wear behind our ear-left ear if you are married, right ear if you are not. The food served was sticky rice, chicken and pork prepared in small pieces, and raw fish “cooked” in lemon juice and coconut milk served with cooked bananas.. We ate with our fingers in the traditional style. We had pamplemoose (like grapefruit) for dessert and everything was delicious. One of our hosts, a young woman named Julianna, gave all of the female dinner guests black pearls as a souvenir. It was a very quiet and special evening.
Tomorrow we will explore the little village during daylight hours and finish cleaning the boat. Hopefully I will have more time to write a log that better captures the feel of this very special place.
by Judy Handley | May 14, 2006 | French Polynesia - Marquesas, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 209, Year 1: Arrival in the Marquesas
Date: Sunday, May 14, 2006
Weather: Blue Skies Dotted with Puffy White Clouds
Air Temperature: Hot
Latitude: 10 degrees 28 minutes S
Longitude: 138 degrees 40 minutes W
Location: Hanavave Bay, Fatu Hiva, Marquesas
Miles to Go: 000
Miles to Date: 3,020
We made it . . . and it is beautiful and peaceful here. I’ll go into more detail tomorrow. We have been in the anchorage here at Fatu Hiva since 2:00 this afternoon. Our “landing” was not quite as successful as our passage as we had to try three times before we found a suitable place, and in the process, we dragged our anchor and caught it on the anchor of another boat. But all is well. We got ourselves separated, and settled, and since then we have had constant visitors. We have a dinner invitation from Windcastle, so we’ve got to run. For today’s log, I recorded the day as it went along. Here’s how the day went.
0625: Land Ho! First sighting of Fatu Hiva. All we could see were the sloping sides of the island with a huge cloud sitting on top of it, but it was surely a welcome sight.
0700: Last Fatu Hiva Net radio check-in with Mark as net controller. One of the boats in the fleet, Trisha Jean, saw the ship Manet at daybreak and contacted them on the radio. They reported that Randy’s condition is stable. Very good news indeed. Sheri is motoring toward Nuka Hiva, but has 682 miles to go. We told her that we would monitor her progress. Wind Pony is heading out this morning with crew from Endangered Species to meet her. That rendezvous will probably not happen until Tuesday, so we wished Sheri safe sailing as a single-hander until then. Minda on the boat Caminda II reminded us this morning that it is Mother’s Day. So I guess my Mother’s Day present is the diesel fuel we are using to motor in today. That’s one of the nicest presents I have ever gotten.
0810: We got a phone call. I heard the satellite phone ringing and thought I was hearing things. By the time I got here, the caller had hung up. And then we got worried. Was something wrong? We figured the call had to be from our daughter Heather so we called back. No answer. So we left a message. And then she called back. It had been her that had called and there was nothing wrong. She just wanted to wish me a Happy Mother’s Day! Our son Justin is in Africa right now, so I don’t expect a call from him. But I did receive an e-mail from his yesterday telling me that things are going well and that he is fine. That is Mother’s Day present enough.
0900: Since we are coming into port, I decided it was time to take stock of the provisions. We are down to the last half loaf of bread and the last two pieces of banana bread. We have three tomatoes wrapped in newspaper left as well as onions and potatoes and half a red pepper. That’s it for fresh vegetables. We have five Pilseners left, so we know it is definitely time to be on land once again. The freezer is still full of chicken and beef from Panama and the Galapagos. We rarely eat beef but that was all I could buy there, so that is what we have. The cabinets are still full of canned food, rice, noodles, flour, dried fruit-probably enough food for the next three years, so we aren’t going to starve anytime soon.
1000: Time to clean up. We took showers and washed every last bit of dirty clothing. When I say that, “every last bit”, I think of the recipe for making Vegetarian Lasagne in the Moosewood Cookbook. It says to use “every last noodle” in the final layer. Anyway, we washed the sheets from our bunk at sea and have them hanging out to dry. I do think we are ready to anchor.
1100: As we sail along the coast of Fatu Hiva we are looking at craggy, sharp, deep ravines with low green growth, no trees. In certain light, the saw-tooth terrain looks as if it is swathed in velvets of brown, tan, and every color of green imaginable.
We have traveled 8,232 miles from Boston, Massachusetts to Hanavave Bay, Fatu Hiva Island in the Marquesas. This has taken us 208 days or just about seven months. In the next six months we will travel another 5,000 miles to New Zealand. If we went directly there from here, it would be only 3,000 miles, but we are going to weave through French Polynesia, the Cook Islands, America and Western Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji, before heading south to New Zealand for their summer, our winter. The “Voyage of Windbird” goes on.
1140: We are starting to round the southeast corner of Fatu Hiva. Most people come in by going on the north side, but we wanted to travel around the island to see the coast line. And as we approach this next point, the landscape is changing. The saw-tooth ridges and valleys are giving way to rounded hills and columns that rise up as sheer cliffs.
1245: Motored past Omoa. The white church steeple was the prominent landmark.
1330: We see the anchorage in the Bay of Virgins, Bay of Phalli, or Hanavave Bay-take your pick. It is drop dead gorgeous. We see many boats that we know well, so the passage is over. It was wonderful, but now we are approaching land and life will change. Not a bad thing. Just different. Tomorrow I’ll let you know the details of life here in Hanavave Bay (my choice).
