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.

060518 Day 213 Marquesas, Fatu Hiva–Land Trek