FP Final: NUKU HIVA (revised post)

The Marquesas: first and last stop in our tropical adventures. We’d come full circle—or at least wide oval—though this time we were not exploring, but preparing for the long passage to Hawai'i.

After our record slow 500 mile voyage from the Tuamotu, we made landfall at Hakatea (aka Daniel’s Bay) on Nuku Hiva.

Stretching our legs after the passage,
on a hike in the royal Hakaui Valley

Destination: Ahuei waterfall, over 350 meters high

Near the anchorage,
Kua cut a "hand" of red bananas for us

It was a powerful moment when we moved to Taiohae and realized that was our very last anchorage in the South Pacific. Sentiment aside, we got to work: provisioning, refueling, taking care of business (internet was inconvenient but at least it was finally available)--and fixing a stubborn fuel line problem.

Taiohae anchorage

Most things here are expensive,
but tuna fresh off the boat is less than $2.50 per pound

A rehearsal for the huge Marquesan Arts Festival.
held once every four years

After living for 5 years in a part of the world
where body art is an intricate part of the culture,

it was fitting for that culture
to become part of me

A symbolic full circle,
comprised of symbols

Stretching our legs before a passage,
we needed to ask for directions...

...in order to locate Koueva,
a site with ceremonial platforms and many tikis
(also pictured at the top of this post)

We watched the weather forecasts daily and made sure we were ready to depart when the winds turned easterly (from NE, since our initial heading is northerly). Plan A is to bypass the Big Island and Maui for now, and make landfall on Oahu at Honolulu. The route—not the rhumb line—is just under 2300 miles.

There is sadness in leaving these adventures behind; they have been--to borrow an ideal word--majestical, beyond anything we could have imagined. But other adventures await (albeit colder ones); and we feel ready to go home.

FP Postcards: TUAMOTU, Ahe

Our last stop in the Tuamotu, Ahe was one of the first places the famous Tahitian black pearl was farmed. Though once again we were the only cruising boat in the atoll, the place felt busy: most motu are inhabited by pearl farmers, and there is quite a bit of small boat traffic going out to fish and check oyster nets.

The process: after seeding each oyster by hand, 

they are strung on a line through holes drilled in their shells

That line is wrapped around a cord,

which is placed in a protective plastic netting.

                           Those strands hang from nets suspended by floats (keel boats, beware!)

We could only buy 2 pearls, but the family went out to their “fish park” (weir),

                                   and brought back a fish for us as part of the bargain

In addition to our repertoire of American folk songs and dances,

we learned the popular Polynesian song “Bora Bora”--

and those kids sang their hearts out with us!

                                  No scooters, few bikes, and only one car in Ahe’s village;

                                               transportation of choice is the 3-wheeler

                                      (note the solar panels, which power everything here)

Albert, the lone resident of Motu Kamoka, brought us freshly husked coconuts not long after our anchor was set. 

We had had him over for coffee and freshly baked English muffins the next morning— and he came with even more coconuts!

We had our first meal off the boat in over a month at Chez Raita, a small lodging on the more remote NE part of the atoll. Who knew that in an isolated location on a speck in the Pacific ocean was a woman with the voice of an angel?

After dinner we got to watch their resident manta ray—named Samanta—feed at the end of their little pier. (not a great photo because Samanta was constantly moving, but we couldn’t resist including this)

                                                           Farewell to the Tuamotu

FP Postcards: TUAMOTU, Tikehau

Though not nearly as developed as its nearby big sister Rangiroa, Tikehau does have an upscale resort—but on a motu 3 miles from the village, its impact feels minimal. The village is exceptionally clean and quiet, and everyone is very welcoming.

The village baker:
Peter takes orders in the morning
and has them ready for pickup by late afternoon

People arrive on foot, bicycle (above)
and scooter (hence the helmets)
to pick up their orders--mostly baguettes

Our ship came in!
We joined the queue at the wharf to buy produce from the bimonthly cargo ship from Papeete.
(Coconuts thrive on coral atolls, but little else grows well.)

The bird life at Tikehau was extraordinary!

Feeding frenzy

Motu Puarua, a bird sanctuary
(for observers, a feast of sound and activity)

We got to see several red-footed booby nests with chicks
at Motu Hiraumaine

Sculpted spit

Trapped ray, untrapped man

Untrapped woman
(my caption; Art's was Beauty on the Bow, but I'm typing)

In a region primarily horizontal,
clouds become part of the scenery

Reef sharks abound

Another day, another motu

Our track around Tikehau

FP Postcards: TUAMOTU, Makatea

Makatea is a makatea, a raised coral atoll. One of only three in the Pacific, we took advantage of the rare opportunity to see it, and it was an intriguing sight: steep vertical cliffs over 100 meters high, with no pass and no lagoon.

Two moorings are near the remains of an old pier formerly used for a phosphate mining operation. Though the moorings are in very good condition, they are alarmingly close to the surf and rocks! Picking one up took nerves of steel, and we didn’t stay long.

FP Postcards: TUAMOTU, Apataki

A common phrase heard from cruisers in the western South Pacific is “I wish we’d spent more time in the Tuamotu.” * It was our good fortune that in working our way back to the Pacific Northwest, we had a chance to do just that.

Apataki was an ideal resort location, without the resort: remote and largely uninhabited, with picture-postcard beauty. Though we were near the end of the cruising season for these waters, we didn’t expect to have the atoll to ourselves—but we did. Other than in the small village at the pass into the lagoon and the tiny yet impressive shipyard (primarily used by French Polynesian cruising boats to haul out during cyclone season), we saw no one.

*Actually they said “Tuamotus”, as did we; but motu is a plural noun (“islets”), so the correct word is “Tuamotu”.

Where is everybody?!

Nurse sharks

Navigating the atoll,
keeping watch for coral heads and pearl floats

Evening colors at Roto Ava anchorage

Complete contentment

Repairing a solar panel

Solitary ship, solitary shark

Reef's edge