Eventful day!
So, we had a super nice day again, as usual. We started in the bay in Tahuata. We looked for our usual morning manta rays, and found only one elusive one. He was on the bottom at a "cleaning station." Little fish were coming and going cleaning him. Then we went to the cliff area and snorkeled for a while. It was great, lots of beautiful tropical fish. Very clear water today. The kids kayaked to shore, we went to the boat for a little bit, grabbed snack and a shopping bag, flip flops, and headed in with the other kayak. Courage and I went inland just a very little bit and picked all kinds of limes, grapefruit, and oranges. Even found a coconut.
The kids snacked, Courage kayaked our provisions back to the boat, and I played onshore with the kids for another hour or so, and then swam back. We made lunch and retrieved the kids from shore. We swapped around the anchorage - thumb drives, pictures, movies, Google earth images of the Tuamutos, our pizza pan, gave a key lime pie recipe to a neighbor boat, then loaded up to go. We closed the hatches, took in clothes from the lifelines, etc, since we may have a headwind and current. Turned out not to be so bad. We had a nice motor between the islands, caught a Bonita, but it's the red meat type and we threw it back.
Then as we were coming closer to the anchorage through the bay, we got another fish. The line was reeling. Courage worked it in, not a terrible fight, but a decent one. I had gloves and the 33-gallon drum and went to the bottom stair to bring it in. It was a Wahoo!! The kayak was on half of the swim step; I was on the other half. Then Cassidy came, took the reel and Courage came down. Now we know these things have sharp teeth. Courage was telling me to watch my hands, and I was. This darn thing was 4.5 feet long!! Again, we couldn't grab the tail of it! It was thrashing and fighting just off the back steps. A wave came and we surfed it up onto the back step, it only fit maybe 2/3 onto that step. Courage and I and the kayak were also there. I tried to pull my leg away as it surfed in, but failed to get it clear! Somehow my lower leg encountered the Wahoo’s little razor sharp teeth and it ripped a gash in my leg about 3-4 inches long. We landed the fish finally into the 33-gallon drum (not easy!!) and got it up into the cockpit. Then I looked at my leg. I could see the subcutaneous tissues; it was going to need stitches. So, I sat down and Cassidy got me my stitching supplies. I washed it up and stitched it closed. Nice to have everything I needed. Never had to stitch myself before! It came together OK; the jagged little teeth shredded the lower part a little bit, so it'll take some healing. The Wahoo lost the war, but I have to give at least one of the battles to him!
I finished just as we came into the anchorage. We have to anchor fore and aft; Cassidy and Courage took care of it. The bay is full of silt and there's no swimming here really, so it'll be easier to keep my leg clean and dry for a few days.
Our Swiss friends on Ulani came to greet us and give us the low down about the anchorage, town, and formalities of the check-in process. Sure is nice to have a greeter come over and give you a little local knowledge. We are going to keep that in mind as other boats come in. We offered them fish, but they didn't need any. Then we went to our neighbor boat, gave them some fish, and chatted. They were from CA, spent the last year in Mexico, and then just arrived here in the Marquesas, - - - very lovely couple.
Then we went to a boat named Moana. It's a very nicely home built Wharram catamaran, 63 feet. They are a French hippie couple with 3 kids (naked boat with dreads), an American crew and a Mexican crewmember. We gave them fish, met them (also saw them at the waterfall in Fatu Hiva), toured the boat, and the kids played. Their kids are a little bit older, but they rowed ours to shore and they ran and ran. It was nice!
We went home, made our fish for dinner. It's a very nice white fish without fishy flavor. The kids played with one of Vitality's birthday presents - glow bubbles (thank you Cindy) as soon as it turned dark. They loved that!
I cleaned my wound again, wrapped it in gauze, and get to sit with my leg up writing emails. Almost a luxury!! We have our 40-minute walk to town tomorrow; see how that goes. Courage has been contemplating how to launch the motorcycle.
Our friends on Paje are probably arriving tomorrow. They are the ones with the catamaran and other motorcycle like ours that inspired our purchase. They may be able to help us launch ours and we can help them launch theirs.
As usual, we will continue to play things by ear. One thing I learned on Moana is that there is a bakery with baguettes for $.40 each. A local guy who was visiting them had a huge bag of them. I was surprised by all of them. In asking, apparently none of them like bread, the man buys it because it's so cheap and feeds it to his dog and cattle. They were all noting that the French subsidize the things that are not good for you - white flour, oil, sugar, etc. They also said there's 100% tax on imports, so they help people set up import companies, but there's really no support or incentives to have local goods since there's no tax income from it. So if you are going to try to trade local goods, you have to build the business yourself without loans, etc. And the cost of living was shot up here because all of the government officials from France who came to work here made twice what they did in France to help cover the cost of moving, etc. So it used to be cheap here, but housing costs went up, so the locals needed to now sell their mangos for a significant price just to pay their rent, so the cost of food went up, etc. So with 100% taxes and increased cost of living, everything is apparently expensive or subsidized. I haven't really priced things, but the local man said eggs were about $.60 each. We were paying $.20 up to a high of $.35 in Panama/Galapagos. There are chickens everywhere; I don't think supply is the issue. And I don't think demand is that significant. I think external forces have manipulated the whole supply and demand curves. Again feeling fortunate that I stocked up well and have egg powder for baking so I don't have to buy eggs or much at that price. Hopefully I can trade locals for the fruits they grow rather than paying high prices and taxes for it. But I do like baguettes . . .
Looking forward to checking out Hiva Oa tomorrow!
Shannon
We love this bay!
We had our traditional Sunday morning pancakes, also to celebrate Vitality's birthday. Vitality is 4 today!! After breakfast, we went kayaking over to our snorkeling area. Cassidy jumped in and reported very few fish or plankton and no manta rays. It may not even be worth getting wet she said. Courage took the dinghy out to the bay's entrance and found rays, so he came and picked us up and took us over. We were in the kayaks being towed by the dinghy and he said put on your goggles, they are here! I was gearing up when I hear Innocence yelling about her goggles. I saw them sinking and jumped in to get them. My camera was on my wrist, so I tightened it real quick, set down my mask since it wasn't on yet, and dove in to get the goggles that were about 2 feet under now. Apparently in doing so, somehow my mask fell off the kayak and sank. So, I saved her goggles, but lost my mask and tube. Very frustrating. I tried to swim over the area where we had been, but by the time the dinghy had moved on, then drifted, it was hopeless.
So we saw some mantas, had a nice time, and then another boat came over to see if we'd been successful. And a third dingy came. We'd lost the group of mantas, so thought that part was over. I was using Intrepid's goggles without a tube, so I swam back to the dinghy as others were swimming inward to the bay. I motored our dinghy to the group and they reported they had 10-15 mantas feeding in a group! It was awesome! More dinghy's/kayaks were arriving. Courage came and gave me his mask and tube and I went in. It was great!! I also saw a jellyfish that was clear and had electrical signals moving down its body. I'm not sure the physiology of it, but it sure looks cool. I did get a jelly hit to my ankle out swimming as well. These are the risks you take for such a great experience. As Intrepid summed it up, "first it was a plankton party, then a manta party, then a people party." Most of the anchorage was there and we had an amazing experience!! Tons of photos by everyone! Integrity was swimming with one and came up shocked, "he swims faster than I do!!" I love his surprise at that.
So, we all went home wide-eyed with another great manta swim. I loaded my thumb drive with photos of people from other boats with the mantas and we swapped photos. A couple more kid boats arrived this afternoon and the kids went to shore and played for hours!! It was great! I was able to clean up some, then wrapped presents, blew up balloons, made pizza for dinner and cupcakes for after. I doubled the pizza recipe since the kids had a light and early lunch before hitting the beach and had been playing all day. I figured they were famished. Not so much, they ate less than half of what I made. I also made two boxed cake mixes of cupcakes to bring to the beach bonfire to celebrate for Vitality. That was a good call; they were all eaten, along with a bag of marshmallows. There were 14 kids on the beach at the campfire. So, they made a kids fire and adults fire and played for a couple more hours. One of the new kid boats here has 3 boys, 10 and 7 year old twins. Perfect for our boys! They arrived, hitting 40 knots of wind, had a late lunch, so hadn't had dinner. I made her come pick up a pizza on her way home. I can't use all the leftovers or store them safely. Hopefully they liked it, if so, it was like a Dominos pizza of the Marquesas. No dishes either. I told her it was my Mother's day gift to her. There must be some reason I made so much! It all works out.
We came home from bonfire and opened a few presents, watched an episode of Wild Kratts at Vitality's request, and we are beat and going to bed!! It was a fun day and a beautiful place. We were going to leave tomorrow to go officially check-in to the country, but with the 40 knot winds out there, does not sound like a good trip. We only have about 10 nautical miles to get to the other island, we can see it from here, but there's a channel we have to go through. If you get the current, waves, and wind against you (pretty much if it's blowing, it'll be against the way we are headed in this channel) it can be a very unpleasant motor against it all. So, we will stay another day in paradise; play with the new kid boats, then possibly go the following day depending on weather and mood.
Adding to the "Bay of Birthdays" one of the 3 boys turned 10 May 2nd, and a new boat with 2 adults have birthdays May 3 and May 13th. It seems every boat here is celebrating a birthday this month and in this bay!! How fun! We're going to need more cake if we stay!! Apparently there are some lime trees inland a bit, so it may be that we are making birthday key lime pies for everyone rather than cakes, as we did for my birthday. I loved it?? Courage brought home some "pamplemousse" (gi-normous grapefruit) that was growing on the island.
Something funny is happening with these stronger winds, we are pulling hard on our anchor and bridle, and then suddenly it gives and jerks us forward again. Hasn't really happened like this before, but I'm being tossed around. More than once today I almost ended up on the floor, and Cassidy, Courage and I have all had to take at least 2-3 steps back to try to keep our balance when it happens. It's a little funny, almost unpredictable, except when the wind is blowing harder, it could happen at any time. Just to keep it interesting I think.
I think I'll pull in the clothes on the line outside; I'll sleep better since it sounds like a windy night, and then I'm going to hit the sack. Planning another manta morning, we'll see if they co-operate!
Shannon
Another great day, weird! We got up and did some good cleaning on the boat (thank goodness, everyone was contributing and we got some good stuff done.) There was a little rain this morning, so we stayed in and worked. But after a very little bit, the sun came out, there was a gorgeous rainbow over the bay, and we got ready to go swimming.
We kayaked over and snorkeled for an hour or so. No mantas today, bummer, they were a lot of fun! Cassidy saw an octopus swimming and another boat with us saw their first reef shark! So it was good. We worked our way along the cliff side to the beach, then played at the beach for another hour or two and went home for lunch. I went back with the baby to prepare lunch in one kayak, leaving the 2 girls and 2 boys at the beach with our other kayak. Only the 2 girls returned on the kayak. As they are coming up the back steps, Courage and I heard Innocence saying, "We've got to tell him. We have to tell him the truth!" OK, what do you need to tell us? "The boys are lost in the forest. We couldn't find them anywhere." It was so funny. Did she think that if they didn't tell us, we wouldn't notice the two boys were missing? We kept watching the shore and sure enough the two boys showed up. They'd been in trying to build something with the tools again.
Once again we devoured Cassidy's entire loaf of bread as well as our bananas are now ripe, so we are going crazy with fresh fruit from our banana bundle.
We had a nice rest, beach time, dinnertime, and back to shore for another bonfire. A couple more kid boats arrived today, so that was fun to catch up again. Including a 9-month-old named Rocket. See, we're not the only ones. A girl named, Darien. They say it's an American name, I've never heard of it until the Darien region of Panama. Either way, we can actually blend in this crowd, eh?
The water is so inviting that Cassidy and some of the other kids even swam back to the boat after the bonfire! She spent much of the day with her 14-year-old friend who is probably leaving tomorrow at 3 am. It's been fun meeting her and hopefully we'll catch up at the next anchorage. Well, not the next one, but another one down the road. There is some fun coming and going, seeing familiar faces as you go. There are many other boats out here that we know have come or are coming that we look forward to crossing paths again, hopefully in the near future. Many of our friends are at Nuka Hiva already. We feel fortunate that we didn't need to have Internet or airport and can stay out and enjoy and experience many more of the islands. I don't know if they will backtrack or not?
For now, we have a beautiful place to hang out. It's about 1-2 hours to Hiva Oa where we check-in. We'll go there Monday morning and get the formalities done. There's an all day tour driving in a 4WD to some Tikis, which we've heard is excellent, but it's almost $300. We talked about launching the motorcycle there since there are roads to other bays and around the island, but they thought the motorcycle wouldn't make the steep roads. So, we either go in and out, do ATM, Port Captain (genarme), fresh fruits/veggies provisioning, then get out of there. Or, we do inland touring. Not sure yet. The Internet is slow and expensive, so not holding out hope on sending pictures. The bay is full of silt and you can't swim. You have to anchor fore and aft. It's a40 minute walk to town (without the one year old). But, they have baguettes for $.50 and fresh water showers onshore! So, we shall see Monday!
Tomorrow we celebrate Vitality's 4th birthday. We'll do cake and a couple of presents and a special meal, but maybe a bigger celebration when some of the little girls are around.
Shannon
What an excellent start to the day!! We had our oatmeal and so were ready for an activity when I spotted some manta rays over by the coral. We threw on swim stuff and kayaked over there, the whole family. We jumped in with our snorkels and goggles and began looking for them. The mantas were skittish at first, but got more comfortable with us. The sun also came out better from over the hillside and we could see more clearly. We swam and kayaked around with the mantas for over an hour! It was awesome!! They were so close and so visible. Courage got amazing pictures; wish we could share! One day . . .
After that, the kids kayaked to the beach for a few hours and came back for lunch. The beach has so much to do and explore. They found some old tools and were trying to build something.
They came back and we fed our old pancakes to the fish while the kids swam around watching them. There's lots of tropical fish, even out by the boats.
We spent our afternoon at the beach, returning only for a quick dinner, then back for a bonfire at the beach that we invited everyone in the harbor too. It's a nice, easy way to have a gathering without having to clean up or prepare food. We brought marshmallows, chatted and played with fire.
It was a very nice, pleasant day in such a beautiful bay. We met a crew on another boat who was having a birthday. Vitality has a birthday in 2 days, so I've named this the "Bay of Birthdays." Last year for the run of birthdays we were in Huatulco, Mexico, and I named a "Bay of Birthdays" because there were tons of baby puffer fish, then we got boat bound from our snorkeling because of a large jelly fish bloom. We've come a long way and experienced a lot in the past year since then!
Shannon
After a super fantastic breakfast of non-worm infested oatmeal Shannon spotted a manta swimming around. Fortunately we left the kayaks right where we finished with them so after grabbing a mask, fins, and a camera, (we basically sleep in our bathing suits), we were off! Intrepid worked as spotter from the kayak, and would tell us where to go to see the mantas. We got some fantastic videos and pictures. What an incredible experience!!
The mantas have these gigantic mouths that make them look a little fierce when they are swimming toward you. The plankton that they are eating are so big that you can see it quite clearly with your naked eye. We reviewed how the mantas take the water in, filter it, eat the plankton, and send the rest of the water out the outtakes on their bottoms.
Good times!
Courage
Tahuata is a very nice island also. Not as steep and jagged of a hillside, which I loved on Fatu Hiva, but gorgeous white beaches and clear water with coral and snorkeling. Not inhabited at this anchorage like Fatu Hiva, but rather some abandoned buildings to explore. It is fun to have the differences and variety.
So we had light winds for our sail across and arrived at 1:00 am. I'm glad we made it; it was a lovely place to awaken!! - - Such a beautiful white beach. We haven't had a beach to play at for over a month. Just to get out, dig, get wet and dirty and fully exercised! It was perfect. We went on deck before breakfast and Courage spotted a manta ray swimming by the boat. We called the kids out to see it, while looking for it, another manta jumped right out of the water in front of us. It was excellent!! So we launched the dinghy and went touring. We didn't see them while we were in the water, but when we got back on deck we saw one right next to our boat!
So as we had our breakfast, a rainbow appeared in the western sky. After breakfast some dolphins swam by the back of our boat. The kids and I got ready and headed in. Courage dropped us off in the dinghy. There were 4 other boats in the anchorage; one was Adina, who we'd met in the Galapagos. She was so kind as to give me yellow cloth to make a quarantine flag. Her father does hot air ballooning, so she had some material from that. Strong and light, perfect!! I am flying the quarantine flag I made from her material, so we went and said hello on our way in. They had a nice crossing and were doing well.
As we got to the beach, it began to rain! We went running for shelter. There were structures that we heard were abandoned. First we tried to be under low coconut trees, but it wasn't too good, so we went to the shelters. The roof palms were falling through, but we could find places to hide out. Next thing after finding shelter is to secure "fresh water" according to my little explorers who may have been watching too much Bear Grylls. So they set out some pots from the shelter and coconut husks to catch the rainwater. Then we set up palm fronds to funnel it in. OK, now we need food. Fortunately mom brought 9 o'clock snack, so we didn't have to eat grubs. Unfortunately, maybe the rain stimulated us, but it seemed everyone had to pee, so they made a bathroom to the side of the building. After a little bit, the rain ceased and we went out exploring. There were a few structures and man made items around to check out. One structure had concrete footings, a new wheelbarrow out front and a large water tank (200 gallons?) out back collecting rainwater. Hard to believe someone abandoned it! But, some of the floor was falling through; there was a stove pulled out, roof falling in, and other signs that it may not be totally taken care of. Whatever the case, we left everything alone, but thoroughly inspected it. Interesting to see how and where people live.
The kids found a shell for me for my birthday. Then they wrapped it in the sand for me with balls of sand on top of it and other decorations. It was wonderful. I opened it one ball of sand at a time to find my shell. - - Very thoughtful. There was also a sand cake. We had a nice party.
We walked the beach, found some shells, and met a few of the people on other boats here. It's interesting that recently when we meet new boats, a typical question is "where are you from?" More and more, this is stumping people. We are meeting some serious cruisers. A couple from France, who lived in French Canada, is now out cruising. A woman from Jamaica, then the states, married a guy from South Africa. Been on the boat for years, so not really a base home. A family cruising for 25 years, she grew up in France, he in Australia. Australia is probably where they'd go if they went to land. It's just funny; we're meeting people who have been more out than in, who have broken most land ties, so could re-establish anywhere they wanted, if they wanted. The freedom is nice!
We came back in for lunch after our morning survivor challenge of shelter, water, food, bathrooms, etc. Cassidy had made her bread and we feasted. Courage had caught some rainwater in the morning, so we had nice fresh water wash offs. Then somehow Integrity caught his lure on the bottom, so I got back in my suit and went to dive for it. Unfortunately it felt like my ears would explode despite trying to clear them, so Courage dove and freed it. Since I was in the water, I talked Cassidy into going snorkeling with me. Courage dropped us off in the dinghy, but on the way, a new boat had just come in with what appeared to be a teenager on it. This is a rare sighting indeed, so we buzzed them. They have a 14 year old onboard!!! And they've been cruising for 6 years. They are from Colorado. Yeah!!! So Cassidy and I went snorkeling, which was great. There were some of the regular fish - parrotfish, angelfish, rockfish and some others I recognized. But there were also some new ones that I didn't recognize. That was fun. I'll have to see if I can find out what any of them are! We had a nice dive and swam back to the boat. After 20 days of sedentary living, then 5 days of hiking through town and toward waterfalls, it was nice to swim and work some different muscles for a change. I'm a bit sore with all the activity after the period of inactivity. We got another wash off, then went in.
Cassidy's friend came by and invited her to the beach. She was on a paddleboard, Cassidy took a kayak and they were off for hours of beach, visiting around the anchorage, swimming, back to the beach. We haven't seen a teenage girl in a long time!! Very excited.
We had a nice dinner of fresh tuna, the last that we had. Won't have fish for a bit since we heard there are issues with ciguatera near here, so have to wait for our next big jump in a week or so. Then we had a key lime pie! It was a perfect lime pie made from fresh squeezed limes from Fatu Hiva. We decided not to do cake for my birthday since we'll have it for Vitality's birthday on the 11th; then something else for Courage's birthday on the 13th. No need for cake every day, just a special dessert. Courage may get mincemeat or brownies, or maybe mincemeat melted onto brownies?? Vitality will get the traditional cake. As will Intrepid May 29th.
I had a very nice day for my birthday. The setting was perfect, the weather was great, I had fun with everyone, meeting new people and spending time with the kids. The water is warm and inviting, but also refreshing. It is clear and there was some great wildlife for viewing. The beach was interesting and we got some nice sun and exercise.
Cassidy's friend came over to watch a movie. Her family is as happy to have a teenager for her to hang out with, as we are happy. They were going to move on tomorrow, but will probably stay another day so the girls can meet a little more before we separate. We are on the same general course, but they have a 3-month visa, we have a 6-12 month visa, so we aren't as rushed as they are. They are also talking about going up to Hawaii and back to the states, but are not sure.
We shall all see where life takes us! It is fun to cross paths with such interesting people out there. We started the day with 5 boats including us in the anchorage, now we have 12. There is quite a flux of boats out here with lots of people moving and exploring.
I feel lucky, I can imagine it's hard for someone without a boat to get out and be a tourist in the Marquesas Islands. Even if you fly out, get a hotel and rent a car (not an option in Fatu Hiva or Tahuata yet), you could only see one island that way. We get to experience what few people do, a whole chain of islands and a remote way of life. If they don't grow fresh fruits/vegetables, they won't have any. There's a certain beauty to living away from people and providing for you own needs. It's definitely not the most efficient way to live, but it's nice to have those freedoms. There's a trade off there. If every person has to grow their own bananas, oranges, pineapples, etc., they can't grow nearly as much as a mass production or industrialized plantation can grow. All the time and energy is spent on just providing basic needs, not expanding to new levels of engineering, computing, development, etc. But, if you don't have to buy fresh stuff, you can stock up and disappear for months at a time if you like, doing as you please. Freedom or security? Everyone has a different level of comfort here . . . I think I'm more comfortable on the freedom side of the coin.
Got an email from a new friend boat that they passed the dismasted catamaran about 150 miles from the Galapagos. It sounds as if they are going to make it back, disheartened as they may be, it'll sure be a memorable story to tell for years down the road.
Goodnight,
Shannon
What is a rainbow caused by the moon called? Well there was this fantastic white glowing ‘moonbow’ that appeared in the light drizzle around midnight last night as we were making our way to this anchorage. It was a beautiful half circle with different shades of white and a magical glow throughout the interior of the arch.
This morning we awoke and found that there were these giant mantas swimming around the anchorage, gently flipping the tips of their wings into the air. Then just as casual as can be a pod of dolphins cruised by with their young. The water is quite clear and there are tropical fish and some coral. We are anchored in about 14' of water, and the sandy bottom looks much closer.
Just another day in the South Pacific - - -
Courage
This morning, we were talking about leaving the island. There is so much more to explore. I wanted to tie up loose ends before we left, so I gathered things and we went to town. I brought the lady who gave us the bread a lipstick.
We brought a set of sheets to the lady up the hill at the end of town. She brought us into her house. There was the manufactured house with a brick and mortar patio built out. This was her kitchen. She has a closet just bigger than the stove itself where she cooks. There's a table on the patio where they appear to eat. A cupboard with some dishes is also on the patio. She showed us two sheep heads she had. I believe they are wild on the island, so they hunted them. She also brought out a necklace that she'd made. It was boar teeth, goat horns separated by wooden beads. She sells them at "Exposition" in Pape’ete, Tahiti, once a year. It lasts for 2 weeks starting possibly June 22nd. She said the whole town goes to Exposition to sell their arts - Tikis, tapas, necklaces, etc. We hope to be able to get to Tahiti in time for some of it. She picked us some mangos and oranges and gave us some dried fish.
We then went to the first house we'd done the trade with and said goodbye. We went back to the dinghy and did some anchorage errands. We'd lent some guidebooks to a new catamaran, so we picked those up. Another family borrowed my camera for some pictures at the first night dinner for their daughter to do a blog. They left to Nuku Hiva before I got them copies. I put them on a thumb drive and gave them to another boat that is heading there later today and can give it to them. The logistics are sometimes interesting out here. And I'm sure they are fine without the pictures, but I also think they'd like to get them. We picked up a kayak paddle the kids had left aboard another boat.
The prop on our dinghy is broken. Working, but broken and we have to baby it. Hopefully Courage's brother, Loyal, has ordered a new one to be delivered to Philadelphia. The boat who we are giving the blog pictures to has a girl flying out on the 9th to meet up with them and if things go impressively well, she'll have a new prop for us with her. We aren't sure when we're going to be in Nuka Hiva, or if they'll still be there, but it's closer to us in the Marquesas than in the states. We'll meet up with them again sooner than later I'm sure!
So, we set sail at around 11:00am today for Tahuata. Supposed to be one of the few beaches in the Marquesas that has sand, not rocks, and excellent snorkeling. We shall see. Another catamaran, the naked French boat, set sail just after us. After some tacking and issues, they appeared to turn back. We considered turning around and waiting for nicer winds, but we want to go, so we are going.
As we rounded the point, we saw a yellow mono-hull coming in. It was our friends on Elena just arriving from the Galapagos!! They are a British family with 3 boys; twins age 7 and a 9-year-old. Happy to see them again! They are going to Fatu Hiva, so we chatted on the radio and our reunion will be some time later.
We have turned out to have a lovely sail, slow going as it is. The seas are calm with occasional gusts of winds from squalls. Since we left later and were going to arrive later, it actually works nice to have light winds, drift at sea, and arrive in the morning. "Heave to" as it would be. Basically hover until morning light to make your approach.
We already caught 2 tuna on our way here. I was winding mine in, Courage his. We could see both of them just behind the boat. I was keeping tension on my rod, but something happened. As I finally pulled mine up, my hook was hooked on Courage's line. We both had seen two fish under water. Courage thinks I gave slack on my line. I think he cut me off and released my fish. Either way, we got one lovely fish onboard and had it for dinner. We have some for tomorrow also, so we are good.
Need to take baby to bed now; goodnight from the Marquesas.
Shannon
In the morning, I caught up on some picture organizing, downloading, etc. Courage took a few kids to a beach to burn the garbage. There is no garbage service in this town and we now have 3 bags of it with flies in the first, not to mention diapers, etc. We really would like to offload this somewhere. He went all the way down to the other town, Omoa, then came back and ended up burning it at a beach near us. They got back just in time for lunch.
After lunch, the kids and I loaded up and headed to find the waterfall for good. Many of the boats were going up at 1:00pm. We left at 12:30pm since we have many small people and the 3-year-old really wanted to come rather than stay at the boat and nap. Weird. The hiking is good as long as she does it; I'm not carrying her. So Courage and the baby stayed at the boat for naptime and the other 5 kids and I headed out with snacks, water, and swim gear. A lady walked with us part way and I was practicing my French with her. She has 6 kids, mostly grown. Intrepid was wheezing and she said honey was good for that. She has honeybees and fruit trees. She would like to have rope for a horse harness and sheets for a bed. I told her I'd look and maybe we'll be back tomorrow. She lives in the last house in town, one of the landmarks in the directions. We said goodbye and followed the directions again. This time knowing we had to go up the hairpin turn and steep hill, then look for our turn off. We found it easily. It was a long hike for sure! It was really nice along the dirt road. There was a house, you cross a stream; you enter a jungle, then into the trees. Finally, you pop out at a waterfall. It's not a lot of water, but it does fall far down a rock cliff. There's a large pool under it that is surrounded by rock walls on 3 sides. The setting is what made it so nice.
The "naked French people" were there when we arrived. We have a joke that the French people are always naked, it's not a guarantee, but it is based on some reality. Now we are not talking about the French Polynesians, but the mainland Frenchmen. They were from another catamaran in the anchorage. We were getting ready to jump in and the rest of the cruisers arrived, even 7 kids!! It was a swim party!! It was very refreshing after a pretty warm hike. There was a cliff and needless to say, Integrity saw a couple people jump in, then up he went. He took a few jumps off the cliff. He's crazy. After swimming, talking, snacking, we headed out for a nice walk back down.
Along the way back down, two of the women were picking peppers from bushes growing next to the waterfall. Only boat people would provision while out on a hike. Impressive. When we got to town, our new friend at the last house in town met us and gave Intrepid a cup with some honey in it to drink for his asthma. His was great with this plan! I think he's ready to replace inhalers with cups of honey!
We continued along and a little girl, maybe 6 or 7, chased us down, yelling "attend" which mean wait. When we turned, she flashed us a plastic shopping bag. Not sure what it was and confused by a stranger chasing us down, we stood looking at her. Her mother told her to come show us, so she came and showed us a baguette, classic French bread. I told the girl that I don't have anything to trade right now, but we're coming back in two hours. She didn't understand me, so we walked back and told her mom. For some reason her mom was sure that we should have it, and then picked some egg shaped green fruit and put them in the bag. I told her I have nothing for change and she said no problem. I asked if she wanted something, what would it be. Guess what? Perfume. Not having that, she said lipstick. That I do have. I told her I'd come back in a couple hours, but she said she'd be at church, so maybe tomorrow. She wasn't worried.
We needed to get back as we'd arranged for a local woman to prepare us dinner at her house that evening. So we went back to the boat to get ready. Two families were going this dinner. She made rice, shredded coconut with salad dressing, fish (ceviche form), chicken chunks in coconut sauce, and octopus. Very similar to the first dinner that Cassidy and I went to. It was lovely. I don't think I'll be craving this food. The chicken chunks were mostly bones with shreds of chicken you could find on them. The fish was incredibly chewy, very hard to chew down to something you could swallow. The octopus was cooked well I guess. I tried it once in the Galapagos and now here. Similar. It's just rubbery and I don't really see myself looking forward to eating something like this. I like octopuses and don't find them that tasty, so I don't see it as a meal unless I'm starving. We had "pamplemousse" for dessert - huge grapefruit!!
Much more interesting to me than the food was the house and family in it. The woman who invited us has 6 children. Two of them live there with her still; the others are grown and gone. Her daughter has a 6-year-old daughter there also. The 6-year-old was gorgeous!! She had long thick black hair, smooth tan skin, just beautiful. She has asthma, they heard Intrepid's asthma and wanted to cure him. They wanted to give him amoxicillin because the girl has asthma and she was given this medication for it somehow. I don't know, I thanked them, but declined. They dressed the girl in "tapas" the bark from a tree that's pounded into cloth and made into native outfits. They also put Innocence in it. It was cute! They wanted to sell it to us, but it would just mold and be destroyed on a boat. We paid them for dinner in French Polynesian francs that we'd bought in Panama from a boat that had just returned. The other family has just arrived and didn't have any. They tried to go to the post office and exchange, but it's very informal and apparently rarely open. So we aren't sure they can exchange monies. I told them it was no problem, we really don't need money here, we sold them some of ours. We had enough to pay for the meals, but the woman didn't have change for the bills I had. We owed her roughly $7. The change she needed to give us would have been about $63, so we couldn't just let it go. Instead, this other family had brought wine to exchange since they didn't have money. So, they offered her a bottle of wine instead and she was fine with it. They also worked a provisioning deal where they got a bunch of grapefruit and bananas in exchange for rum. The son brought the fruit to the dock area in a wheelbarrow. So, they are all set until they get to an island with an ATM also! We also gave them some of our eggs since we have too many from the Galapagos and they will probably rot onboard. May as well share with someone who will use them.
I'm very happy with our provisioning before we left. I've heard many people wishing they'd picked up this or that, had more to drink or trade, had more of this food item or that, etc. I love that we need nothing. We enjoyed trading our dollar store items for fresh fruits/veggies. Fresh things are really the only thing we want/need. We can use money for local arts and meals. The meals were a little expensive, but it's a nice way to see the local foods, meet the people, and help them out. They are after all putting out an effort to make money, not just begging, and so it's really a good deal for everyone. But we don't have want for anything. I am pleased to have brought some cheap, but valued items for trade. I have some wine and alcohol I bought the day we left Panama after hearing how expensive it is out here, so I figured it would go up in value! Better return than investing in gold. I am happy with our food supplies, they last nicely each month, we run out of many things, but we aren't scraping the bottom of the barrel. We are slightly overstocked on pancake mix and syrup, so maybe I can trade it for fresh fruits/veggies. It has a long shelf life, so it'll be fine to keep until we need it. We have probably 20# of trade items, not totally weighed down with it, but it's enough for probably all the fresh fruits we'll be wanting until Tahiti. I don't think we can get away with trading in Tahiti. We also understand that this "pamplemousse" (French grapefruit) is easy to get in the Marquesas, but valuable in the Tuamotus, so we'll probably stock up before we leave here. I like that we are comfortable and can travel and trade wherever we'd like to, whenever we want to, without needing money or stores.
Shannon
The plan tomorrow is to head to another island. This new anchorage promises white sandy beaches, and fantastic snorkeling.
The "Bay of Virgins" has been fantastic, and we have really enjoyed the time and beauty of this enchanting island, but sometimes one must continue the journey. It is tough deciding where the next perfect place to go is. Do you go to the flower encrusted waterfalls, or the palm-lined sandy beach? Talk about stress!!!
There are these yellow wasps that congregate on all the boats here. Innocence managed to get stung twice before we even had the anchor down. Apparently the goal is to hit the wasp with the fly swatter just hard enough to stun it. Then capture it in any sort of clear container; like the clean Tupperware, or the clear water jug. I think the goal is to just have the most!! Valiant on the other hand just wants a pet, and loves it when they climb from his little hand, up his arm, and onto his whitish blond hair. He does get quite upset though when Integrity tries to 're-stun' it with the fly swatter when the wasp is on his head. And as you can imagine Valiant has been stung also. Not sure if he has put
2 and 2 together though!
Unfortunately there are no trash facilities here, so this morning we burned our last month’s trash. The toughest things to burn are of course the diapers. Even with the help of gasoline it's tough!!
Courage
