“Ia orana” or, for those not fluent in Tahitian, “Good day, may you live and prosper!”
After 25 days at sea were we glad to arrive and be greeted by the friendly Marquesans on Fatu Hiva. The islands are, as all the guidebooks say, picturesque and unspoilt.
At this time of year, there is a steady stream of boats crossing the Pacific most of which keep in touch via an informal SSB radio net. This entails checking in with the ‘net controller’ stating your position, weather, course and speed. You can then call up other boats for informal chats about fishing, recipes, etc. or tap into the expertise of the cruising community if problems arise. We were very fortunate in that we had a surgeon and a dentist in our ‘net’ group in case of medical problems, and lots of other experts on boat systems.
Brett on Interlude started a ‘quiz time’ which made life interesting, especially considering that the boats were spread out across 3,000 miles of ocean and answers had to be relayed to the question master. Sometimes radio reception is not brilliant so exchanges like this were a source of great entertainment:
Foxtrot (question master) “What are the Seven Deadly Sins?”
Interlude “Yeah we’ve got those”
Altair relaying (because Foxtrot couldn’t hear Interlude very well) “Interlude has got the sins.”
Foxtrot “OK, Interlude, go ahead”
Interlude then answers the question.
Foxtrot “Sorry, I didn’t get all those. What was between covetousness and envy?”
Interlude “Lust”
Altair relaying “Interlude says Lust”
Foxtrot “OK, what was the last one?”
Not surprisingly, questions were kept simple and only one or two questions a day asked – but it was fun! The prizes were provided by the Quiz Master boat – and entailed anything from home-baked goodies to bottles of rum. It was interesting collecting the prizes at the next anchorage – or sometimes months later when you were both in the same anchorage at the same time!
The long crossing was not without its dramas. The skipper of one of the yachts suffered complications following surgery he’d had in Ecuador before departing to cross the Pacific. His condition worsened and they put out a Mayday call. Luckily a passing freighter on its way to Tahiti made a detour and he was taken on board. But his wife had to stay with the yacht, as there was only the two of them on board. She had to continue to the Marquesas and then on to Tahiti single-handed. In order for her to get some sleep at night, one of the other yachts, which was about the same size and speed, stayed within visible range of her. At night she would put the yacht on autopilot and get some sleep, and the other yacht would keep a lookout. Quite scary. But it did emphasis how important it was that both Christine and I knew how to handle the boat single-handed if necessary. Christine found it a struggle to raise the sails to the fullest extent that I could – but she could get them up eventually.
The skipper on Sandpiper suffered bad cuts to his hands when his fishing line ‘imploded’ after catching a large shark. They were on passage from Panama to the Marquesas – an estimated four weeks at sea. They were still about three weeks from the Marquesas when the accident happened. Peter and Margaret diverted direct to the largest of the Marquesan islands, Nuku Hiva, where there was a hospital. Amazingly, a French neurosurgeon was on duty and was able to carry out a tendon graft from Peter’s ankle to his hand. Remarkably, over time, he regained more than 90% use of his hand.
Most people suffered gear failure of some sort; we blew out our mainsail in the last week when we were hit by 40 knot squalls. And the motor on our auto pilot failed (worn brushes) during the first week. We are currently trying to get a replacement. Overall, the weather was good steady easterlies for the first 10 days then we were becalmed for two days, which gave us time for a swim, 1500 miles from the nearest land! We also had visits from schools of dorados, killer whales and dolphins.
The last few days were a little tiring with a squall every hour or so, which meant that we had to be alert all the time.
At last, after more than 3,000 miles and 25 days at sea we sailed into the stunning Marquesas. It was unexpected. I didn’t expect them to be tall. You sort of think of Pacific islands as flat, with palm trees. But these were actually volcanic.
Fatu Hivu was glorious with tropical rainforest, trees laden with grapefruit, bananas, mangoes, etc. As far away from anywhere as it’s possible to get, Fatu Hiva is a marvellous ‘stop the world and get off’ kind of place. The iconic Bay of Virgins is one of the most dramatic anchorages in the world – so small that late-comers have to anchor in up to 30m of water. A case of ‘first in, best dressed’.
After five days of rest and recovery, we headed for the smallest of the inhabited Marquesan islands, Tahuata. We’d intended to stop at Baie Hanamoenoa but when we got there it seemed to be full of boats – so we and Orinoco Flow decided to carry on to the next bay, which was delightful, and we had it to ourselves.
There’s relentless pressure to cross the Pacific before the next cyclone season. It makes it a long hard sailing season – even though we had decided to wait it out in New Zealand rather than Australia. We had no time to linger – it was onwards to Nuku Hiva.
Baie Taiohoe on Nuku Hiva was full of yachts taking advantage of the amenities the main town had to offer – they, like us, were waiting for a weather window for the long passage to the Tuamotus, the next island chain further across the Pacific. We hope to be in Tahiti by the end of the month where we will be joined by Christine’s sister Carol and husband, Trevor for a two-week holiday, which will be fun.