Hi from Apropos in Hiva-Oa. We up-anchored from Fatu-Hiva at 7am and set sail for the largest of the Marquesan Islands, Hiva-Oa, the official port of entry. We sailed in light winds most of the way and arrived at 5pm to a full anchorage with a dozen boats, many of them from the Pacific Puddle Jump rally who we are friends with. Chris and Heather from Family Circus stopped by in the evening to exchange stories of our crossings. Jacintha was thrilled to see her two good friends and they played in the “v-berth club” while the adults talked in the cockpit. Family Circus is a fast Catamaran and did the crossing in 19 days and they’ve been in Hiva-Oa for a week so gave us lots of good information–where to find wifi, banks, pizza, tours, etc. We plan to spend about 5 days here before moving on to the next island. Tomorrow we will visit the Gendarme, the official who checks you into the country, then go to a bank to get some French francs and explore the town, which is a few miles from the anchorage. The only gas station on the island is next to the anchorage so it’s easy to hitchhike a ride into town.
We did the official check-in with the gendarme so we’re now legal and can stay in French Polynesia for up to 90 days. Afterwards we walked around the small town and found an internet cafe, small grocery store, hardware store, and a few restaurants. We bought some french baguettes and ate them with butter, cheese, and prochiutto for dinner. Today we went on a full-day tour of Hiva-Oa. Our guide Pifa, who also works as a fireman, grew up on Hiva-Oa but spent time in the states and spoke English. He drove us in a 4-wheel drive SUV from the south end of the island to the west end and then the north end along narrow winding roads that were mostly dirt and rock (felt like we were back on the boat!). We stopped at a recently discovered solitary Tiki that dates back to 50AD! At another Tiki sight from the 1800s there were a half dozen stone Tikis along with other stone arrangements and Pifa explained what each one symbolized as well as some historical facts about the site. He then lead Nick and I through the beginning part of a Haka dance, the ancient warrior dance that’s still performed at dance festivals throughout French Polynesia. Another stop was at the house of one of his Uncles (Pifa’s grandfather had 20-some kids and he joked that half the island were his cousins). The courtyard had mango, starfruit, banana, lime, pamplemousse, and breadfruit trees. We sampled some homemade vinegar and salted limes. A short distance down the road he stopped the truck at his cousins house and came out with cups of frozen mango juice and fried banana bread. The road continued along the coastline going around beautiful bays. Between the bays we were traveling on winding roads along steep cliffs many hundreds of feet above the sea. Much of the land we traveled through belonged to someone in his extended family. Hundreds of goats were on the hillsides or along the road. We stopped at one point where Jacintha got to hold a few-day old goat, and sit on an adult goat http://pong.uwstout.edu..ml! At the far north end of the island, where the road ended, we stopped at a house that cooked us lunch–fresh mango juice, plantain, breadfruit, fried banana, coconut something for appetizers; goat meat, raw fish (poisson cru), pig, and beef for mains. This was a great sampling of Marquesan style dishes with all locally grown/raised/caught ingredients. With full bellies, we drove another hour before stopping at a nice bay for a swim. We had fun playing in the waves, and Pifa cut some fresh mangos and a young coconut for us to enjoy. While we were drying off, he taught us how to make a fish on a fishing pole by weaving a coconut palm leaf. I’m sure I left out some things, but that gives you a taste of the tour, which began at 9:30am and we returned at 5:30pm. Pifa then even offered to take us to his Uncles restaurant for Pizza, and picked us back up at 7:00pm (we just had enough time to dinghy to the boat and turn on the anchor light). A dozen other Puddle Jumpers who we knew were also there so we joined them at a big table for dinner. Jacintha fell asleep soon after eating and had to be carried away. Pifa drove us back to the anchorage where we managed to launch the dinghy in the dark (with a sleeping Jacintha) and motor back to the boat for a great night’s sleep.
Compared to yesterday’s all-day island tour, we had a more relaxing day today. The highlight (for me anyhow) was getting a tattoo. When I planned this trip over 5 years ago, I had in mind I would get a tattoo in the Marquesas, in the traditional symbolic style they are known for. I discussed what I wanted with Pifa (our island guide) while we were at his uncle’s pizza restaurant and thought more about it overnight. Pifa picked us up in the morning and drove us to his cousin Piu’s tattoo shop and translated to him what I wanted. I chose a band around my upper right arm with Polynesian symbols–sailboat, my 3 kids, Karen, safe voyage, Marquesan cross, sharks teeth, and the sea). Aside from the sailboat, the other symbols are harder to recognize, but make sense once you know what they are. Karen took pictures during and after and the whole thing took about 2 hours. We also did some much needed boat cleaning today, then took the dinghy to the pier where there was a food truck cooking meals. Jacintha had a hotdog and fries, and the adults shared 2 huge plates of coconut shrimp with rice. The food truck shows up here once a week and a lot of locals and a handful of cruisers stopped by for dinner. We were thinking about moving on tomorrow, but the grib (gridded binary wind info) files show better winds on Sunday, so we may stay here another day. The anchorage is very crowded with 1 or 2 boats arriving daily, and few leaving! It’s a lot of fun since we know about half of the boats and exchange stories with them about our crossings. Everyone puts down a bow and stern anchor to reduce swing and allow boats to anchor closer together. We had never used a stern anchor before, but bought one (along with 50′ of chain and 100′ rope) when we were in San Diego so are glad to finally make use of it.
