The Marquesas Islands (French: Îles Marquises or Archipel des Marquises or Marquises; Marquesan: Te Henua (K)enana (North Marquesan) and Te Fenua `Enata (South Marquesan), both meaning "The Land of Men")
We left the Galapagos Islands at 1730 on Monday 23 March and arrived at Hiva Oa in Les Îles Marquises at 0145 in the morning of Thursday 16 April - a voyage of 23 days and 8 hours - and over 3000 nautical miles (I cannot be accurate about the mileage as the boat's log got fouled with barnacles and seized up - I went under the boat's hull to clear them away on Tuesday 7 April). The voyage was a mixture some fair days sailing and several days of very calm weather in the Doldrums. Very dull and frustrating, but we got through. There are some pictures of this Doldric weather in Life at Sea
We arrived at Hiva Oa at 1.45 in the morning - the moon was out but we came through some squalls on the way by the island. We anchored inside the small harbour of Tahauku just around the corner of the town of Atuona (in these islands all the syllables are pronounced thus : At-u-o-na).
The next morning I woke up to hear banging on the side of the boat - a large cargo ship was waiting to enter the harbour and we were in the way - the Aranui 3 who comes every two weeks with stores for the island. So up with the Captain, up anchor and away we motored to the outside of the harbour. Not so comfortable out there with a swell crossing the bay. The morning was lovely and revealed a stunning view around the bay of high green hills, and the breeze wafting green tropical scents in the air.
We all went ashore that morning; it was so good to walk again on dry land, be surrounded by trees, plants and flowers and greenness after endless blue. The walk to the town of Atuona was around the head of the bay, then the headland, up and down, and took about half an hour. The town of Atuona is small and very tidy. This is French Polynesia and receives large grants from wealthy France - a great contrast to what I have seen in South America. To be fair the Galapagos Islands also were well cared for but no like this. When David, Sarah and I stayed in Golfito in Coast Rica we had been told the the French Polynesians would be unfriendly and not speak much English. Nothing could be further from the truth. I came prepared with my schoolboy french ready to charm our former foes (the Englishman speaking here) and found instant resonses in good English - and such charm and friendliness. It was a surprise and delight.
Hiva Oa is gorgeous - we did not see much - but you'll see from the photos how stunning it was. We spent on two days here, and did not have time to explore the island - lots of time to catch up with the world on the internet and do the e-mails which was nice. We stocked up on some fresh food but not a lot as it is all horrendously expensive - $20 for hamburger ! This is island living and the French government heavily subsidises the population so they can afford to live on stuff that has to come vast distances by sea.
Paul Gauguin lived here for many years - and Atuona has a very fine Paul Gauguin Cultural Centre. We visited - and I did not have my camera on the first visit but was told that of course I could come back tomorrow to take photos - no extra charge ! So we did. A most lovely centre - four halls designed in a local vernacular with modern flair, forming a boundary on the western side of the site, and to the east of it a replica of Gauguin's house. I am not sure how accurate this is. The main room is upstairs - under it are two rooms with an open space between them. The original well is still in the garden. There is also a studio which is used now for classes - this is a culturel centre to promote art - all the paintings in the museum buildings are copies of Gauguin's work done by local artists.
The island was also home to Jacques Brel, a French actor, adventurer, pilot and yachtsman - his restored twin engine Beachcraft plane (JoJo) is in a hangar with boards of information about him. My French was not up to learning much about him !
Hiva Oa is really lovely and certainly worth a longer stay - but we had to press on to Tahiti as we had an appointment with the Captain's wife due there on 23 April.
Whilst I was entranced by the beauty of the island and was so happy to be ashore again, I was suffering from acute depression too and this was being reflected in e-mails home..... life at sea confined in a small boat was affecting me and the crisis was fast approaching ...... more in the next Blog Chapter on this
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