Bonjour, Marquesas!

Early morning arrival at Hanavave Bay, Fatu Hiva 

We have arrived in the Marquesas after a 22 day passage cross the Pacific Ocean! We made our daybreak landfall at Fatu Hiva, the southern most island of the group. After a short rest and  village sight-seeing, we headed north to the next island Hiva Oa. This is the official port entry to the French Polynesias. There are many services here, a well supplied town with all the necessities;  ATM, internet, markets and shops.  To “re-cap” our passage thus far:

Day 1  March 29, 2013
ADIOS, MEXICO…BONJOUR, MARQUESAS!

This will be a journal of our passage across the Pacific Ocean from mainland Mexico to the Marquesas Islands. It’s a common route known as the Pacific Puddle Jump. Many of the Baja Ha-Ha cruisers are heading this way, too.
I won’t have internet to blog my journey, so the following diary will be my record.

2:30 pm 6.5 knots wind vane handling the helm with 20-25 knots wind, reefed main and genoa, cruising along with choppy seas at beam. Warm. Great start out of Banderas Bay- we leave the Tres Marietas Islands behind and into the open ocean…here we go!
Day 13 April 10 05.37N’, 127.41W
ITCZZZZ
Rain! Dark clouds overhead shower us with rain and gusty winds on and off all day. We must be in the famous ITCZ zone we’ve heard so much about.  The sudden squalls and gusty winds can hit instantly and send you scrambling to lower sails. So far, we are enjoying the light fresh water rain that cleans the salt off the boat and our bodies. Nothing too mean so far. The weather is humid, warm and the occasional gusty winds of 10-15 knots cool us off.

Crossing the equator

Day 14 April 12
HOT BOAT YOGA!
 10:30 am Steaming humid heavy rain, full clouds cover, flat seas make for this humid day. We have arrived in the infamous ITZC zone where any type of weather can happen, from squalls to high winds and seas to flat calm. We are watching the squall cells, the big dark clouds that extend down from the heavens to the water dumping rain in an instant flash.  We can see them on the radar like pink blobs

Radar shows rain squalls as pink blobs. Here the vessel is passing through two local disturbances.

 approaching across the chart plotter. Our decision to put the canvas dodger back up yesterday to protect from the rain was a good call. One minute we see the dark clouds ahead; the next it’s raining and we’re closing the hatches.  We are traveling at just 4.5 knots trying to get the right combination of sails…reefing against the sudden gusts of winds.
Breakfast is steeped oatmeal with pineapple. I’m worried we wont have enough food to finish the passage. All or our fresh food is gone…now, we are scrounging to put canned stuff together.

Fixing, fixing, fixing...

The head water intake valve is leaking…John puts in a new valve.  Another ‘fire” extinguished! It’s good the plumber lives aboard!
John and Mark sail the boat and “fix” stuff. I basically clean, cook and have opinions that everyone ignores. Ha! Ha!

Beautiful sunsets!

12:30 am –My watch:
Motoring with autopilot. Calm no wind. This is the ITCZ’Sparly cloudy, no rain, humid. We are on heading of 190 degrees south cutting across and out of the ITCZ. Reports from other boats say this zone stretches from 5 degrees North – 2 degrees South degrees across the equator. We’ve experienced unsettled weather since 7 degrees North latitude.
The auto –pilot is running rough and smells like oil. I hope it holds on or we will be hand steering. So far, all our “systems” have had an issue. Also, the oven burner doesn’t stay lit. I’m using the broiler for making muffins. I will discontinue this as it’s getting so hot and humid…the other night I noted 91

Hot Boat Yoga!

degrees in the cabin!
Starry night with Milky Way painted across the sky…sailing towards  the constellation, Southern Cross. Thinking of the Jimmy Buffett song, "sailing by the Southern Cross"....
4:00am –
OH,NO! The autopilot just quit! I smelled oil and heard a clunk. It over heated and blew a breaker. Will have to fix in the morning.  John’s turn on watch and he will have to hand steer.

12:00pm- 03.42N, 129.00W
Calm with light winds 3-5 knots, nearing the Equator, and the sun is hot! We are very close to our champagne celebration when we cross! Easy boat motion is opportunity to make a bacon and egg breakfast!

John reading the Kenwood Press while crossing the Equator!

Guess this is the doldrums! Winds are light and we’ve motored the last 16 hours through the night. This is what we’ve expected to do to get through this windless quiet spot on the charts.
Shower day…everyone takes a turn at “total tan time” getting au natural to dry off.

John and Mark fix the autopilot. Small plastic part broke. John is exhausted from his 4-hour watch hand piloting. I said remember this trip sailing to the Marquesas is your “dream come true” and along with it comes all the stuff you have fix along the way!
In addition to the autopilot acting up, the oven burner went out, so I have to learn to cook with the broiler on…carefully.
Every night, we check in to the organized radio net on the SSB radio. It’s a roll-call of boats to document their positions and to have communication in case of emergency. It’s reassuring to know someone else is out here.



Day 16- April 13
CROSSING THE EQUATOR
1:45pm crossed the equator at 00 00 130w. Toasted King Neptune with a bottle of champagne, Veuve Cliquot, graciously brought along by Mark to share.

King Neptune

King and Queen celebrating the Equator Crossing!

  I made a crown and scepter out of aluminum foil and Mark was game enough to play dress up as King Neptune.  It was good fun!
 We congratulated each other for getting this far…only 850 miles to go to Fatu Hiva.

00.00 South Latitude

Saw a pod of whales just after crossing, too! But at last, still no fish! Whatzs up with that? We hear other boats on the net are catching tuna!
Day 18- April 15
ARE WE THERE YET?
This morning brings strong 20-knot winds, 10ft swells and clear skies. We are running fast like a freight train!  We’ve been sailing along all night like this. At this rate we’ll record 160-mile day! At last calculation we have 530 more miles to go. Destination Fatu Hiva. We are stopping there first as it’s on our way and heard it’s the most beautiful and rustic, similar to Yelapa in Mexico. There are few people and it’s like a step back in time. But, its not the legal check in entry port…so we keep this arrival destination quiet.

Sin mustache

OMG! John just shaved his mustache off!! I have NEVER seen his upper lip!( We've been married 36 years) His lips are thin and turns up slightly to a happy smile. Now, I can really see if he’s smiling or not. He’s so cute!
As you can see, there’s not much to do while on a 40 ft space floating along in the desert of blue.
But, that’s not really true. Everyday there has been a major “fire” to put out.  I smelled hot oil the other night on my watch. John checked the engine gauges and sure enough the oil pressure was low. Quickly, shut the engine down to cool…we all worried this could be a big deal. In the morning, Mark and John ran through the usual troubleshooting and discovered the water intake impeller was missing blades.  Luckily, we had an extra impeller part. A new one installed and off and running again!

April 21 Saturday -Fatu Hiva

First glimpse of Fatu Hiva

We arrived early morning at daybreak. Saw the dark landmass from 20 miles out.  Of course, it’s my watch and I’m nervous about being too close to land. I get John up to help adjust the boat’s speed to slow up. We don’t want to make a night landfall. So we get the boat to slowing at 2.1 knots just at the point of the anchorage and we sit at a stand still against the current. Just stationary. I’ve never experienced this ‘hove to” sort of position. We stayed this way until the daybreak and we could see into the anchorage. The mountain rise straight up like cathedrals towers from the water in shades of green. We can see how the original name, the Bay of Penis came to be called. But, rumor has it that when the missionaries came they censored the name to the Bay of Virgins. Go figure.

Hike up the Hanavave valley

We stare in awe and are shocked by the beauty and magnificent cliffs of green. We anchor near forty feet of water under dark clouds and a slight sprinkle of rain. There has been rain squalls on and off all  night and we could see on the radar that the island had rain. I could smell the warm land, fragrant and earthy at six miles out.

Strange rock formations

We secure the boat and make camp. Get the dink in the water and off we ashore. Mind you, we’ve been 22 days at sea  and our legs are like mush when we hit ground! My hips were like rubber bands, loose and squirrely walking on the stationary ground. I didn’t feel land sick as others have reported experiencing after a long passage.
We walk through the quiet, well-kept town and say “Bonjour” to all as French is spoken in the Marquesas.  We immediately feel unable to communicate beyond a greeting. We stop to admire the tropical paradise we have just invaded…coconut palms, frangipani flowers, hibiscus, ginger, mangoes, and bananas everywhere. The homes are modest with well-manicured yards, planted ti plants and flowers, small chards of fruit trees. Every home has a small fenced yard and a 4x4 truck! Really? Yes.

Hanavave harbor

High above town of Hanavave

Hot, humid hike up the road out of town

Boat ride to Omoa

We notice this first. We learn that the French government subsidizes the Polynesian islands. Every native citizen is well taken care of.  We had in our minds that the islanders needed “things” from the outside world. Maybe, yesterday but, not today. The islanders are very modern and up to date with TV, cell phones, cars and a hip young crowd who hang out and look like any other teenagers complete with logo T- shirts, motorcycles, soccer and church…still a religious group of people with a church in every town and a cross in every house. We hear the church bells on Sunday morning.

Tiki in Omoa

I am anxious to meet the people and see the local crafts. Marquesans are known for their woodcarvings and tapas (painting on bark). We pass a wood carver’s studio and we are waved in…beautiful ebony wood bowls and boxes. But, oh my, expensive! These people know what their crafts are worth and there is no negotiating. We didn’t have any money or CPF (French Polynesian francs) so couldn’t buy anything even if we wanted to. The young woman asked if I had any perfume to trade?…The locals are very well supplied with modern goods. And then there is the language barrier...we are communication challenged!

Church in Omoa

We walk up and out of the town on a steep road of switch backs up, up and up…we are on the way to the cascade or waterfall so written about. Up we climb, the views are magnificent looking across the steep gorges valley below to the village. But, no waterfall to be seen only a dark spot in the canyon

Hiking in Omoa

Omoa petroglyph

Tapa artist

wall where water might be after a rain. Guess it’s been a drought year and not enough water to keep it flowing. (Update: one month later, it's raining every day in Marquesas and waterfalls abound!)

We next meet some kids walking along the one street village. They eagerly ask to come see our boat! We oblige and dingy three young monsters out to see the Wizard.  They are wild creatures peeking, poking and opening every cabinet, looking in every nook and cranny!  Those boys were in heaven. Then John opens the tool chest and... WHAM! Out come the drills and saws and anything with a battery that goes”Whirrr” they played like machine guns!

The cute little "monsters" aboard Wizard!

 It was hilarious. BUT, only for a few minutes. Then we decided it was time for them to go or we would loose our patience. Not sure if they have no manners(probably) or are just wild, excitable boys, but they were not paying attention to our “NO, don't touch that” and they needed to go. So much for meeting the natives! I gave them some candy and sent them home. Seriously, they were just so excited to be on our boat! I forgive them:-)

Jaques is our tour guide and "clown"

Next, we meet Jacques and wife walking along the road. They offer for a fee to take us by boat over to the next town of Omoa. We make plans for a morning ride.

Copra drying rack. This is coconut meat drying to make coconut oil.

The neighboring town of Omoa is much bigger with more people, yet still a small one-road village with two markets, schools, post office and church. Friendly people. Our boat driver, Jacques, also acts as tour guide and takes us through town, stops at several artists shops, meets friends, and takes us through the coconut orchard, past pig farm and up to some ancient hieroglyphs carved into the rocks. Pretty cool. We are hiking sweaty, dripping in the humid air, smelling flowers, and sweet rotting bananas, smelly pigs, and smoky fire pits…all mingle together for a total olfactory experience.

Titkis

Next we do some shopping at the local market. And quickly burn through $150 US dollars or 11500 francs. It is very expensive to buy imported goods here in the islands!
That is something to note to all that are planning a Marquesas passage…bring a ton of money! Francs not even Euros. We happened to exchange US dollars with Euros with some Danish folks we met, so we could at least buy some meat and provisions at the market or “magazine” as they are called. That was an expensive lesson as well! I dropped $150.00  in a minute!
We had a wonderful boat ride back to Hanavavae slowly exploring the steep cliffs dotted with caves along the way. thanks to our tour guide, Jacques.

Wizard in Fatu Hiva

  April 21- Sunday
Today we paddled with the dolphins! OMG! What a trip! This pod of hundreds is fishing right near our anchorage in Fatu Hiva…we paddle out to mix with them. They are jumping, flipping and swirling around in the baitfish…what looks like fun to us is merely hunting to them. We try to get close to swim with, but they are shy… but I did invent a new sport. It’s called “snorkel-paddle”…I put my snorkel gear on while face down in water on paddle board to see the dolphins diving…so cool! Who cares if I look like Daffy Duck?

Daffy Duck on paddle board

Capt. John

April 22 Hiva Oa

Hiva Oa

We are exploring Hiva Oa today. We meet up with our bond agent, Sandra, who helps with our check into the islands. We can't say enough about her service. She spoke great English and managed several Captains and crews with check in at the local Gerdarmerie. Plus, we get fuel exemptions when using a bond agent. Was worth the pre-planning with Latitude 38 and the Pacific Puddle Jump group.