I managed to get some time online in Nuka Hiva at huge expense but then spent all but 5 minutes or so trying to access hotmail etc and only managed in the end to get Facebook briefly to send a couple of quick messages and to post my blog, so sorry if you were expecting an email from me! The phone was expensive too and the credit I had lasted just two minutes! Apart from this I loved these islands and would have liked to visit the others in the group.

We spent 5 days in the Marquesas anchored in Taiohae Bay before setting out again for the 6 day sail to Tahiti having decided not to visit the Tuamotu archipelago which lies about 450 miles from Nuka Hiva en route to Tahiti. The Tuamotus are famous for black pearls and French nuclear tests and are an extensive range of very low lying coral atolls, Rangiroa being the largest.

Anyway, back to Nuka Hiva….I was dreading the infamous attack of the nono flies which frequently lead to hospital visits but in the end, they just weren’t biting (much) and I just had one half of my lower right leg exposed briefly, unDeeted, resulting in about 5 bites only. Phew!!

We spent the first day recovering from 19 nights at sea and getting our shorelegs back. The second day was spent repairing the tape on the foot of the yankee which we had to do by hand and which was an enormous effort, taking over 8 hours to sew about 5 metres. The third day was spent recovering from that and doing some provisioning (French cheese….lovely!!), but on the fourth day, we had a day out!

We hired a local guide, Richard, a lovely Polynesian who could do the “haka”( he says it originated in the Marquesas) to drive us around the best parts of the island in a 4x4 which we shared with a delightful young couple on another boat, Lucie and Jamie from Bamboozle.
The Marquesas are quite simply spectacular; rugged volcanic peaks and dense greenery everywhere. Apart from the scenery, the Marquesas are most famous for their cannibalism which only ended about 100 years ago. Google it for more info? A visit to the sites of the ritual sacrifices is a must…… a strange aura pervades in these damp gloomy areas….. unsurprisingly. The authorities are now starting to preserve these places thank goodness. They were full of mysterious stone carvings called tiki which were deteriorating rapidly. This is because they were carved from the native volcanic rock, basalt, which disintegrates easily because the minerals inside break down very quickly with rainwater etc. (We amateur geologists know these things!!) It felt just a little strange putting my head on the block for the photo knowing that countless others had been beheaded on this stone..though not sideways of course! The stone has been moved from its original position perhaps because the last known example of cannibalism took place in 1907 when a grandfather killed and ate his young grandson…there must be other descendants of this man still around? Once you’ve tried it…..? Who knows??

Next day was time to leave, not too early thankfully. We headed out southwest and enjoyed a good couple of days sailing before the weather turned as we approached the Tuamotos. A visit to Rangiroa would have been impossible under the circumstances as we sailed between two atolls in 40 knots and driving rain which lasted nearly 24 hours. Imagine trying to spot coral heads and land only about two metres above sea level when visibility is down to a few metres. We couldn’t see any land at all as we crossed the 150miles or so through this archipelago until the weather cleared the next day and we could just see some palm trees on the horizon about 8 miles away.

The last part of the sail to Tahiti was fairly uneventful except that we had to motor for some time as the wind died and then “something” went wrong with the engine so that we didn’t dare shut it down in case it wouldn’t start again……. And so it goes on but we are currently safely tied up in a marina with water, electricity and wifi.

Time to catch up with some sleep…. More soon.
PS Not sure if the photos will go this time as the connection is slow…
!