Marquesas - Niku Hiva

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, Sailing Yacht Woodsia arrived in the mysterious land of Marquesas. The people spoke a strange tongue but they all looked like Kiwis. It is a tropical island with tall volcanic mountains that jut sharply into the deep deep sea (1,185m high and 40 - 100m deep). It was warm and the hills were lush and green, a magnet to clouds that had never seen land (it rained a lot).

Anyway, fairy tale stories aside on our arrival at the island of Niku Hiva, we were welcomed into the harbour by other yachts blowing their horns and just in time for the Bastile day long weekend. The locals don’t actually celebrate Bastille day but have their own indigenous celebrations in July that just happens to coincide. We were treated to several nights of local food, dancing and boxed French wine at the community hall (shed). We caught up with Steve, Di & Paul from “Independent Freedom” , Geoff and Merel (Miss Molly) and other cruisers for a couple of fun nights had by all. Kim was taken by the buffed guys dancing in grass skirts and nearly jumped over board when the following day they sped past the boat in their outrigger canoes.

We were told of an ancient ceremony site that was a couple of hours hike from the village. The layout was ideal for an episode of Survivor tribal council, doted around were stone tikis that looked like aliens and a huge Banyan tree that must have been over 200 years old. Our walk was made easy thanks to a local who gave us a lift there. Thankfully it was the uphill route.

Following the usual provisioning of fresh food & taking on fuel we moved to a very sheltered bay on the NE of the island inhabited by a small village. No rolly swell…yay!!! The houses were close to the golden sandy beach with a backdrop of a volcanic mountain. We spent several wonderful days with Geoff & Merel, cooking up a storm in the galley and simply catching up. We hiked to a large rugged, exposed bay on the east coast whilst enjoying the breath taking view. A few days later we moved to a neighbouring village for some fresh supplies. We visited the local store which had no fruit & veg. Thankfully Merel can speak French so we had a local escort us to a friendly neighbours back yard. They supplied us with ample mangos, bananas and the exotic fruit pamplemousse. The pamplemousse is sweet and juicy and resembles an oversized grape fruit. Eating it demands plenty of slurping noises as the small internal pockets/sacks explode in your mouth. Very tasty!! Geoff also fixed our lure so that we no longer have a visible trace. The lure proved to be a success when we picked up anchore one morning to pop around to another bay. Half a mile out, we caught a medium size dorado…the drought has finally broken!!!

We didn’t stay in the Marquesas as long as we had scheduled or explore the other island as the turquoise waters of the Archipel Des Tuamotu beckoned. Not to mention that it rains a lot and swimming is limited to jumping in then swimming back quickly to the boat. Sharks are fairly common and Si saw a 2 metre shark swim happily past the boat….

Galapagos to Marquesas - 3200nm

Close your eyes and imagine for three weeks you and one other (recommend that it is someone you get along with rather than someone you fantasise about), are confined to your lounge room, kitchen and bathroom, now divide that space into one third. With the exception of email, you have no contact with the outside world, no television, no newspapers and no internet. You are only able to prepare meals with food that you currently have available to you and the alcohol has been confiscated. By the way you are unable to use the microwave, bread maker, freezer, food processor or toaster. To top it off, at any one time, one of you has to be awake. Having fun yet????

Well strangely enough, we are. I think that we have both gone a bit crazy (some may argue a bit crazier) but the passage to the Marquesas has been a fairly enjoyable one though relatively uneventful. We left the Galapagos in 20 knot wind. We decided to follow Bob McDavitt’s (South Pacific weather guru) recommendation and head SW to 4 degrees South, 96 degrees West and then ‘straight’ to Marquesas. The first 5 / 6 days we were off and

Very tastyrunning. We had a nice broad reach run averaging 7.5kts to 8kts. We figured that at this speed we would make the passage in 18 to 19 days. Once we hit the go straight mark, things got a bit tricky. We figured we would pole out the head sail, goose wing the main and sit back and enjoy champagne sailing. Unfortunately, not everything went to plan. We struggled the remainder of the trip to find enough wind to fill the sails. So much for constant SE Trade Winds. With the exception of a 36hr period, we had to set the sails at least 3 to 4 times each day. At night the wind often dropped down to no wind and there is nothing worse than flapping sails when you only have three hours of precious sleep.

During the 36hr period mentioned above we had some lovely 18 to 20 knot winds and were averaging between 8 and 9kts. When we hit over 11kts the hull started to hum! I was getting a bit concerned thinking is this like having speed wobbles on a bicycle? but Si was loving it. Unfortunately the wind abated and it was back to motor

We ate well - lunch was the highlight of the daysailing. Apart from little wind, the days have been glorious albeit a bit cool after leaving the Galapagos. For the first 6 days we wore socks and jackets on watch. One day I wore jeans and by 4pm you needed a light pull over. Very strange considering we were so close to the equator. As we left the Galapagos behind, it started to warm up and Si adopted his customary passage attire….a hat and a smile. We have had a number of tropical squalls go around us and have been very fortunate not to have been in their path.

The fishing started off well with a dorado and a tuna blessing the dinner table. At one stage, we had fish jumping onto the lines with a couple that got away. Since about the half way mark, our luck turned and we have not had a bite. Si’s favourite lure is a red and white fish with a built in flashing red light. I think there is more chance of scaring them off but he is adamant that it will catch something. For the first week, we had a fair number of squid landing on the boat. So Si would

First sighting of terra firma - very excitedcollect them, clean them and cook them up. Very tasty but not sure if it was worth the effort.

Early in the third week we came across the path of two other yachts inconsecutive days. It was nice to feel that you weren’t alone. . Sailing yacht Kokoda called on the VHF radio and said ‘hello”, they then passed a few miles away as they headed to Hiva Oa. PlanB came up within 20 meters of us and we both took some great photos of them and vice versa. We are looking forward to catching up with them in Niku Hiva.

We have not seen much in the way of marine life with two unconfirmed whale sightings and only two dolphin pods. There was a large thing just under the water surface that looked to be heading our way. Si was just about the turn on the engine and we lost sight of it. Si also saw something that looked like a dolphin on steroids jump out of the water. It could possibly have been a pilot whale. Yesterday, we saw the strangest dolphins. They were short and stumpy with a smallish tail and a pink under belly.

Happy to have made itUnlike normal dolphins, they did not play at the bow of the boat instead they were surfing and jumping out of the waves. They were very fast and entertaining but only hung around for about 10 minutes.

Tomorrow, after 22 days at sea, we will finally make landfall at Niku Hiva. As you may imagine, both of us are very proud of our achievement but are so looking forward to a glass of wine/beer and restaurant food. Any thing that we don’t have to cook/prepare ourselves. We are meeting up with Geoff and Merel from Miss Molly and are planning a 3000 nm party to celebrate. Miss Molly is now only a day behind us and will have spent only 16 days at sea…just goes to show what you can do with a 66 footer (Oyster). Unfortunately Cadans was delayed yet again and only departed the Galapagos a few days ago so can’t quite make it in time for the celebrations. .