Marquesas (May 2018)

 

Arriving in Fatu Hiva in the sunrise after 16.5 days on sea was simply magic. I think we will never forget this beautiful morning with that stunning scenery. It was simply breathtaking.

The bay of virgins is the most scenic place you can imagine. When we arrived there were just a handful of other boats anchored there. We were welcomed by Max (a dutch solo sailor) who brought us some juicy pamplemousse from the island. They were delicious and tasted like paradise… surely also because our fruit reserve was down to zero after the crossing. Max also gave us a lot of useful informations about the village of Hanavave.

After a nice pancake breakfast we got ready to discover the small village of Hanavave . Technically you would say there was not much to discover. There was a church, a tiny small shop (who just accepted French Polynesian Francs which we did not have), a post office and a mairie. No restaurant, no ATM, no wifi. But the real discovery were the people living there. Everyone was so friendly and after a short while we already knew half the village.                                                                                  There was Reva who offered us some fruits and fresh eggs in exchange of some rhum, we met Veronique, who offered us bananas and oranges in exchange of some T-Shirts. And there was Anne and her husband Henry who gave us lots of pamplemousse and lemon and showed us the beautiful wooden handcrafts and Tikis they do. They told us about the “Salon des Marquises” in Papeete and that a lot of people from the village will go there with the “Aranui 5” boat in the following week to sell their artcrafts during that exhibition. With Anne we could also make a deal to have two bags of laundry washed and dried against two pairs of flipflop. She also told us that we should not miss church on Sunday morning 8 o’clock, as it was mother’s day and all the women will wear beautiful handmade flower crowns.

For Saturday evening Max had organised dinner at Desirée’s place for all the boats in the anchorage and we spent a wonderful evening together. The church on Sunday morning was one of those magical unforgettable moments… the beautiful choir, the wonderful scenery and the smell of all those flower crowns was just a perfect blend.

After the church we first chatted with some local people and then headed back to the port. There we met two local guys with a dead goat who had fallen off the steep rocks. We started talking with them and one of the guys – Christian was his name – offered us to prepare a dinner the next day at his place. We asked the other boats if they wanted to join and ended up in a group of almost 20 people eating delicious goat with coconut milk and papaya, raw marinated fish and fried breadfruit and rice.

And so the days passed and we stayed much longer as we originally thought we would. André went spearfishing with Nico and Gavin from URCHIN, Simon proudly showed us his artcraft masterpieces, Florida explained us how to do tapas and Basil showed us how to make fresh coconut milk. André and me also did a beautiful hike to the village of Omoa. So there was so much to discover and we learned a lot about their way of living.

After 10 days we left Fatu Hiva and sailed to Hiva Oa to officially clear in there at the gendarmerie. Our next stop was Tahouata. We anchored in a beautiful bay with a fantastic beach. After a few days CHASING STARS, INFINITY, ROGUE and some other kids boat catched up with us and the kids had a blast together at the beach playing with the big waves.