April 26 - Baie des Vierges
26 April 2014 | 09 54.47'S:139 06.30'W, Baie de Vierges, Fatu Hiva AND, Marqueasas
Wendy
I have to agree with Colin, the Bay of Virgins is beautiful and has been my favorite anchorage so far. In addition to the beauty, we have met some wonderful people and have seen some terrific customs there. For our second day on shore, we had nothing planned but to buy a few more cokes. While we were in town, we followed a sign for artisans and met two guys that did carvings. The first had mostly bone carvings (necklaces) that were a little expensive for our taste, but he did have some neat wood hair spikes that we bought. The second fellow, Jacque, had some tikis, bowls, and masks. They weren�'t completely finished, but I really like a covered bowl/box with the Marquesan cross, so we made arrangements to come back after it was finished. Desiree, Jacque�'s wife, was working on a costume for their daughter�'s contest that night. This costume was AMAZING! It was all hand made out of natural grasses, plants, shells, etc. In addition to the wood box that we agreed to buy, Desiree su ggested we �"change�" (exchange) for some fruit. She would trade us Papaya, Pamplemousse, and another spiny fruit that neither of us can remember, but is sweet and juicy. We agreed to bring some rope scraps back to trade, when we came back for the box. We came back after noon to pick up our treasures. We watched Jacque finish our box, while we had a broken conversation with Desiree who explained the competition to us. Their daughter, Caroline, was a finalist in a competition of traditional song/speech/dance. Three islands, Fatu Hiva, Hiv Oa, and Tahuata were competing for a place in the next level. The winner of this competition would go on to Tahiti in June. Desiree (and another woman on the street) encouraged us to come and watch and asked us to invite the other sailors. So we did! And wow!!, am I glad we attended. We watched 12 preteens and their teams compete in sort of a traditional Marquesan speech/dance contest. Their costumes were fantastic! We have quite a few terrific photos and we will upload them when we get to some good WiFi. The communal hut was decorated with woven palms, fresh flowers and plants and colorful mats for the children to wait on. There were drums to accompany the participants too. All in all it was quite an experience. And to top it off, Caroline won!!! None of this could have been planned, but it is certainly one of the highlights for me so far. Friday morning we left Fatu Hiva to go to the island of Tahuata. We spent Friday afternoon and night in Vaitahu Bay. They have a wonderful church that has been designed to artistically combine local wood with discarded stones used as ballast for 19th century trading ships. It also has some beautiful stained glass, and wood work that was definitely worth stopping to see. Saturday morning we moved up the coast a couple of miles to Hanamoenoa Bay. This is another beautiful, coconut palm lined bay with a white sand beach. We went snorkeling and then did some chores surrounded by the tropical beauty. I am a little afraid to go to shore though, as this beach is known for its �"nonos�". These biting bugs feasted on me back in Baie Hanamenu when we walked on the beach. My back and arms are covered in 6 or 7 dozen raised bumps that have still not gone away in over a week. They have been super itchy and are really some of the worst bug bites I have ever experienced. Colin of course has none.