Bruce and Daniel
12 May 2009
Roger
Islands: 5. Anchorages: 8
Tane posted the latest lot of photos last night. They include ones using the underwater camera housing.
We explored the town of Taiohae (Nuku Hiva) on the 6th, eating lunch at the only true restaurant in town. Our waiteress [sic] seemed to be our first encounter with the product of the Polynesian tradition of bringing boys up as girls.
A fellow cruiser, a single-hander named Eric, was at a neighboring table. We struck up a conversation and discovered that he'd sailed to the Marquesas from Mexico in company with another single-handed boat. Two days earlier, his friend had set sail for Ua Pou from this harbor, Taiohae, on Nuku Hiva, in the morning. At about 6pm, he was heard calmly calling other boats, but he appeared not to hear any of the replies. The following day, his yacht was found on the rocks of Nuku Hiva with full sail up. His green plastic dinghy, which qualifies as a life raft, was not found. To this day, no trace of him or his dinghy has been found, in spite of the best efforts of the French coast guard in a large cutter and numerous tenders. The weather was unexceptional --- winds below 10 knots, and moderate seas. His destination was visible all of the way.
We found the three grocery stores --- although Taiohae is supposed to be the primary town in the Marquesas, the stores are smaller and considerably less well-stocked than those on Hiva Oa.
We spent the 7th working on the boat. Tane did the engine oil, filter, and zinc change while I fixed various problems with lights, mounted some more cabin fans, and installed a rope clutch for the mainsheet --- the jam cleat that was there often released the line at inopportune times.
Bruce had told us that he was coming at the planned time, in spite of his accident. It turns out that the airport is as far as possible from Taiohae, on a road that passes over a 4,000 foot range, and is unpaved in significant parts. It also turns out that there's no bus service, and you have to reserve a taxi. Since a one-way fare works out to over US$40, and the drive was reported to be spectacular, we decided to rent a car to pick up Bruce. A car means a four wheel drive, four door pickup, so we offered a ride to Brad and Sean from Marlin. We picked them up just before 8am, then the rental, and started off. And yes, the drive is indeed spectacular. The road becomes one lane just as you start ascending the highest pass, but the in that section, it's paved with new concrete---it is very steep in parts, with sharp switchbacks, so it must have been quite uncomfortable before the recent road works. The views from the various viewpoints on the way up, at the top, and on the way down, are amazing as we were lucky there were no clouds.
The flight arrived on time, and Bruce was immediately identifiable by the large white rectangular bandages on his face! Since we had the car for 24 hours, we decided to take a tour of the remaining roads on the island. The roads wind through heavy forest, either climbing or descending steeply but (almost) never horizontal. There are vistas of vertical jungle-clad faces, waterfalls, the blue ocean and many bays. Our destination on the north side of the island was a restaurant looking out onto a bay. On the way over the final ridge, we had to stop and wait while a large digger on metal tracks descended the other way --- there are no trucks to move such heavy machinery about, and in any event, I don't think a truck of sufficient size could negotiate the switchbacks. One of the locals who was waiting for the digger called ahead to the restaurant to make reservations for us---a typical Marquesan gesture.
The restaurant at Hatiheu bay lived up to its advance billing---it has a raised floor and roof and is open on all sides. There is seating for about 50 people, although only three tables were occupied. The food was great. Our friends from Victory Cat at one of the other tables advised us to save a portion of our meal to toss into the stream that ran alongside the restaurant. We did as advised, and watched as huge eels (one seemed to be about 5 feet long and over six inches thick) appeared from the shadows to fight for the food---quite a sideshow.
As we left the restaurant, it began to rain. And rain. And rain. Sean, Brad, and the luggage received a thorough washing for much of the rest of the trip. The descent into Taiohae bay began in dense clouds. The tropical downpours continued for several hours as we returned to Kena in a sodden dinghy. Luckily, the contents of the luggage were only damp in parts, and our boat parts not damp at all. We now had the necessary bits and pieces to repair all of the major breakdowns.
We were invited over to Kachina (Richard and Rachel) for happy hour. One of the other guests was an Australian, George, who has a 43ft Nordhavn trawler --- at that time, the only non-sail boat in the harbor. George invited Sal to go to the market with him the next morning---at 4:30am! It seems they have a weekly market that starts in the dark. The alarms were set and Sal was up in time to flag George down as he went by in the dark. It turns out George didn't remember our boat name or Sal's name, so she was very lucky to catch him. Or was he very lucky to be caught, thus avoiding the wrath of Sal. She returned triumphant. Amongst the purchases was 4 kilos of tuna---attempts to buy less were not accepted.
I replaced the autopilot linear drive, so we once again have a functioning autopilot. The new SSB microphone appears to have solved the problem, although I'll reserve judgment until we've checked into a net a few times.
In the afternoon, Sal, Bruce and I motored around to Daniel's bay (also known as Hakatea bay) while Tane made his way the 5 miles in the kayak. Daniel's bay is famous for it's waterfall, purportedly one of the 5 highest in the world. It was the site of one of the seasons of the Survivor reality show. The scenery is dramatic, with very steep and high volcanic cliffs rising directly out of one side of the bay. One other motivation for moving to Daniel's bay was an invitation from Victory Cat for a sashimi and sushi party---they, too, had ended up with 4 kilos of tuna. Sean and Brad joined us on Victory Cat and Tane and Ruth retired to the galley to begin their masterpieces. And masterpieces they were. The stuff kept coming as sashimi, as sushi rolls, and as seared tuna.
We were a little late heading for the waterfall next morning. There is a little settlement behind the beach where we landed. Although there are no roads in from anywhere else, there is a single gravel road and several vehicles that have a total of about half a mile of road they can use. The houses are well spaced with huge yards that are kept mown, probably with weed eaters. Each house is mounted on a rectangular base of volcanic rocks about four feet high, evidently to keep out the floodwaters. The road quickly changes to a single walking track that crosses the river several times. You pass the ruins of old native structures, tiki statues, and other assorted ancient works as you make you way through the dense vegetation. As everywhere in the Marquesas, much of the open areas are covered with sensitive plant, the plant that closes instantly to the touch. Every now and then there is an opening in the trees where you can see the huge peaks towering above. As you approach the falls, you enter a very narrow valley between sheer cliffs. A warning sign explains the danger of falling rocks, and on cue, a group of about five people with a guide passed going the other way, all wearing hard hats. After two hours of walking, we reached the waterfall area.
Standing at the edge of the pool at the base of the falls, we noticed fresh water crayfish with very long pincer arms. They all moved toward us, obviously conditioned to receive food. A large eel appeared, cruising around the edge of the pool, occasionally lunging at a crayfish. When we went into the pool, the eel came very close. Tane and I swam and clambered through to the base of the waterfall where we found a huge dark cave.
We stayed a second night in Daniel's cove, then Tane, Sal and Bruce motored and I kayaked back to Taiohae bay on the morning of Monday, May 11th. We returned to collect a propane tank, to get another filled, and to top up with outboard motor fuel. We're concerned we won't have access to any refueling in the Tuamotos.
The winds have died, and forecasts show no useful winds for about a week. Having enjoyed as much of Taiohae and Nuku Hiva as we could stand, we motored the 25 miles across a glassy calm sea to Ua Pou, the island directly to the south of Nuku Hiva. This is the island that is featured in most pictures of the Marquesas. It has a series of spires rising thousands of feet into the sky. The valleys between the spires are lush, while the outer edges of the island are much drier. We're anchored at the main port, Hakahau. Someone has pencilled in our guidebook the advice that this bay can handle about 4 boats, so we added ourselves to the 11 already here.
About an hour out from the bay, the fresh water pressure pump started racing, but no water was forthcoming. Ouch! Losing this pump is a nightmare, as we could not run the watermaker, or have water at any of the faucets in the boat. Although I have service kits, I don't have a replacement pump. The pump is mounted, as usual, in a very awkward space under the galley sink. I managed to get it out, only to discover that the bolt holding the diaphragm arm was snapped off and the remaining piece was about an eighth of an inch inside the hole it screws into. No service kit would fix that. I finally drilled into the center of the remaining piece of the bolt and used a device for backing out screws to remove it---it was very fortunate that the bolt tip (about an inch remained) was not so frozen in the threads that it wouldn't move. With great relief, the whole thing was reassembled and we have water again. We had had to stop the watermaker before its flush cycle, which meant the membrane was full of salt water. Leaving it this way for very long can destroy the membrane, so there was a very good reason to repair the pump as soon as possible.
Dusk descended, beers descended, the day ended.