Landfall Saturday (3/29) on the NE coast of Fatu Hiva. After a lovely circumnavigation of this incredibly beautiful island, we anchored in the Baie de Verges (changed by missionaries to Vierges - check your French). Fatu Hiva (pop just over 500)is the remotest and wettest of the Marquesas, one of the remotest archipelagoes of French Polynesia. Photos do no justice - tall pinnacles lining deep, verdant valleys. Saturday night we celebrated with cocktails followed by BBQ steaks and a bottle of red. Sunday we missed church but went on a great hike up one of the narrow valleys until it opened up into a cultivated fruit orchard surrounded by the vertical walls of the crater. The afternoon in Hanavave (the smaller of the two villages on the island) ended with a soccer match between the two villages. What a venue for a soccer game! And the spectators were as much a part of the scene as the players - all of the women dressed in colorful sarongs and tiare (a small gardenia, national flower of Fr. Poly.) and hibiscus tucked behind the ear, just as you would expect in Polynesia. This morning we woke to a storm accompanied by a lot of wind and rain and a drifting boat, which missed us by less than a yard. Our plans to hike the 17K from Omoa (the other village) back to Hanavave have been thwarted this morning by the weather - maybe tomorrow! We adapt well to island time. Manuia (cheers)!!



Nous avons atterri a tot le matin et donc pris le temps de faire le tour de l`ile de Fatu Hiva au soleil levant. La baie des Vierges est a la hauteur de sa reputation ;Nous sommes entoures de sommets verticaux et de formations volcaniques qui forment un spectacle impressionnant; Il y avait deja 8 bateaux mouilles et nous avons du envoyer nos deux ancres dans 33 m de fond!! Premiers contacts assez sympa avec les habitants, premiere balade des quelques heures en remontant dans l`une des vallees etroites et dans la foret (tres) bien arrosee! Deuxieme nuit tres ventee ou l`ancre de notre voisin a derape et il rase notre coque a un metre..Aujourd`hui le temps reste tres maussade mais nous allons aller faire un tour et voir l`artisanat local (sculpture de `tiki` et peinture de `tapa` ) Un grand bonjour a tous

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