KANAHAU:Three Mysteries Resolved
26 August 2022
• Baie Hakatea Nuka Hiva, Fenua Enata
by robin
Today three very different legs to our journey and three mysteries resolved. The three legs were a quick downwind sled ride along the north side of Nuka Hiva with 18- 27knot, a gentle quiet traverse along the west side catching the sea breeze flowing from the sea onto the green and red hills and a strenuous beat throwing spray from the waves into the that same 18-27 knot wind to our cliff bound anchorage. The resolution to the mysteries were found by surprise in cliff bound Baie Hakatea anchorage.
The first mystery was why have our blogs posting been disappearing. Karl and I appeared not to have posted for several days. We were last heard from when we were unable to land our kayaks in the valley where Herman Melville fled when he abandoned ship. David knew we were fine as we check in with him. All is fine. No Mabel Rose crew members have abandoned ship. The mystery was ours. We had both introduced typos into our upload code and the blog posts failed. My typo was in the date. The post will appear in about 10,000 years. Apologies to all.
The second mystery resolved here in Hakatea Bay is why the manta is so important to Marquesan culture. Yesterday, on the main street of Moi's town sea turtles, the symbol for Marquesas and rays are carved into the pavement. At the archeology site The rocks speak of the seep connection of Marquesan people with the sea turtle. At the archeological site the turtle was the only animal images on the town square. The three swimming turtles swam across the petroglyphs and a modern carved turtle overlooks the Ua Po harbor. The Manta is also everywhere on shirts, in the road and on people's skin as tattoos. We have not encountered any large rays. I had seen a grey shadow of a ray the size of a small backpack beneath the boat at our first anchorage in Atuona. Not something I would carve into the road or ink on my back. Other sailors have seen rays in today's anchorage so I was a hopeful. I stayed on deck on ray patrol. There were lots of bait fish surfacing the harbor and frigate birds and brown boobies fishing. Suddenly I see a huge creature flying though the water just at the surface circling the boat. Huge means the size of our dinner table at home for 6 wide not including if 4 foot tail. Flying means it was flapping its wings and spinning on a dime. Black with grey and white decorations this creature was graceful, elegant and definitely KANAHAU (Marquesan awesome). The two giant creatures circling the boat preforming a ray ballet. Mystery solved as to why rays are central.
Mystery number three is why do frigate birds need to take freshwater baths so often. My ray patrol plan was to sit quietly on deck looking for rays and frigate birds scooping a fish from the water. The schools of bait fish right to the boat are perfect attractors for frigate birds. A perfect chance to capture the in-flight fishing photo I have been seeking. I missed several passes by birds 4 feet away dragging their beaks across the water attempting to snag a fish. Finally, I got my camera on as the bird dipped its head into the ball of fish. I left the camera on just in case she came by for another pass. Suddenly there were a frigate bird came from the bow (front) of the boat. Just as young all black frigate bird dipped its head to fish another black bullet emerged from the stern (back) of the boat. Mid-air collision of two young birds. They both tumbled into the water. The first bird carried the black and white plumage of an adult bird. The adults work with the young for more than 18 month to teach them to fish. Having little oil to protect them, these young birds will head to the river's mouth under the cliffs to clean off the salt and more lessons on fishing will follow. Mystery resolved with many chuckles.
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