8 April 2010
Voyageur remains dry. We have aired the forward lockers throughout the last two days and keep checking. We ran the anchor wash. Nothing. We ran the watermaker. Nothing. We ran the air conditioning . Nothing. The general consensus and likeliest theory is that in motoring into the heavy seas we shipped water through the bow thruster seal. It is difficult to know if it had been slowly filling or was a sudden event. What is certain is that while sitting here at anchor we have remained watertight.
The previous day had been very tiring and both David and I were weary from our labours. He had a sore back from bending over to bail the water and I have painful hands from wringing out the towels we had used to mop up. We were feeling sorry for ourselves and after all the excitement we needed a day off. Hiring a couple of 4x4's, Ronja, Dreamcatcher and us took off into the interior for a spot of sightseeing. David and I had toured the island on our last visit but were happy to repeat the experience.
The anchorage of Baie de Taiohae has none of the splendor of Fatu Hiva or Ua Pou, the prettiness of Hiva Oa, but the interior of Nuku Hiva is dramatic and beautiful, full of interesting sites. The Typee valley, the basis of Herman Melville's book "Typee" was a stunning as I had remembered it. The restaurant at Baie D'Hatiheu, Chez Yvonne, is still run by the local mayor, and was as good as ever.
We had a wonderful lunch, the two specialities of the menu being pork in rum and goat curry in coconut milk. We revisited the two marae sites. Hikoku'a has a most impressive tohua or public plaza and the stone where used for sacrifices was still there along with the five missionary graves. The other site of Kamuihei Tohua had a magnificent example of the Banyan tree into which the victims heads would be placed and several pits where the victims were kept until their turn arrived to be consumed at cannibal feasts. Declared world heritage sites by Unesco all the money goes to Papeete in Tahiti instead of being invested in the Marquesas. A sad but all too familiar story.
After a day of putting the boat back together again we are once more ready for the off. We had a last dinner ashore with Jan and family (Ronja) and Charles and Marie (Dreamcatcher). Ronja and us are sailing in company to the Tuamotus. It is very hard to leave Dreamcatcher behind and I feel guilty about it. The only consolation is that Wild Tigris are here awaiting a new propeller, so at least there is one other WARC boat at anchor in the bay. Charles and Marie must now sit and wait for a new gear box for the steering to be flown in which will take at least a week. Then they have the problem of fitting it. We have not seen the location but Charles says it is almost impossible to get at. It is just another of a long saga of problems for them and it puts our own into perspective.
The village of Taiohae which lies at the head of the deep inlet of the Baie de Taiohae on Nuku Hiva, is an excellent place to reprovision for the Tuamotos. We could also get our gas bottles filled, proper butane this time and took on fuel. There is now a superb daily fruit and vegetable market right on the quayside, a new addition from our last visit. The Pearl Lodge Hotel however had a rather run down feel to it, but the Moana Nui Pension in the centre of town was as good as ever, serving excellent French cuisine. Just as on our last visit here in 2006 it became a favorite eating place for us and every evening we dined there at least half the restaurant was fraternized by other rally crews. Our third day here was spent putting the boat back together again. The last couple of days the wind has really died down and being hot and sunny it has enabled us to dry out everything out completely.
Tomorrow we are once again on our way after a brief stopover in Anse Hakatea to walk to the waterfall of Akuii in the Hakaui valley. According to my pilot book it is the third highest waterfall in the world plunging 610metres from the Toovii Plateau to the valley floor. Now halfway through our one month's free cruising there still has not been enough time to see and do everything in and around this archipelago. There never is but we have to be content with what we have done and seen. We feel so privileged to be here at all.
Susan Mackay