Kauehi

Kauehi Atoll, Tuomotu Archipelago, French Polynesia

We had a fabulous stay at the village in Kauehi, Tearavero. Although every local we talk to has a different answer, we think about 200 people live here. All the literature we've read about French Polynesia has gushed about the exceptionally friendly Polynesian hospitality. So far, we have enjoyed meeting kind people, but we haven't found them any more or less hospitable than other places we have visited. Until now.

Everybody that we met in the village has invited us into their homes. We have shared coffee, tea, juice with a number of friendly locals. Sunday is clearly a day of rest and relaxation here, and everyone seemed to be out on their front stoop or on the patio relaxing. As John and Strahan explored the village, they were invited into two homes to sit and chat with the locals.

On our second day, we enjoyed 'Tahiti Delight', a yummy punch at Daniel's house, before he took us exploring into the coconut plantations in search of the large and elusive coconut crab. There were many stories and pantomimed descriptions about the dangers of thrusting one's arm down into the crab holes, in hopes of pulling out a crab that might have a pincher as big as your forearm. Unfortunately, we didn't find one this afternoon. The boys decided to return after dusk, when hunting is much easier.

As we wandered through town, we noticed flags lining the main street. Locals told us that there would be a parade to mark the last day of May, which is a month of celebration for the Virgin Mary in the Catholic Church here. Amy and I decided to join in the procession. Just before dusk, we joined a group of 40 villagers at the home of the priest, where a service was held in the shed in his yard. We were welcomed (kissed) by many villagers, and the children seemed to be especially fascinated, as they stared and giggled when we caught their eye! After the service, the group walked down main street, following the six white-robed priests, and the alter for Mary, which was carried by two young men. After several stops to switch alter-carriers, we arrived at the white Catholic Church that stood proud in the centre of town. The church was filled with shell-covered chandeliers, and shells were strung together and hung throughout as garland. The mass was long, and mostly conducted in Tahitian, although there was also French strewn throughout the service. Not being Catholic, we weren't really aware of what was going on, but our favorite part was the singing. Not that we were among the source of the hymns, the music was even more powerful and vibrant than the tunes that we'd heard drifting over to the anchorage during each weeknight service. As the service ended and we filed into the street with the rest of the congregation, Amy and I, once again, found our cheeks to be the beneficiaries of much kissing.

After the service, a local couple invited us to their home for a barbeque on the following day. Even though we had planned to leave, we accepted their invitation eagerly, and decided to delay our departure to later in the afternoon, so we could enjoy a mid-day meal. Even though it was rainy and windy on the following day, our hosts insisted on a barbeque, and we arrived at their large home, to discover fish cooking on the backyard barrel and fresh, young coconuts cut and ready for us to drink. We were treated to a fabulous meal with coconut rice and poisson cru mounded on the table, alongside the barbequed fish and coconuts. Throughout our meal, Joanna took a special interest in John and tried to teach him both french and some of the local language. Tahitian is a very difficult language to learn and we're all struggling with even the basic phrases. We were also shown the beautiful shells that they cut, polish and fashion into various pieces of jewelry and artwork. Amy and I were each gifted with a very beautiful necklace.

We've now moved to a new anchorage. We're still within Kauehi atoll, yet we're now on the south side of the lagoon, which is completely remote. There is one other boat here, Mojombo (from Comox - www.mojomboexpedition.blogspot.com), but they are at least a half mile away from us. Yesterday, the boys practiced their newfound hunter and gatherer skills on the beach. They came back to the boat with a freshly speared fish. Because we'd heard that there is ciguatera (toxic) in this lagoon, we hummed and haaa'ed about whether to eat it, but since we have very little fresh food aboard, and no meat, we decided to give it a try. (The store at the village just happened to be closed all this week as he shop keeper had left town!) We built a bonfire on the beach, made a foil pouch of potatoes and butter, and cooked our dinner over the roaring fire. We tested the fish on our lips, waiting to see if they turned numb, but without any immediate noticeable effects, we all enjoyed our fish and potatoes. It's now the next day, and we can safely say that disaster has been averted yet again.

Well...must sign off for today. John has just dropped a wrench overboard, and all of us crew are now going free diving. We plan to leave tomorrow for Faka Rava...so our next post will be from a new coral atoll.

Position: 15°56.9'S and 145°03.8'W

Labels: visitors, French Polynesia, Tuomotu, fishing, food

We've Arrived!

We had fabulous wind conditions for our passage from the Marquesas to the Tuomotus. The wind was steady from the East or East-South-East for the entire passage, at 12-18 knots. Swell was manageable, between one and two meters for most of the trip. It was enough that cooking was interesting, but possible. The difference made by having Amy and Strahan aboard was huge! We were able to get so much more sleep, and share the various tasks, making life so much easier. We did our night watches in pairs, and one person on watch was able to sleep in the cockpit, on standby mode, so the two off-watch crew got in a solid stretch of undisturbed time, during which they hopefully could ignore the rocking of the boat enough to get some rest. And they handled the crossing fabulously - no one was sick!

Bursts of activity kept us on our toes in between long periods of lounging. Barely outside of the harbour, we hit a big wave and discovered the weaknesses of our over-loaded fruit hammock. We all shrieked, as the majority of our fruit bounty went flying into the clutches of Neptune...blobs of yellow, orange, and green floating in our wake. Luckily, we saved a few pamplemousse, mangoes and lemons, and our bananas were tied separately, but there were four sad faces aboard Renova.

Later that day we had a big fish hit the line, and almost spooled us, but he managed to spit the lure and swim away with his freedom. Unfortunately, the next day, another fish finished the job, and took our lure and all our line with him. Now we had to get serious with our hand lines.

Soon after, Strahan hooked a fabulous tuna on the hand line, which we ate for the following three days. Our largest yet. And it was delicious. We had tons of sashimi, sushi rolls, spicy tuna and ceviche on crackers, seared tuna with ginger sauce, and so on. It was enough tuna that we had to stop fishing, as we couldn't handle any more fish!! There goes one of our chief pastimes. Back to napping.

Interestingly, we all had small appetites, and were most happy with bland foods. The butter chicken was a total flop, virtually untouched, yet the Mr. Noodles was by far, the most popular meal. Who'da guessed?

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. We listened to the SSB and the positions of our fellow cruisers as they made the crossing with us. We managed to complete the five hundred miles in four and a half days, arriving at the pass just after noon.

To the Tuomotus

We had fabulous wind conditions for our passage from the Marquesas to the Tuomotus. The wind was steady from the East or East-South-East for the entire passage, at 12-18 knots. Swell was manageable, between one and two meters for most of the trip. It was enough that cooking was interesting, but possible. The difference made by having Amy and Strahan aboard was huge! We were able to get so much more sleep, and share the various tasks, making life so much easier. We did our night watches in pairs, and one person on watch was able to sleep in the cockpit, on standby mode, so the two off-watch crew got in a solid stretch of undisturbed time, during which they hopefully could ignore the rocking of the boat enough to get some rest. And they handled the crossing fabulously - no one was sick!

Bursts of activity kept us on our toes in between long periods of lounging. Barely outside of the harbour, we hit a big wave and discovered the weaknesses of our over-loaded fruit hammock. We all shrieked, as the majority of our fruit bounty went flying into the clutches of Neptune...blobs of yellow, orange, and green floating in our wake. Luckily, we saved a few pamplemousse, mangoes and lemons, and our bananas were tied separately, but there were four sad faces aboard Renova.

Later that day we had a big fish hit the line, and almost spooled us, but he managed to spit the lure and swim away with his freedom. Unfortunately, the next day, another fish finished the job, and took our lure and all our line with him. Now we had to get serious with our hand lines.

Soon after, Strahan hooked a fabulous tuna on the hand line, which we ate for the following three days. Our largest yet. And it was delicious. We had tons of sashimi, sushi rolls, spicy tuna and ceviche on crackers, seared tuna with ginger sauce, and so on. It was enough tuna that we had to stop fishing, as we couldn't handle any more fish!! There goes one of our chief pastimes. Back to napping.

Interestingly, we all had small appetites, and were most happy with bland foods. The butter chicken was a total flop, virtually untouched, yet the Mr. Noodles was by far, the most popular meal. Who'da guessed?

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. We listened to the SSB and the positions of our fellow cruisers as they made the crossing with us. We managed to complete the five hundred miles in four and a half days, arriving at the pass just after noon.

Controleur and Daniels (Taioa) Bays

[May 24]

We had a great day in Controller bay. We got up early, to hunt out another archeological site, and after a quick stop to listen to the singing from the church, found our way up the hill to the site. It wasn't very big, but had some of the best tikis we have seen yet. During our ice cream stop in the village, we were offered free mangoes from the trees in the park, and we learned that a local carver lived 'just up the road'. After knocking down a few mangoes, the boys headed back to the boat and the gals checked out the hunky outrigger men on the beach. The races were definitely on island time, and we lingered in hopes of watching the action, but all-too-soon, the boys were back at the beach, and ready to ferry us across the river toward the road to the carver. Once the local kids swimming near by, saw what they were trying to do, they laughed at us, and swam our dinghy across the river, with us ladies able to keep our feet dry. If only we had a parasol! Luckily we had a few Canada pencils, to thank them for their efforts.

We walked for an almost eternity in search of the carvers home. Clearly, this was not 'just up the road'. Although eventually a passer-by took pity on us, and we hopped in their truck for the final push. What we found was extraordinary. He had a dedicated room of his home with carvings, including tikis, bowls, drums, figurines, etc. They were beautiful, and exactly what we had been hoping to find. Decisions were difficult, but we eventually decided on our purchases, and walked away very pleased with the results of our efforts. Luckily, we caught a lift in the school teacher's small car for the ride back to the dinghy. All kids over 15 go to Tahiti for high school, which explains the lack of teenagers running around any of these islands. We also learned there is a small university in Tahiti, but many students go to France for their post-secondary education.

We had heard great things from other cruisers about the anchorage in Daniel's Bay, so we pulled up anchor from Controller Bay, and with a solo outrigger escorting us out, headed back towards to south end of Niku Hiva.

John's lucky green lure proved it's worth yet again and we hooked another Dorado on the way into the bay. It is a sure way to make new friends by entering an anchorage with a fresh fish trailing behind the boat!

There were at least a dozen boats in the anchorage, yet we enjoyed a quiet evening and leisurely morning about Renova. During the afternoon, the crew went ashore to check out the small village, and hike up the Hakaui Valley to the Vaipo waterfall that is the third highest in the world. (I had just received some work via email, so stayed aboard to get in a few hours of quiet time on the computer).

[These two paragraphs written by Amy:]

The hike was incredible, walking along ancient roadways, through streams and steep canyons. Although the waterfall was only a trickle in this unusually dry year, it was still awe-inspiring, with its sheer cliffs rising up hundreds of meters above. The pool at the base was perfect for a refreshing dip, even though we were warned against swimming, due to the possibility of rocks falling from above.

As we returned to the dinghy, we passed through a small village where we met a local woman willing to sell us some of the fruit from her trees. We loaded up with pamplemousse, pineapple, bananas, mangoes, papaya, oranges, lemons, limes, a breadfruit, and some strange apple-like fruit. We got more fruit than we could carry for a few francs and a tube of lipstick. The dinghy was overloaded and riding low to the water when we returned to Renova. (I couldn't believe the bounty that they arrived with!!)

Stuart and Shelia on SV Imagine (http://shelia-sailingwest.blogspot.com) made our afternoon, by offering to fill our water jugs with their watermaker as they had observed that we had been shut down on our attempts to find water nearby. They also treated us a sample of Shelia's delicious Thai Fish Cakes. We now have a new recipe for use onboard Renova.

Kyemaya was here in the anchorage, and wanted to take advantage of John's firemaking skills, and the graham crackers we donated for their s'mores, so we organized a bonfire on the beach and several of the cruising boats joined in the fun. Amy rested on the boat for some R&R (fruit-bartering is exhausting, you know), yet John and Strahan were in fine form as they got a raging fire started without the aid of matches or lighter to the delight of the kids. I think the older boys had more fun than the kids, as they proceeded to hunt, kill, and cook land crabs they found, and dug into fresh coconut and pamplemousse with the ever-useful machete. The other kids were pleased with their s'mores, as were the Euro cruisers who hadn't enjoyed this campfire delight before.

Finally, after accumulating a host of fabulous experiences in the Marquesas, and with a favorable weather forecast, we decided to head back out to sea towards the Tuomotus, a trip of approximately 500 miles. This archipelago, famous for its coral atolls, is vastly different from the high, lush peaks of the Marquesas, and we can't wait to see it. We're looking forward to swimming in the lagoons, and snorkeling and diving at a top notch diving locations!!