Nuka Hiva: Muddy Buddy Adventures

Chris off to the bakery today to bring home fresh croissants for our 26nm journey to the island north of us, Nuka Hiva.  We made excellent time on the journey motor-sailing.  Nuka Hiva (population 3,151) is the second largest island in French Polynesia (after Tahiti).

We pulled into Taioa Bay with its two coves of Hakatea Bay (Daniel’s Bay, the anchoring location) and Hakaui Bay.  Towering cliffs with fertile green folds, I feel like we are in a calm basin, unable to see the open ocean from this peaceful bay.  The protection and mountains meeting the sea reminds me of Alaska.  The sun is blocked in the morning and evening by the surrounding tall cliffs, cooling it down.  With the calm, cool, excellent holding for our boat, and lack of crowding; we sleep like babies.

After a morning of school, we head to shore in Hakaui Bay (at the base of the awe-inspiring Hakaui Valley) through a river surf to find the restaurant and ask Kua if we could have lunch there tomorrow. 

She said she would have it ready for us around noon and pointed the direction to her mom’s house, who has a stunning and well-groomed tropical garden where she sells fruit.  The paepae, the rock-pile ruins of past house foundations, inhabit so much of the forests we wander.  Crabs tuck into their tunnels at the base of coconut palms.  We found Monet who was busy weed-whacking her already-magnificent yard and garden, promising to return tomorrow for fruit.

The water is murky from the run-off of sediment, but we see sharks and turtles near the boat, forcing ourselves into the water (Chris to clean the bottom, the rest of us to cool off and continue our conditioning to sharks).

The rain comes, the smell of the land renewed.  Birds fly in their white pairs in the volcanic folds.  The sounds are of lapping water on the shoreline, tropical birdsong, roosters crowing, goats bleating, and an occasional horse neighing.  And of Calder’s fork in the bowl of ramen and the crack of a beer top from Chris.  I just type away in the cockpit.

Happy Birthday to me!  Off to the valley with the crew of SV Pakia Tea (from Austria) for an adventure.  Dinghied up the river to tie to a coconut palm, little crabs scurry and scattering into their homes in the ground, fiddler crabs holding up their bright red pincer in defense.  Eating lunch at Kua’s house, where her tattooed Marquesan husband cooked his freshly-harpooned fish on the smokey grill with basil leaves; served family style with green mango salad, fried breadfruit, sweetened grilled bananas, and sweet lime water.  Delicious food, visiting with friends and family, cats purring at our feet, another unique meal experience. 

The rain made the trail through the lush valley toward Vaipo falls (dropping 800 meters) muddy, as we slipped along and waded through puddles and streams, peek holes through the brush exposing the steep valley and falls. 

We turned around at the bigger river crossing, flowing rapidly from the rain, and also the vertical valley by the falls themselves with rock fall risk high, crumbling walls moist with rain. 

Before leaving, we stopped at Monet’s fruit farm, where we bought pamplemousse, bananas, mangoes, pineapple, and picked starfruit with her.  On our way out, she brought us more treats – ginger and curcumin roots.  Three types of peppery basil from her daughter rounded out our haul, the dinghy full of fresh fruits and muddy us. 

An excellent birthday, topped off by a 3-tiered brownie cake with chocolate-coated fresh coconut made by Cora and a glass of red wine. 

Next day, underway for a bit of a bash toward the west side of Nuka Hiva. Calder’s fishing line whirred and he started hauling in an unknown fish… kept going deep, couldn’t see what it was, Chris down on the swimstep ready to gaff or release the unknown fish – then we saw it – a wahoo!  The pressure was on; we HAD to get this beautiful gift into the boat.  Calder very excitedly asking his dad what the heck he was doing as he tried to gaff it (seemed to be playing whack a fish?!?).  Fish in the boat; 52 inches of beautiful wahoo.  The freezer no longer empty.  Every time that I soak and threaten beans for dinner, Calder seems to catch fish; he really does not want beans as the main dish! 

After feeling a bit green (no sea legs here anymore!), we decided to stop halfway at Baie de Controleur (Controller Bay), a very protected calm anchorage, water muddy from the river run off but great holding in a sand/mud mix.  After a dinner of blackened wahoo steaks (with beans still), we tucked in for the night. 

Off on a morning adventure in Taipivai, the lovely village that carpets the river valley (once 3,000 people and now about 300).  We dinghied into the tide-dependent river entrance about 2 hours before high tide with enough water to get in, winding up the coconut palm-lined river.  Found a few treasures at the store and asked directions to the Paeke archaeological site.  We were pointed in a direction and found ourselves behind houses and heading up the hillside through the muddy jungle, at times off the trail and other times on the trail.  Cora finally gave up, as her shoes kept sucking off into the deep mud, and hiked barefoot, mud squashing between her toes. 

Up and up the hillside until we found stone platforms and the pit into which human remains were once thrown, but no red tikis.  The rest of the family declared that they would not follow me into the jungle again to see more rock piles!  We also walked around the new Te Ai-tua mea’a built for the 2011 Marquesas Festival with its interesting modern tiki.  The river provided us with a place to clean the mud from between our toes.

In 1842, the American whaler ship Acushnet put in at a nearby town and Herman Melville and a shipmate jumped ship to leave a tyrant of a captain, escaping into the bush only to be captured and held captive (in a friendly way) for three weeks by the feared cannibals in the valley of the “Typee” (of Taipivai), which he writes about in the novel Typee (1846).  I started to read highlights from the book (my own abridged version) to our family as we set off up the east side of Nuka Hiva toward Anaho Bay, though reading stopped when the waves and wind picked up in an uncomfortable direction.  Huge dolphins were off our bow, though I couldn’t stay up there too long due to large seas.  Into Anaho Bay, where we set anchor in this lovely calm place.

Anaho Bay has arcs of white beach, a tiny chapel (that lit up with LED light at night?!), a few homes, and the only coral reef on Nuka Hiva.

After a good night’s sleep, we joined SV Pakia Tea up and down the valley trail to the village of Hatihea with its soaring peaks, colorful gardens, and immaculate streets. 

On one of the peaks, at a height of 300m, is a white statue of the Virgin Mary, erected in 1872.  The numerous stone platforms and walls tucked everywhere along the street spoke to the dense population this valley once sheltered.   We visited two archeological sites.  First, a site with its large tohua and intriguing tiki, followed by Kamuihei with large moss-covered basalt rocks and massive banyan tree (over 600 years old).  At the foot of the largest banyan is a deep pit, thought to have been dug for the remains of sacrifices or for taboo objects. 

Other pits are scattered about the site, thought to be mostly stockpile sites for breadfruit. 

After ice cream, back over the mountain pass to our anchorage, a total of 9 miles hiking, which was a push for us in this heat.

The next day, we set off on a “short walk” to a local farm with SY Flora along a beach trail, going a bit further than we anticipated. 

The farm had some surprises including watermelon and tomatoes growing, but sadly farmer Roger was not at the farm.  However, we were SO close to the beach so we should walk there…a spectacular exposed beach with much flotsam and exploring, Calder found an oyster farm buoy (which we need to float our chain in the upcoming Tuamotus when anchoring to protect the coral) and a piece of bamboo he is turning into a serving platter. 

Then, after some exciting coconut harvesting, we returned to the beach where we found…farmer Roger!   After helping him move some water pipe up to his new home on the beach; he brought us to his family garden where he sold us vegetables including lettuce (very exciting!), cucumber, beans, eggplant, limes, and lemons. 

Suddenly, our short walk had turned into almost 5 miles of walking.  We’re making up for a stagnant April when we were on passage.  Dinner was a treat with a fresh green salad alongside pesto sun-dried tomato noodles with some freshly grated Parmesan that I had stashed in our freezer back in Mexico.

After working in the morning, we had lunch on shore at a local restaurant with SY Flora crew of fresh-squeezed lime water, pork, ceviche, taro, and lobster.  The wind picked up on the beach as we ate, misting us with rain, but didn’t turn into full-on rain until later in the evening.

The next day, I woke up at 5:30, made coffee, mixed the bread ingredients to make underway, and made oats for breakfast; underway by 6:30am, slamming into the waves initially then turning and sailing at up to 8 knots, seas “sporty” and poor Cora quite ill.  However, the trip was saved by a gift of two yellowfin tuna, challenging to get on board and requiring all hands on deck in these salty seas. Back into Baie du Controleur, where we found our old calm anchor site inviting.

We had initially hoped to leave for the Tuamotus today, but the weather is confused and unsettled, with a nice window in about a week.  Rather than push it, we are allowing ourselves our full month in the Marquesas and planning for a hopefully smoother passage later this week.