9:30 PM local time Wednesday, 24th. At anchor in Anaho Bay, Nuku Hiva,
Iles Marquises. Temp 85, Humidity 75, cloud cover 40%.
In need of water, the boys from Maverick sailed around the windward
side of Nuku Hiva on Sunday and had quite a bumpy time of it. Given the
conditions we had to stand well off not to scare ourselves and this made
the trip about seven miles longer. We arrived in Anaho Bay that
afternoon and primarily rested as the Captain was, in his weenie little
way, beat. We got up Monday and surveyed our surroundings. Anaho Bay is
the most spectacular place we've visited, which is a fair compliment,
and our last stop in the Marquesas. Imagine sailing into Yosemite
Valley, filled with a large lake, but on the shore is exotic vegetation
and sandy beaches. A stiff warm breeze is blowing, and as the humidity
is down into the seventies, it feels like a desert wind. There is one
other boat, French, at anchor and perhaps a dozen small dwellings
ashore, almost all unoccupied. We rowed in through a pass in the coral
surrounding the beach, and found the promised hose bib a short walk
away. We filled five collapsible five-gallon jugs and took showers using
the hose attached to the spigot, and made two more trips to collect as
much water, transferring it to the tanks on board.
Yesterday we set out for another bay just over a ridge, Hatiheu, but
couldn't find the fork in the trail, so we continued on the trail around
the bay and east over a ridge to an archaeological site. We didn't find
this either. But it was the bomb hike, primeval, luxuriant. Then today
with some false starts we did find the way to Hatiheu, a jungley trail
up a steep ridge and down again. The village there was very cute in that
South Pacific way. A dirt road parallel to the beach, complete with
roosters, was the main street, on which we found a simple but lovely
church and a restaurant with a thatched roof. The restaurant was a bit
large, we thought, given the size of the village, and not only that, we
had a great meal of lobster and grilled tuna. People may come from
elsewhere and this might explain the unexpected luxury but really, it
isn't that easy to get here. At lunch we hypothesized that the food,
along with several beers, would fortify us for the trek back over the
hill. You might think the Captain will have a little fun with this and
say the experimental evidence did not support the hypothesis; but no.
Quite the contrary, and in fact we thereupon resolved that, hereafter,
every outing should begin thusly.
Mr. Shrode, naturalist and fruit-lover, is always on the lookout on
these walks for some exotic fresh mango, guava, papaya, or better yet
something unheard of and possibly never eaten before, to sample. The
Captain tries, as he must, to inform Mr. Shrode that if any such thing
existed it would be on the shelves of Safeway, as this is not the
fifteenth century and trade to the tropics is well established. Take
bananas, for example. Do they grow in San Francisco? They do not. Why
are they so abundant at Safeway if they come from so far away? Because
they are yummy. They are well packaged. People like them. Believe me, if
the same were true of the pomegranate, we'd see a lot more of them. But
Mr. Shrode is not easily put off his mission.
(Note from mail monitor: The following was originally transmitted as a 2nd
message and consolidated into this one)
This was too long for one message, I think..sometimes it takes forever
to get through. I think on this one I've spend over 2 hours just calling
in at various times.
The Captain was sent aloft today to inspect the rigging, which he
pronounced "good enough." We created ratlines using Prusik knots and
1/4" braided line for Lookout Terry Shrode to climb. This, for the
reason that our next destination, requiring a passage of over five
hundred miles, is the Tuamotu or "Dangerous" Archipelago. The Captain is
not fond of discomfort of any sort, and particularly "Danger," as was
alluded to above. We have been told, those of us who sail on the San
Francisco Bay, that if we can sail there, we can sail anywhere. So it is
that the crew of Maverick takes its extensive experience in the coral
reefs and atolls of San Francisco Bay with them to this next adventure.
We have been advised not to go with the main flow of cruisers through
Rangiroa by the very same French couple that saved our bacon back in
Taiohae Bay, and who you gonna trust, but instead to visit an atoll
named Fakarava. We have looked at charts. We have entered waypoints into
the GPS. Nevertheless, when we get there that morning, having passed
close between two atolls which will be invisible in the middle of the
night, we will have to negotiate one of those passes to get inside the
reef.
Atolls are irregular rings of coral around a sunken volcano. They
have little elevation, say ten feet, plus the height of the palm trees,
and some of them have "passes" or breaks in the reef where a boat can
make its way through. But there are often powerful currents running in
or out, perhaps in excess of the speed your boat can manage. To either
side of the pass are large breaking waves, and even within it there may
be coral just under water level. So the idea is to time your approach
with the sun behind you at slack water (the time of which has been
difficult to establish, but we hope our information may be adequate),
then send the eagle-eyed Mr. Shrode up the ratlines so he can see where
the coral is under water. Arranging for the sun to be behind us at slack
water with no clouds on our arrival day wasn't easy, folks. We won't be
exactly fresh, either, having spent several days at sea. We view this
operation with some trepidation. Tune in next time, as∑ (?)
And so tomorrow we bid farewell to the Marquesas. It is poignant to
view the things we see around us and know for a fact that we can never
come back, even if the same may be said about any given moment in one's
life. Our stay has been not less beautiful than we might have hoped and
of course included much that we could not have foreseen. But it is in
the going, and not the staying, that the adventure reveals itself. And
this adventure has just begun, I do believe.
PS to Judy: We got no tattoos in the Marquesas to ward off pirates,
believing that our bodies are perfect for this and many similar
purposes, just as they are.
Next report from this location: Contacts With The Natives
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