Pictures FINALLY! Check out the last 10 posts for even more pictures of pardise!

Teaching English in Fakarava

The fam at Controleur Bay

Ancient Tikis on Nuku Hiva

Pearl Farm tour bus with all the cruisers

Kids on the outside of the Atoll Kahuei

Malachi at anchor, Fatu Hiva

Lots of fruit!


Jocelyn's 16th BD celebration

Girls on the beach at Kaehui

Kids in phone booth at Fakarava

Dave, Kyle, Jay & Steve at Fakarava

Jay, Fatu Hiva

Jay playing with the boys at Fatu Hiva

Cruisers at Kauehi Airport during pearl farm tour.

First Yellowfin Tuna! Nuku Hiva

Girls atop Nuku Hiva

Fakarava

16 degrees 30 minutes south, 145 degrees 27 minutes west

We're in Fakarava and the anchorage here is crystal clear and warm and the underwater visibility is 60 feet plus. It's warm and rainy today but the winds that we've been experiencing for the past several days have finally died down.

We have been snorkeling/diving every day through the pass where we entered into this lagoon. We go at slack as the current is changing to flood, so that we drift into the lagoon rather than out to sea where there are big breakers! The coral is beautiful and varied and we've seen loads of fish. Our favorites are a huge parrot fish and the sharks, which were a little unnerving at first. Those of us who snorkel, have seen a maximum of 10 sharks at one time, while those who dove to 75 feet swam through schools of sharks too numerous to count! Jay reports that at 75 feet he looked up towards the surface and saw the dinghy above with crystal clear clarity. Most days, our adventures take between one and two hours, it's something everyone is really enjoying.

Yesterday, we had lunch at the little Pension here (small hotel with food service) and enjoyed pan fried Parrot fish and curried chicken while sitting at the table on deck while sharks circled us, it was especially entertaining when we scraped our scraps overboard the the sharks fought for a bite! It would have been our desire to linger a little longer over lunch then walk around the tiny village (approximately 40 people) but as in typical South Pacific fashion, a squall snuck up on us and the wind shifted so we rushed back to the boats to make sure everything was closed up so we wouldn't get soaked and to stand anchor watch to make sure we didn't end up on the beach, fortunately the squall never amounted to much and everyone was fine. Last night it rained all night and this morning the skies are overcast and still drizzly, feels like BC! (only much warmer).

Tuamotus

We spent our final days in Nuku Hiva anchored in Daniels Bay, one of the home beaches for Survivor season 4. It was there that we enjoyed a nice easy hike/walk to a cascade tucked away amid high sheer rocks. We had to cross rivers and creeks to get there and followed the cairns placed by previous explorers until we reached an almost surreal landscape of ground growth somewhat resembling perriwinkle. We followed the narrow path through the lush growth until we came upon numerous cairns and the sun was lost behind the high rocks, this is where we found a somewhat small fresh water pool at the base of the cascade. The cascade could barely be seen from the shore, but Jay and the girls swam across then climbed over the boulders on the other side and were able to swim in further to where the water was falling from very high, down a chimney into the back pool, they said it was very cool.

We spent four days and nights travelling between Nuku Hiva and Kauehi where we are presently anchored and have been enjoying swimming and snorkeling in the clear blue warm water here. On Tuesday, everyone from all of the boats in the anchorage (I think there were 10) met at the local Magazin (store) to take a tour of a pearl farm. The Tuamotus are know for their black pearls and we got to see how they are harvested and were treated to a lunch of oysters (unlike the ones from home)marinated in lime juice and salt and served with coconut bread and coconut juice served in the coconut. Everyone had a very nice time.

We were invited by a local couple to go fishing and eat a lunch of our catch, so this was the adventure on Wednesday. Never in a million years could we have imagined such a nice experience, we lingered over poisson cru, barbequed fish, rice and coconuts for four hours while the kids played on the beach and in the water. As an expression of our gratitude, the crews from the four boats involved provided a potluck lunch for the couple aboard O'vive and again we enjoyed a wonderful four hour visit, it seems as though that's the minimum allotment for any activity here.

Shredding Coconut for lunch

More Nuku Hiva

We've been on Nuku Hiva for the past week. We arrived here last Friday, just in time for the Saturday morning market, where you can buy fresh veggies, fish and baking, things you can't buy during the week, but when they say morning, they really mean morning, the market runs from 4:30 am to 6:30 am and if you're not there right at the start, you likely won't get what you want. I can't believe I got up before 4 am to buy veggies!

We spent the weekend at Taiohae Bay which is home to about 1200 Marquesans, and is the largest village on the island. This is the best place to provision as there are three stores to choose from, that said, provisioning, compared to Canada and the US is limited and expensive, eggs are $7 a dozen and apples (very rare to find) are $1.50 each. It's a good thing we provisioned so well in Mexico so we really only have to buy a few things to supplement. I bought a yogourt maker so now we can enjoy that since four little yogourts cost $7.50 here.

We spent a few days in the middle of last week in Controleur Bay in the village of Taipivai, the setting for Herman Melville's book Typee (Melville wrote Moby Dick). The village was beautiful and we enjoyed a gorgeous hike to some ancient ruins followed by a refreshing swim in a small cascade in the river.

For those of you who are Survivor fans, Nuku Hiva was the site of season four of the reality TV series and one of the tribes were located in Controleur Bay and the other in Daniels Bay, where we plan to visit next, tribal council was located just outside Taiohae Bay in Colette Bay.

We're now back in Taiohae Bay for the weekend. Yesterday, after the market, we took an all day road trip with a local lady, Jocelyne, who took us to the high plains of the island where pine trees grow, the smells remind me of home

Nuku Hiva

We're now in Nuku Hiva, after visiting Hiva Oa, Tahuata, Fatu Hiva and Ua Pou. We have found each island uniquely different and are enjoying the diversity. The Marquesan people are very kind and generous.

At Fatu Hiva, the girls and I had arranged to teaching English, but the government changed the school schedule and the day we were to start was actually the start of a two week vacation. Oh well, maybe we'll do that somewhere else, the ladies from Casteel were sure disappointed as they had planned out an entire two week curriculum. On the up side, since the kids were not in school, they were outside playing which was really fun to be around. Kids of all ages, as young as 2 were all playing in the water without fear, it's quite different from Canada, about 50% of the boys were in swim suits while the rest and all the girls were just in their underpants, I remember doing that when I was a little girl!

One of our favorite memories to date was a day of trading with the villagers on Fatu Hiva. We went into the village to trade for two Tiki's (Marquesan statues) as souvenirs for the girls and we approached a home where the door was open and looked inside but there was no one there. A lady was walking up the street and invited us to go inside and she found the lady who lived there and we sat on her floor while she displayed her husbands carvings. I guess word gets around quickly in a small village and within about 20 minutes there was a big crowd of local ladies who had all come to visit with us for the opportunity to trade for fruit, tapas (pounded bark with paintings on it) and carvings. It was very enjoyable and we ended up trading 5 tee shirts and 300 feet of nylon line for the two tikis and we traded with another lady, 2 tee shirts for 2 necklaces, and with another, a key chain and a necklace for a stock of green bananas which we will get tomorrow and the best trade of all...a lipstick and a mascara for some PIG!

Before we left Fatu Hiva, they mayor threw a big feast for all the villagers and the cruisers were all invited, this was our first taste of traditional Marquesan food. We were served roasted pig, breadfruit, plantains and something else we couldn't quite recognize, while it wasn't our favorite meal, it was certainly a fun experience.

We travelled overnight to Ua Pou and just before we arrived, we caught a great big whitefish which we shared with Maryke Violet and Hannah who came over for dinner. The kids played volleyball on the quay with the local kids which was a wonderful experience for them and very fun for us to watch. Just before we left, Gerrimae and I walked up to the store for some ice which came in a HUGE bag, probably 20 pounds or more and very awkward to carry, and as we were leaving the store I was saying that we could really use a ride and we had walked no more than about 50 feet when a lady and her two daughters stopped to offer a lift which we greatly accepted. Before she took us to the quay though, she drove us up to her house and gave us a gift of bananas and guavas, we're not talking a Canadian sized bunch of bananas here, we're talking a stock of about 60 of them! Too kind.

At another anchorage on Ua Pou we waked up to a gorgeous waterfall and had a very refreshing swim before stopping at a local Snack (small restaurant) for coffee and (what else) a snack! We had Poisson Cru, which is a combination of raw tuna, lime juice, tomato, onion, salt pepper and coconut cream, it was delicious and we can't wait to catch a yellowfin tuna so we can make some on board. Pierre and his wife were the most gracious hosts who delighted in our curiosity over the preparation of the meal and picked a breadfruit for us and showed us how to prepare it so that it tastes like french fries - we ate the entire thing - the kids, especially, enjoyed the bread fruit fries!

We're now in Nuku Hiva, our last island before heading South to the Tuamotus, a group of Atolls about three days South West of here.

Our First Week in the Tropics

I can hardly wait to have internet so that I can post some photos so you can see how incredibly beautiful it is here in the Marquesas, but it's hard to find an internet connection in the jungle!

We've visited the islands of Hiva Oa, Tahuata and are now on the gorgeous island of Fatu Hiva where us girls will be teaching English in the local school along with two ladies from Seattle. It is soooo HOT! 32 degrees today as we sailed the 10 hour trip from Tahuata and right now, after dinner, it's 28 degrees in the cabin! Sleep does not come easy in this heat and the cockpit is the coveted berth.

The anchorage in Tahuata was absolutely beautiful, we could see the coral reefs and fish on the bottom where we were anchored in 35 feet of water. Jay and Jocelyn dove and I snorkeled and it's so clear and warm 82 degrees F, no need for a wetsuit. We had a group of six huge rays swimming beside the boat a couple of the mornings we were there and during our snorkeling we got to swim with them, some of them span more than six feet.

When we were not swimming and playing, we were off exploring and collecting coconuts and limes. We visited a small village not far from where we were anchored and were given about 20 mangoes, pamplemousse (huge, and very sweet grapefruit) and a huge stock of bananas. Most of the cruising boats have a stock of bananas hanging outside, the trouble is that the whole lot will ripen at the same time, so I anticipate baking lots of banana bread.

Yesterday, we visited a local church and enjoyed the incredible beauty of the building, the melodious singing and the fragrant flowers on the altar, I'm sure we would have enjoyed the message as well had we been able to understand, the service was delivered in a 50/50 split of French and Marquesan. After church we were spoiled when the Opa from Maryke Violet treated us all to a bucket of ice cream from the local store, he sat the bucket on a retaining wall outside the store and handed everyone a spoon.....YUM! At $22 for 2 litres it'll be a rare treat.

Paradise!

We made landfall at Hiva Oa on the morning of April 26th, just in time to celebrate Jocelyn's 16th birthday!

We spotted land just before 5am and around 7am enjoyed a spectacular sunrise. Just before we got to the anchorage, a huge squall passed over us producing enough rain for us to shower and wash all the salt off the boat, it was sure nice to have that fresh water rise.

"Awe Struck" best describes our first impression of the Marquesas. It is so lush and green here, there are pistachios, limes, pamplemouse, papaya, mango, star fruit and bananas growing all over! The fragrance of the islands is incredible too, fresh and sweet. It is very hot! and we're told there are sharks in the bay so we haven't gone swimming but now that we're at anchor we're finally able to open up the port holes and hatches to get some fresh air inside, mercifully, the evenings are cool and breezy and we've been able to catch up on some sleep.

The boats in the anchorage at Atuona are all anchored bow and stern in about 10 feet of water - very squishy! We're so used to having lots of swinging room, but not here! We were finally able to meet some of the people we had been talking to on the radio during our crossing and everyone is so nice! Both girls took turns checking into the PPJ net daily as we were crossing and Jenny actually ran the net for the last week and did a wonderful job.

It's about a 40 minute walk to town and we've been twice and will have to go again tomorrow to finish up some entry paperwork. The night we arrived, we walked into town and celebrated Jocelyn's birthday with a pizza dinner with several friends old and new, in all there were 9 kids and 11 adults and even though we were very tired, we had a wonderful time. Since it was dark by the time we were done and the winding, hilly road back to the anchorage would be unsafe to walk, the owners of the restaurant drove us back. The Marquesan people are very kind and gracious.

We will be traveling to Tahuata tomorrow after we finish up with the Gendarme in town and will be able to meet up with friends from home, Australia, Florida and England, it's really nice to have people you know in places you've never been, cruising is unique for that.