With our friends John and Lisa from Orcinius. On this hike we filled our backpack with limes growing wild on the hillside. Enough for Charismas all the way to Tahiti!

View from the top of the ridge. Then down to the other bay for some sightseeing and all the way back.

In the jungle on the way over and back

And I do mean “over”. Wow, did we get some exercise today. The proposed hike was from Anaho to Hatiheu, which is the next bay over. There are two “saddles” in the hillside here. One is a low saddle that looks obvious, but it turns out terminates over a cliff on the other side. The other saddle is high, high up the seemingly vertical mountain side. “We’re going there?!” was my comment. But, we decided if we could find a trail, we would attempt it.

First, we collected our friends John and Lisa on Orcinius. Or to be more correct, they collected us. They came over in their dinghy and the four of us rode in. Nothing’s really very easy here. Sometimes the dinghy rides are hair-raising, death defying trips through the surf. This time, we had to find an entrance through the coral that stands outside the reef. Fortunately the sun came out and we could clearly see the really light blue water which signaled the path.

Once inside, we anchored the dinghy in the very shallow water off the beach and waded in. We were in knee high water at fairly low tide. This was to become more interesting later in the day when we came back.

Off we went down the beach looking for the path over the mountain. We ran into a couple locals and tried to ask in our best French, which is none too good, how to get over the hill. We consistently received a pointed finger down the beach and a somewhat skeptical look, so we knew we were headed in the right direction.

We finally ran across a path that went at right angles to the beach and disappeared into the jungle. A likely looking trail! So, we followed it a bit and almost immediately it started going uphill…very steeply. Aha! So up we went. And up. And up. After almost an hour of switchbacks combined with occasional stops to pick fruit (wild mangoes and limes) we broke out of the jungle on the top of the ridge. What a view! The only problem we saw at this point was that it was starting to squall and rain. Hard. It was getting very muddy. And while we WERE on the top of the ridge, we were only half way. We now had to go back down to sea level to the next bay. That meant we also had to go all the way back up and down again to get back. Oh well, what the heck. An adventure a day and all that.

After about two hours and much slipping, sliding giggling and such we finally came out of the jungle to the seashore. We were in Hatiheu Bay. It’s a typically small town. One street, a few houses and a Catholic Church. In this case, there was also a very good little restaurant. We were pooped, so a beer and some food sounded great! Again, a typical spot. No doors or windows, just a roof and a view out onto the endless Pacific Ocean. Beautiful. The waitress brought a hand written sign for a menu and we ordered; Poisson Cru (Ann), Goat Curry (John), Sauteed Prawns (Lisa) and I had Poisson Grille. All came with delicious sides of breadfruit and tomatoes with cucumbers. Yummm. The beer hit the spot too. After lunch the proprietress walked around to a stream just outside the roof and started throwing scraps in the water. And it started boiling! We thought it must be piranhas and ran outside to watch the commotion. Turned out to be fresh water eels and they were going nuts. There were probably a dozen of them, each at least three feet long and four inches across at their head. The grabbed the scraps, bones and all. Whew, don’t wade across that stream anytime near lunch time.

Lunch was followed by a little walk around town (which took about 10 minutes) and then we could delay no more the hike back up the steep hillside and over back to our bay. We got back around 4PM or so and found it was now high tide. The dinghy we left anchored in knee deep water was now neck deep. So like the locals do, John and I waded out (almost swam), pulled the anchor and walked the dinghy back in towards the beach so Ann and Lisa could get in. In the mean time I was thinking about the shark attack reported here a couple weeks ago. Turns out I should have been looking more at my feet. Ann and Lisa had seen a couple stingrays in the sand. They can leave a nasty sting if you don’t shuffle your feet and kind of nudge them out of the way. Got lucky this time that I didn’t step on one while watching for sharks.

We got back to Charisma, cleaned the fruit we picked (nothing goes into the boat that hasn’t been soaked in a germicide, we’re very careful to keep bugs out) and mixed a couple of Charismas with which to watch the sunset. Just as we settled down to enjoy our cocktails, the young guy on the boat next to us came over in his dinghy to say “hi”. We met him and his cousin on the beach today and he came over to just get to know us better. That’s one of the things we love about cruising. The camaraderie is phenomenal. Jessie (his name and his boat is Obelisk) is 30 years old. He scraped together enough money to buy a sound boat that needed a lot of work so he could sail around the world. So far he has come from Chesapeake Bay via Bahamas, Azores, West Africa, East South American, around Cape Horn, etc. So we chatted a while until a squall started spitting and he decided it best to get back. We’ll look forward to seeing more of him and his cousin.

Well, that’s our day today. Like I said, an adventure a day is all we ask.

Position: 08 degrees, 49 minutes South; 140 degrees, 03 minutes West

Our anchorage in Anaho Bay

We are getting ready to move out of the Marquesas and on to the Tuamotu’s. But we need to see a little more of Nuku Hiva first, then get some fuel. We haven’t fueled since Mexico back at the end of March. By my calculations we still have about 15 gallons of diesel (and have used 60, most of which has been to charge the batteries on days when there’s not enough sun to fully charge them with the solar panels). I’m not looking forward to filling up. It’s not like in California, or Mexico for that matter, where you pull up to the fuel dock. Here, you have to Med Moor. That means you have to anchor just in front of the concrete dock and back up-hoping the anchor holds you just off the dock. You put a stern line out to hold the boat against the surge. If you are able to accomplish that, then you need to get in your dinghy and get the fuel hose, bring it out to the boat, that is still hopefully stationed 10 feet or so off the dock pointing straight out and not bashing into it as the waves surge you five feet backward and forward. If all that goes well, you can begin fueling. The alternative is to take our two jerry cans which are five gallons each, back and forth in the dinghy until the tank is full.

Our last port here will be Taiohae Bay which is the only place that has fuel. The issue this last week was that they ran out. The supply ship supposedly came in today, but there are a bunch of boats in there waiting and we didn’t want to be last in line, so we decided to sail around to Anaho on the North side of the island then back for fuel. The sail made for a very long day and we got here just an hour before dark. I was thinking there would be a 30 percent chance we wouldn’t make it before dark and would have to stand off for the night and come in tomorrow morning, but we got some favorable wind shifts and made it just in time. The wind shifts come from the squalls. They come down from East of the island and go roughly to the West. If you can get on the North side of the squall, you get “lifted” which basically means you can sail a more favorable line and not have to tack back and forth. So, I played the lifts in the squalls and that just made the difference.

The sail around the island to the North side was against 15 knot winds gusting to 25 and six foot seas. The weather was mostly cloudy. It was pretty dramatic getting into Anaho at almost dusk with the squalls hiding the high peaks around the bay. We even had to slow down and wait out the final squall as we were entering the bay as it completely obliterated our vision. We didn’t want to go in blind. We can’t wait to see the high peaks around the bay tomorrow.

The other thing I’ve learned when coming into a new anchorage is when you see a “line” of boats anchored DON’T go behind them. That’s what we saw here and sure enough, the five boats already here were anchored just in front of the reef. If I had gone behind them (which was tempting as there’s a nice beach and it looked like you could just anchor there) we would have hit the reef.

So, anchor down, had a Charisma, took a shower in the cockpit and prepared dinner. Made an omelette and sautéed bananas. The bananas are an easy way for anyone to get a taste of the tropics. Here’s the dead simple recipe: Get some ripe bananas. Peel and cut in half lengthwise. Put in frying pan with some coconut crème (you can get it in a box, it’s sweetened, so cut it with a little water) and just simmer on low with a lid while you’re cooking dinner. About 15 minutes in our case. Put on a serving dish and sprinkle cinnamon over the top. Yum, yum YUM!

We’re going to spend a couple days in this neighborhood hiking and such. Maybe visit one other bay on this side of the island and then on to Taiohae for fuel some fresh food if we can find it and then the four or five day voyage South to the Tuamotus where we’ll spend some weeks (depending on weather and fun) before heading to Tahiti sometime around the end of June. Where the Marquesas have been soaring peaks and green jungles, the Tuamotus are basically coral reefs. Most of them are only as tall as the palm trees that grow there. Should make for a very interesting contrast. They are known for tremendous snorkeling and diving as the water is said to be so clear you can see down 100 feet.

Some housekeeping: The tattoos are doing really well and looking good. Ann’s had some redness for a couple days, but that’s gone now. The “damaged” skin from the tattooing is peeling off and voila, we’re looking good!

Robin and Mike: is the Light Speed you know a catamaran or monohull. The cat is in the Marquesas, but the monohull went to Easter Island and we haven’t seen those guys. Ironic that there were two boats with the same name, right? Wrong! There were two Charismas too! We became known as Charisma – San Francisco vs. Charisma -Seattle!

Position: 08 degrees, 49 minutes South; 140 degrees, 03 minutes West

We are getting ready to move out of the Marquesas and on to the Tuamotu’s. But we need to see a little more of Nuku Hiva first, then get some fuel. We haven’t fueled since Mexico back at the end of March. By my calculations we still have about 15 gallons of diesel (and have used 60, most of which has been to charge the batteries on days when there’s not enough sun to fully charge them with the solar panels). I’m not looking forward to filling up. It’s not like in California, or Mexico for that matter, where you pull up to the fuel dock. Here, you have to Med Moor. That means you have to anchor just in front of the concrete dock and back up-hoping the anchor holds you just off the dock. You put a stern line out to hold the boat against the surge. If you are able to accomplish that, then you need to get in your dinghy and get the fuel hose, bring it out to the boat, that is still hopefully stationed 10 feet or so off the dock pointing straight out and not bashing into it as the waves surge you five feet backward and forward. If all that goes well, you can begin fueling. The alternative is to take our two jerry cans which are five gallons each, back and forth in the dinghy until the tank is full.

Our last port here will be Taiohae Bay which is the only place that has fuel. The issue this last week was that they ran out. The supply ship supposedly came in today, but there are a bunch of boats in there waiting and we didn’t want to be last in line, so we decided to sail around to Anaho on the North side of the island then back for fuel. The sail made for a very long day and we got here just an hour before dark. I was thinking there would be a 30 percent chance we wouldn’t make it before dark and would have to stand off for the night and come in tomorrow morning, but we got some favorable wind shifts and made it just in time. The wind shifts come from the squalls. They come down from East of the island and go roughly to the West. If you can get on the North side of the squall, you get “lifted” which basically means you can sail a more favorable line and not have to tack back and forth. So, I played the lifts in the squalls and that just made the difference.

The sail around the island to the North side was against 15 knot winds gusting to 25 and six foot seas. The weather was mostly cloudy. It was pretty dramatic getting into Anaho at almost dusk with the squalls hiding the high peaks around the bay. We even had to slow down and wait out the final squall as we were entering the bay as it completely obliterated our vision. We didn’t want to go in blind. We can’t wait to see the high peaks around the bay tomorrow.

The other thing I’ve learned when coming into a new anchorage is when you see a “line” of boats anchored DON’T go behind them. That’s what we saw here and sure enough, the five boats already here were anchored just in front of the reef. If I had gone behind them (which was tempting as there’s a nice beach and it looked like you could just anchor there) we would have hit the reef.

So, anchor down, had a Charisma, took a shower in the cockpit and prepared dinner. Made an omelette and sautéed bananas. The bananas are an easy way for anyone to get a taste of the tropics. Here’s the dead simple recipe: Get some ripe bananas. Peel and cut in half lengthwise. Put in frying pan with some coconut crème (you can get it in a box, it’s sweetened, so cut it with a little water) and just simmer on low with a lid while you’re cooking dinner. About 15 minutes in our case. Put on a serving dish and sprinkle cinnamon over the top. Yum, yum YUM!

We’re going to spend a couple days in this neighborhood hiking and such. Maybe visit one other bay on this side of the island and then on to Taiohae for fuel some fresh food if we can find it and then the four or five day voyage South to the Tuamotus where we’ll spend some weeks (depending on weather and fun) before heading to Tahiti sometime around the end of June. Where the Marquesas have been soaring peaks and green jungles, the Tuamotus are basically coral reefs. Most of them are only as tall as the palm trees that grow there. Should make for a very interesting contrast. They are known for tremendous snorkeling and diving as the water is said to be so clear you can see down 100 feet.

Some housekeeping: The tattoos are doing really well and looking good. Ann’s had some redness for a couple days, but that’s gone now. The “damaged” skin from the tattooing is peeling off and voila, we’re looking good!

Robin and Mike: is the Light Speed you know a catamaran or monohull. The cat is in the Marquesas, but the monohull went to Easter Island and we haven’t seen those guys. Ironic that there were two boats with the same name, right? Wrong! There were two Charismas too! We became known as Charisma – San Francisco vs. Charisma -Seattle!

Same Position As Yesterday

By the way, I forgot to credit Elan with discovering my error in the position earlier this week. When we checked in here at Baie De Taioa, I wrote 149 degrees West, when the actual Longitude was/is 140 degrees West. Oh well. Unlike the blog, I DO double check the GPS when I’m inputting nav data. So, thanks Elan, glad somone’s watching. My daughter Christine also tells us you are still updating our position on our Facebook pages, so thanks for that too.

And Jerry, you keep saying we should write a book. Well, if we do, your replies to our blog are going in it because they are more often than not hysterical. Thanks very much for the entertainment. We look forward to your comments.

OK, so on to today. Unfortunately for our readers, this wasn’t a very exciting day. Some of you may have noticed that we actually rarely have a quiet, boring day. Well, today we caught up with quiet and boring. Actually, it rained a lot today, so it was nice to be able to just hang out on the boat in this stunningly beautiful little bay. Ann did some more laundry (the bed sheets which take a lot of time) and I did some more miscellaneous boat projects. The more important project being our new privacy curtain that hooks to the lifelines around the cockpit. Now we can take a shower in the cockpit without the whole anchorage knowing or watching!

The Chicken Curry last night turned out great. Way cool to cook authentic Polynesian. As Ann wrote, we learned how to make coconut milk for the curry and conveniently had two coconuts on board. I cracked one (you use the back side of the machete not the sharp side) and scraped out the meat. Then mixed it with some water and squeezed it through some cheesecloth we had. Voila! (Bob is practicing his French!) The more authentic way is to squeeze it through coconut husk, but we didn’t have any. Just the nut. Also, after squeezing the scraped coconut, the Polynesians feed the result to their pigs. We also don’t have a pig. I made a ton of curry paste with the milk, curry, onion, etc and have enough for tomorrow night with some frozen shrimp we picked up. One last benefit of using the coconut- we’re about to sit down to some sliced coconut with Nutella. Yum!

OK, Ann said I had to give up my secret on how to harvest bananas so the future cruisers who are reading this will know. The big problem with getting a stalk of bananas in the wild is that they always grow about 15 feet in the air. You look up longingly and thin, “If I only had a ladder”. But, turns out you don’t need a ladder or even a fancy 15 foot long pole. I DO recommend you buy a machete because it’s incredibly useful in the tropics, but strictly speaking you can even do it with just a knife. The secret is that you cut down the whole tree the stalk is on. We watched a REAL Polynesian do it. It helps to weigh about 300 pounds like the gentleman who showed us. If you weigh less than 300 pounds, make deeper cuts into the tree (see below) Don’t worry about cutting down the tree, the banana tree needs to be cut down. It’s really more like a fern on steroids. A new stalk of bananas will only grow on a freshly cut tree so you’re doing it a favor.

So…now pay attention, you could get hurt if you do this wrong. You find a likely looking stalk. This will have about 100 still green bananas on it and it will be 15 feet or so above your head. It helps to have a couple friends who also want some bananas because they will pretty much all ripen at the same time (actually, we hang some in the cockpit on the stalk, put some in the icebox and some in the fruit hammock in the cabin, so they ripen at somewhat different times, but it still helps to have friends). Carefully approach the banana tree. At about head height, you whack it lightly with your machete. Count your fingers both before and after this step. If you have fewer fingers than before, stop harvesting bananas right away and take up needlepoint or something else. But, as usual I digress. Now, you’ll note that the light whacking has only dented the tree. But these trees are pretty hollow and very fibrous, so if you now PUSH the tree below the machete mark very aggressively, it will start to tear and maybe break. Or not. If nothing happens, whack it (“whack” is a technical term that us banana harvesters use down here) again and make a slightly deeper cut. It still hopefully has not fallen on you yet and is standing but weakened. Again, push hard below the whack mark. It should start to bend over above the machete line from the combination of cutting and pushing. Your goal here is to do this with a great deal of caution combined with silly abandon (you are after all, standing here in the jungle, with a two foot long sword whacking at a tree with about fifty pounds of bananas ready to fall on your head). Anyway, your goal is to do this with such precise control that the tree begins to fall very slowly. The fibers that have not yet been whacked at by your machete are still trying to hold it up, the others have long since given way to your newly discovered native spirit and your machete. If all goes well, the tree will gracefully bend and crack and deliver the bananas gently and gracefully into your waiting arms, where you will grasp them to keep them from hitting the ground and bruising. If you didn’t do this correctly…it’s not my responsibility but do make sure your health insurance premiums are fully paid.

Once you have successfully harvested a stalk of bananas and are standing in the middle of the jungle with a “downed” banana tree, use your machete to turn the cut part of the tree into humus. In other words chop up the leaves and trunk so it will decompose. Leave about three feet of the trunk of the tree intact above the ground and before you know it a new tree will grow out of this. You have done the jungle a favor. All is well and you will be eating lots of bananas, baked bananas, fried bananas, mashed bananas and banana bread. You may come to hate bananas. Your next step is to learn to identify and successfully harvest papayas, but that’s another story.

Now that I’ve divulged my super-secret banana technique, I will go on to report that we ended this Sunday in Daniel’s Bay with cocktails on Orcinius. John and Lisa are delightful people who we met in La Paz. After that, they went to the Galapagos and we went across to mainland Mexico, but we have been fortunate enough to be reunited here 3000 miles away. We had a wonderful evening sitting on the “veranda” in their catamaran which is anchored about 50 yards away. Nice.

Position: Still in Daniel’s Bay

A little rain and a phenomenal rainbow!

No big hikes today. No change in location. Just chillin’ in Daniel’s Bay. Sometimes we just stay aboard and enjoy the beautiful bay. Today was one of those days, kind of. Bob spent the morning doing miscellaneous small chores like fixing the flag pole holder so we can proudly fly our American flag and then fixing some wobbly connections on the solar panels. The kind of things that bug you as you sail but get forgotten when the anchor goes down. I spent the day getting caught up on laundry. It never gets faster or easier. Always a chore but I love to bring it in off of the lifelines and having it smell fresh! I don’t even mind folding it and putting it away because it means the job is done! Kills me that it took 4 hours to do! And to finish my day I read a book about James Michener’s South Pacific by Stephen May. It is so fun to know that either we are on our way there or we are currently in the locations that are being described. And when I chose to, I could look up and inhale this beautiful bay! And as an added treat I could smell Bob preparing dinner early – he made Chicken Curry with fresh coconut milk. Since I learned how to make coconut milk back at Fatu Hiva I was able to explain it to Bob. Using cheese cloth and the fresh coconut we got yesterday (and an oyster shucker to get the coconut out and grated) Bob made his own coconut milk to put in the curry. (It is currently reheating on the stove so I am only assuming that the divine smell was an accurate indication of the quality of meal.) So it was a quite productive day. One interesting moment came when the catamaran named Seque “went for a walk about”. Now my friends know that I find nothing unusual with cats that go for walks as every time in Pleasant Hill that I took my dog, Grover, for a walk, one of my cats, Tiger, insisted on coming with. So a cat on a walk seems normal. Only this one was a very large catamaran, about 60 feet long and 30,000 lbs, whose anchor started dragging while the occupants were hiking to the waterfall. Luckily someone in the anchorage noticed and all hands were actively putting down another anchor for the wandering boat until the owners returned. No damage done. The boat behind them, Lightspeed – also a catamaran, moved to be in front of the wandering cat. Too bad Seque later relocated themselves and now are anchored in front of us. Hopefully they did a better job of anchoring this time so we can have a peaceful night.

Position: Still in Daniel’s Bay

At the beginning of the hike we met this character. His name is Augustine and he was very gracious.

But...as we looked around, we saw this and had to wonder...?

Cooking goat in coconut milk. Yum!

Heading to the waterfall with Dave and Kathy from Lightspeed

We had to cross the river about five times

Yes, there are eels in the river. This one's about four feet long

The waterfall is 700 feet. So big, you can only really capture it in a picture at a distance, even though we went right to it's base

The final push the last couple hundred yards. Falling rock was a real danger, so we moved really fast. In and out.

Since this is such a beautiful spot, we are planning on staying here a couple days. We’re so deep in the bay, there’s smooth water in here, which is nice for a change since most of our anchorages have been pretty exposed to the open ocean and therefore pretty bouncy.

So…we got picked up by Light Speed at 0900 in their dinghy and headed off to the beach where the path to the waterfall starts. Turns out at something like 700 vertical feet, this waterfall is the third largest in the world. The hike up through the jungle was fun. First off we were on a trail known as the “King’s Road”. This trail was hand built at least several hundred years ago for the Marquesan King with large boulders and rocks so you were elevated from the muddy jungle floor. Lining the trail along the way were the ruins of old Marquesan villages. It’s still a wonder to see the Pae Pae, which are the large rock platforms they used to build their huts on. We could also see a number of rock walls that likely held their livestock and there was a single example of an interesting artifact. It is basically a pit dug in the ground about 10 feet, by 10 feet and six feet deep. It was carefully lined with rocks. It was used in older times to store breadfruit as a hedge against famine. Breadfruit is one of the most valuable food sources here. So valued that in the churches, you will often see breadfruit integrated into scenes with and carvings of Jesus, baby Jesus and Mary. This island (and others) actually had developed a population problem in the 1600s or so and amazingly, food shortages were becoming a part of life here. Breadfruit is a hugely important commodity in the islands and it was stored in these pits where it apparently fermented, but remained edible for long periods of time (sorry for the vagueness, we don’t have Google to sharpen our knowledge of this history). We know that by the 1800s Europeans had brought diseases that were decimating the villages, so the overpopulation issue was prior to that. Anyway, it was fascinating to see these ruins, untouched, largely ignored, but in great shape, that have been here for hundreds of years at least.

Continuing to the waterfall, we had to cross several streams and then hike up the most amazing canyon. It was maybe 75 yards across and towered at least 1000 feet above us. Very scary actually because the risk of being killed by rockfall is very real. Everywhere along the trail we could see huge boulders that had obviously fallen very recently. We made the final push (about ¼ mile up the canyon) very quickly for this reason.

We were thinking about swimming in the pool at the base of the waterfall, but the threat of rockfall and eels (at least we had heard there were eels) left us wanting to just head back and enjoy the view from further away.

As we retreated from the steep, narrow canyon and got back to one of the major streams we had to re-cross, we became very, very glad we didn’t swim. There in the stream were two of the largest eels I have ever seen. They were at least 4-5 inches in diameter and about three feet long and they were swimming upstream! Needless to say we were very careful fording that stream.

The rest of the hike back was uneventful. An aside: later we heard from one of the other cruisers anchored near us that a woman was killed here last week from being hit on the head by a coconut. Sounds crazy, but these things are all over the place and by the time they are ripe enough to fall, they weigh something in the neighborhood of 20 pounds. Her skull was crushed. So, add coconuts now to our list of things not to do. Sharks, eels, coconuts. Stay away from these things.

As nice as the hike was and amazing as the view was of the canyon and waterfall, the best part of the day was meeting some of the local characters who live here. There are only a few, but they are memorable.

The first on the way back was Augustine. We actually met him on the way up and told him we would stop by “later”. He’s Polynesian and has a shack, almost more of a stable where he works and lives. He keeps a carefully tended property full of fruit trees that is immaculate. Not a rotten piece on the ground. He also carves Marquesan designs out of bone. Boar tusk, cow bone, etc, he carves it. On the way up, we stopped and he cut open a couple coconuts for us to drink (very refreshing). I saw a dutch oven cooking over some coals and asked him what he was cooking. He took me over and showed me the goat (cut up) he was cooking in coconut milk. I said; “yum” and we left it at that, since it was just barely cooked at that point. We stopped again on the way back and he invited us into his place (I’m not sure what to call it since it was part stable, part shack, part house almost, but all open to the temperate environment. There were no windows. Very eclectic Polynesian is the best I can do to describe it. You kinda have to have been there). Anyway, we sat down at his table, the top of which he intricately carved with Marquesan symbols. Very detailed and stunning. He cut some coconut for us to drink and eat and then some papaya. As we were eating (we were famished from the hike), he looked at me, barked something in Marquesan, crooked his finger and signed for me to follow him into his “kitchen”. Which I did. The dutch oven was there and he pulled off the lid and grabbed a meat covered bone and said, “you try!” I did and it was delicious! “Me Like!!” He was happy. I was holding the bone wondering what to do with it and he signed to give it to the dog. So there you go. Nothing gets wasted here. After my “vetting” of the food, he was satisfied that we would like it and loaded a couple bowls with this goat meat in coconut milk and steamed bananas and we feasted. Just like that. Then he poured a redish looking liquid and said; “wine!” So we tried that. Kind of a fermented pineapple, coconut, I don’t know what else,drink, but incr edibly refreshing and goes well with goat!

Needless to say we had a blast! One of the highlights so far of the trip and he really was just doing this for fun. He didn’t want money. We “gifted” him with some Reef flip flops that Ann had and didn’t like. He laughed, looked down at his feet which were bare, but graciously accepted them knowing that he could either give them to one of his sons (15 and 10 who were away at boarding school like all the children on the islands) or trade them further down the line.

We very reluctantly left Augustine’s house, but it was getting late and we had to move on.

We were still looking for some fresh fruit. After Augustine’s gracious hospitality, we didn’t want to impose and ask him for fruit too, so down the road we went. There are half a dozen other homes/gardens and at one, a woman came out of her house and we asked if she had any fruit. At this point I should point out that Ann has become proficient in French. In fact, we all now consider her our translator. So Ann steps up and starts asking stuff (I say “stuff” because I have no idea what she really said, but it got things in motion) in French and next thing we know this woman is shouting at her kids to get in gear and get some fruit. The son motions to Dave and I to follow him around the house, the woman (we didn’t get her name) proceeded to empty a wheelbarrow and then line it with a nice tablecloth and wheel it into her garden whereupon she and her other children proceeded to cut down a bunch of papaya and pamplemouse. In the meantime her son is showing Dave and I how to cut a bunch of bananas down. This was incredibly valuable to know as bananas grow fairly high and we have been wondering how to gracefully harvest them. We now know the secret. (Watch for the secret to be revealed in future blogs.)

We left laden with fruit in backpacks and bags, not to mention our stalk of bananas that weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of fifty pounds.

OK, on down the road. The last place housed Tahiki and family. Tahiki plays the part of a traditional Marquesan warrior. Some of the people anchored near us who had met him the day before were actually scared by him. He is very fearsome looking with a traditionally tattooed face, in the Marquesan style as well as on the rest of his body. He is also “buffed”. He has muscles everywhere and wears a boar tusk necklace and earrings. Quite a sight. He charges at you, yells in Marquesan, dances, etc, but he’s also a very nice guy. We stopped at his house (read shack- tin roof, no real windows just square holes where you would put glass if you needed it, but very clean with a nice porch. In this environment that’s all you need). We stopped here to support them and bought some of their fruit because Tahiki is such a blast to be around. The fruit we bought cost a whopping $6 for the four of us, but he was happy and decided to show us how to shuck coconuts. He had a spike that he uses to tear off the husk so you can get to the nut. First he showed us (with many warrior-like flourishes) and then each of us had a turn. When it was Ann’s turn, she yelled in warrior-like fashion too, which delighted Tahiki’s two boys. She has two new fans now. Dave and Kathy gave them some baseball hats as gifts and we now have a bunch of new fans.

So, a really fun day. We’re staying here at least one more day to do some more exploring and to just enjoy the amazing, amazing scenery that we’re blessed to be anchored in.

Position: 08 degrees, 56 minutes South; 149 degrees, 09 minutes West

Anchored in Daniel's Bay

Daniel's Bay from up on the ridge

We are in Baie De Taioa which is also known as “Daniel’s Bay” which is further known as the place where they produced “Survivor Marquesas”. We just got in this afternoon, but the entry to the bay is as stunning an entry as we’ve ever seen in our lives. Vertical mountains jutting thousands of feet out of the water guard the bay, so it’s really not visible from more than a hundred yards or so. You have to trust the GPS until you can see the opening. Ocean size waves are crashing against the rocks, threatening to blast the boat to pieces if you get too close. Just as I was thinking; “this can’t be right!” I caught sight of the 90 degree right dog-leg turn into the bay. Suddenly as you make the turn, you go from the crashing of the waves to an amazing tranquility.

The day started with having to get the stern anchor out of the sand/mud at Baie Hakauhau. This meant I had to go out in the dinghy and pull it up. Once the anchor was in the dinghy, Ann pulled the rest of the anchor line (with me in the dinghy attached) back to Charisma. We then quickly placed the anchor, line and 30 feet of chain up into the cockpit while I rowed up to the bow so we could haul the dinghy up on the foredeck and secure it for the 25 mile passage across to Nuka Hiva. I say quickly because there’s wind and surge in the anchorage which once the stern anchor is not holding Charisma, she is free to move around in the very tight anchorage. Our two neighbors were each only a boat length away. One in front and one to our right. We had to move fast. We did and the dinghy was secured, the main anchor hoisted and we were off. One of our better exits. We got on the radio, said our goodbyes and set course for Nuka Hiva.

Not five minutes had passed when I heard the cry; “Dolphins!” One of the biggest things Ann has missed so far on this trip has been dolphins, and here we had a small pod come to play. I took the helm and Ann (who in the past has been known as the Dolphin Whisperer when we saw them more often) went up to the bow to play. She still has the touch. As she laughed and shrieked when they came up under the bowsprit where she was standing, they became more and more animated until finally one of the dolphins did a triple jump. It really was pretty amazing. The first two jumps were clear out of the water, tail and all. The third jump was the same but included a 360 degree spin. They were spinner dolphins and she got a private show!

The passage itself was pretty unremarkable. Once we anchored we got invited to a beach bonfire at 1800 (which is right at dusk here). We took the dinghy in and had a nice time with a bunch of boats we hadn’t seen in a while. There are about a dozen boats here, most of which we have known since Mexico but also a couple new ones we made friends with tonight. We enjoyed a beautiful star-studded night on the beach and are looking forward to seeing this place at sunrise. It will no doubt be stunning. We also plan to hike to “the waterfall” tomorrow. There always seems to be a hike to the waterfall, but Mark from Blue Rodeo went today and announced that the hike in and the canyon was probably the most beautiful place on earth that he had ever seen. Whoa! We’re ready to try that on for size. It’s supposed to be a 4-6 hour trip, so LightSpeed is picking us up in their dinghy at 0900. Stay tuned for the outcome!

Position: 09 degrees, 21 minutes South; 140 degrees, 02 minutes West

We awoke this morning to a stupendous view of the steep minarets rising off of our stern. Bob’s mountain climbing wanderlust was awakened just looking at them. When we went ashore and checked in with the Gendamerie, just a courtesy check-in as we actually checked into the Marquesas in Atuona, I asked if people actually climbed those minarets. He hesitated and said yes, but that due to the rain of the last two nights it was not advisable. It would be one heck of a climb as the highest peak, Mt. Oave, is 4,040 high.

So instead we wandered the small town looking for provisions. Mostly we wanted fruits and vegetables. Although the mangos and breadfruit seemed to be prolific, the trees were all in people’s yards so we abstained from picking any. The vegetables in the stores consisted of tomatoes and some sad looking potatoes. Can’t be picky, so we got some of both. We ran into our friends from “Island Bound” who asked us to join them for lunch at the local restaurant. The waiter seemed to want to direct us to the special of the day, tuna tartar, but Island Bound had been there yesterday and so finally he brought the whiteboard to our table with other selections. Bob and I stayed with the special and it was really delicious. Island Bound had shrimp and sashimi and were pleased too. But it should have been for the price. We are so used to Mexico’s prices that we were a little stunned by the $47 lunch (for two). We stopped in to see the local Catholic Church after lunch. There was a class of about 30 students practicing for what might be an upcoming First Communion. They were pleased to have us as an audience and we got many secret waves and smiles. The church has a beautiful pulpit. It is a massive block of tou carved to look like the bow of the boat cutting through the waves. Incredible carving. This town is interesting because it has the islands’ high school in it. Apparently the students board in apartment-looking buildings next door to the school because the other villages, though not far, are difficult to get to by road. So the town has lots of teenagers around. We have not seen many in our travels on the other islands so now we know where they all are.

These same teenagers were playing at the dock as we returned to our dinghy, enjoying pushing each other off and teasing – just like at home. As Bob rowed us back to Charisma, his back to the anchorage, I informed him that Island Bound had three of the local teenage girls hanging out on the bow of their boat. We found out later that they wanted to practice their English so asked to come back to their boat when they returned. This was just the start of the fun as their friends on the dock could see and wanted in on the fun. No wonder as we rowed out several kids were calling to us. We greeted them back but misinterpreted their calls.

The girls ended up being quite social and loved playing with Kat’s digital camera. We can’t wait until cameras are so cheap we can give them to people in places like this. When Bill returned the girls to the dock three boys managed to convince Bill to let them come play. What a trooper! After having Tang and cookies on the boat while playing Bill’s guitar and singing songs, they convinced Bill to let them drive the dinghy around the anchorage. Just like boys in a car for the first time – pedal to the metal. Bill did a great job of keeping them from running over anchor lines and other boaters.

As the sun set on the bay the far side of the bay (which is only a little over 100 yards away from where we’re anchored) we could sit and watch surfers finding large 5-6 foot waves to surf in on. Even the outriggers get in on the game. One 8-man outrigger was doing a splendid job of surfing very long distances and bailing just in time before hitting the rocks. No sand here. Poetry on water! We watched a single outrigger surfing for about three hours this morning. Just going again and again. These guys are really strong.

We will be leaving this bay tomorrow and after posting this blog will determine if we round the island to the next anchorage or continue to the next island of Nuku Hiva which is 25 miles to the north. Tune in tomorrow to see where we landed!

Position: 09 degrees, 21 minutes South; 140 degrees, 02 minutes West

Nice day of sailing. Left Hanamenu at 0415. Light air so motored for an hour or so until the wind came up with the sun. Set sail with a pod of dolphins and had a nice downwind ride at 5-6 knots most of the way in 4 foot seas. Overall about an 8 hour sail. Beautiful day (but no fish)!

Got in around 1500 and found the anchorage was pretty tight behind the breakwater and had to get out the stern anchor to line up with the other boats. There are about 7 or so here including a couple of boats that we’ve known from Mexico so we got together for cocktails and snacks at sunset. Nice night with our friends and we’re looking forward to going ashore tomorrow and checking out the town.

Ann’s on the radio right now talking with some other friends who are one island ahead of us who are telling us where we can find good fresh vegetables. That’s the one thing we’re short on and they are hard to find. All we have right now are a few tomatoes that we found at the last island. Our fresh fruit consists of pamplemousse and bananas. Can’t wait to see what we find in town tomorrow (along with the boulangerie for some baguettes!

That’s about it for today.

Position: 09 degrees, 45 minutes South; 139 degrees, 08 minutes West

It rained all night last night, but cleared in the morning, so we left Vaietahu and had a nice, sunny (for a change, given all the rain the last few days) sail NW up around to the North side of Hiva Oa where we were a couple weeks ago. We’re back in Hanamena Baie, the first place we sailed to after clearing in where we were gifted the fruits and saw the ruins and the pig trap. We’re not going ashore, just sitting the rest of the day out here and we’ll leave around 0400 for Oa Pu (pronounced “whapu”). It’s about 60 miles away and we plan a conservative average of 4 knots and try to get in mid-afternoon. That way if it’s a bit slower, we don’t have to worry about turning the engine on to get there. So far it’s working as we haven’t taken on any diesel since we left Mexico, although we’ll probably take some on in Nuka Hiva which is our next stop after Oa Pu.

Today was just sailing. 20 knots pretty much on the nose. We used a reefed jib only, no mainsail so we weren’t very efficient, but we had all day to get here. Most of the ride was “downhill”, so it was really nice, but the last couple hours were close hauled beating into 4 foot waves. It’s pretty nice now in the little bay, but when we got here, there were at least three foot waves and gusting into the high twenties. Not super comfortable, but the anchor is well dug in so after we were set I took a nap for a couple hours. Once the sun went down, the wind engine shut off and there’s a light land breeze right now. We’re done with dinner (potato, yam, pancetta hash with the little peppers we found while hiking. They are very hot! I only used about three of them-they are about 3/8 of an inch and that was enough to get the burn in the whole dish).

The sky is full of stars tonight which we haven’t seen for a few days, so we’re going to have a “tot” of rum, some home baked cookies and sit out under the stars. Good night!