Categorie archieven: ilse

Te Fenua `Enata or The Land of Men.

English, ilse, Nuku Hiva, reisverslag

Today, wednesday,July 6th, we are in Taiohae Bay on Nuku Hiva since saturday. We continue to be charmed by the Marquesas and its people. Nuku Hiva is the second largest island of French Polynesia after Tahiti. It is the administrative capital of the Marquesas islands. Today about 10.000 people live in the Marquesas. In the 18th century population was at 78.000 but western diseases such as measles and smallpox reduced the population to 4000 at the beginning of the 20th century.

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The bulk of the Marquesas Islands are of volcanic origin, created by the Marquesas hotspot that underlies the Pacific Plate. The Marquesas islands group is one of the most remote in the world. We arrived after our passage in Hiva Oa, then sailed to Tahuata, from there to Fatu Hiva and then back to Hiva Oa. From Hiva Oa we did a night sail to Nuku Hiva, where we are now.We will visit a couple more bays here and then sail to Ua Pou.

We arrived on Nuku Hiva at 9 AM after a night sail from Hiva Oa. It was another beautiful view ! When we took Flipper to the dock it was immediately clear that this was a more commercial island. There were a couple of restaurants, 2 stores and the supermarkets carry a lot of “gourmet food” such as lots of frozen vegetables (a nice change from canned food), Belgian chocolate, frozen lamb, Rocquefort cheese , “President” real butter and “Bonne Maman” jelly! During our discovery walk of the town we were invited for a festive dinner (at 6.30 PM) and traditional dance in preparation for the festivities of July 14th (Bastille Day). We met with Ann and Yvan from Kruibeke (Belgium) from the yacht Vaguebond. We were lucky to have just met them since the next day they were already off to the Tuamotus Islands. So far we have met only one other Belgian boat…We had a great evening ! The drums were fantastic and the dancers even better! I had steak and french fries for dinner with a glass of red wine!! It tasted soooo goood :-)). Yesterday Stefan figured out what the problem was with our batteries AND FIXED it !!! I continue to be amazed in how good he is in fixing all our problems…I love it ! We also had a nice 2 hour hike in the late afternoon and picked up part 1 of our laundry. Today we had lunch at Keikahahuni restaurant, I had “poisson cru” (raw fish) and Stefan had fettucine in a creamy sauce with fish, we enjoyed the peace and quiet of the restaurant, only accompanied by 3 kittens waiting for leftovers (which there were not). Tomorrow we will pick up  part 2 of the laundry, get diesel and leave for supposedly one of the most beautiful bays, Hakatea, just next door.

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Traditional dance for the 14th of July festivities.
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The drums were fantastic !

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Taiohae bay on Nuku Hiva.
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Sanuk captain, with Taiohae bay in the background.
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Notre Dame Cathedral on Taiohae, opened in 1977.
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Inside the cathedral.
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At the Temehea tohua site (ancient ceremonial meeting site)  along the seafront with sculptures carved by artists from the island.
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View down in the Bay of Virgins on Fatu Hiva.
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The Bay of Virgins on Fatu Hiva.
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Walk to the Vai ‘e’enui falls. The scenery is just gorgeous!
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Refreshing shower and swim at the Vai’e’enui falls.
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Sunset at Puamau bay.
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Main street,  Puamau.
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On our way to the Me’ae Te i’i pona site, a well restored ceremonial site of the Na’iki tribe.
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This is the statue of the priestess Tau’a pepe who died giving birth to a male child. The statue is carved by her husband.

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On our return we met Sevrin who was going to cut coconuts for copra. He would show us how this was done. Again the scenery was just beautiful.
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On the left dried coconut meat which is gathered for the coconut oil industry in Tahiti. Monoi oil is made from coconut oil.
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Sevrin is showing us how he cuts the meat out of the coconut.
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Sevrin slashing the coconut open. He invited us to his home to give us grapefruits, lemons and “pommes cythere”, a kind of sweet apple. We took the family for a visit on our boat, which they loved !
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Sanuk in Puamau Bay on Hiva Oa.

Two weeks in the Marquesas in pictures

English, Fatu Hiva, Hiva Oa, ilse, reisverslag, Tahuata

In the bay of Hanavave (population 311), we found usable internet on the boat! Hence, by popular request here are some impressions of our visit to the Marquesas so far. We had to severely downres the pictures in order to be able to upload with the bandwidth challenged connection.

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A perfect sailing day during our crossing. Blue skies and some wind so we can use the Code Zero sail. This is one of the last pictures of a complete sail, soon after we had two halves…
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Stefan preparing beef stew in the middel of the pacific with 28 degrees celsius ! No french fries and no belgian beer though.
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Finally after 22 days of sailing Hiva Oa on the horizon ! Great to see. The GPS did it again.
Graf Jacques Brel in Hiva Oa
The last resting place of Jacques Brel on Hiva Oa. Brel died in 1978 from cancer. He was loved by the Marquesan people.
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Resting place of Paul Gauguin who died here in 1903 from syfillis. Though he loved the young girls (13-14 years), he was not so loved by  the Marquesan people.
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Superb view from the cemetary.
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Walking the streets in Atuona, Hiva Oa.
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Taahuku bay on Hiva Oa. This is the check-in place and usually very crowed (Stern anchor hell)
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Walking in the town of Vaitahu on the island of Tahuata. In 1774, Captain James Cook landed here, and it was here that Admiral Dupetit-Thouars signed the treaty of annexation of the Marquesas to France, in 1842.
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Ilse in an outrigger canoe. This is  a type of canoe featuring one or more lateral support floats known as outriggers, which are fastened to one or both sides of the main hull. They are an important part of the polynesian heritage. This particular one features a pretty tourist. (dixit Stefan)
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One of our hikes out of Vaitahu.
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Very sweet, juicy and big grapefruits everywhere in the Marquesas. The peel is thumb-thick, but if you leave it alone, it becomes yellow and thin like we know it in Belgium.
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The beautiful catholic church in Vaitahu made of ships discarded ballast stones. There are no windows in the church except for the stained glass.

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Stefan after trading fuel for fruits. We ate a lot of bananas the next 10 days !
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Getting the breadfruit and pig out of the ground oven during the festivities at the inauguration of the new sportshall.
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The pig is unwrapped from the banana leaves and put in wooden serving trays. All the women are wearing flowers.
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Hiking on Tahuata.
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Lots of coconut trees. Tourism and copra (dried coconut meat), are the most important economies of French Polynesia.
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Hiking path on Tahuata.
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Drying coconut meat seen everywhere on the islands.
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Walking the queens path in the town of Hapatoni on Tahuata island.
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Hapatoni on Tahuata Island.
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Snorkeling in Hana Tefau bay on Tahuata.
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Outrigger canoe on the beach of Hapatoni Bay.
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Omoa’s sea front on Fatu Hiva.
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Main street in Omoa.
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Buying tapa cloth in Omoa. Tapa is a barkcloth made in the islands of the Pacific Ocean. In the Marquesas only a couple villages still have tapa . In former times the cloth was primarily used for clothing, but now cotton and other textiles have replaced it.
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School dance in Omoa for first grade. They learn to swing those hips at an early age.
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Election of young miss Omoa (population 300). All dresses were made from plants and flowers (by the mothers and aunts).

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