Exploring the Marquesas - Sail-World's Blackwattle
by Nancy Knudsen on 25 Jun 2007
Where else such sights BW Media
The Marquesas ARE a little difficult to get to. Most sailors visit there on their way across the Pacific from East to West, sailing with the wind. You can fly from Tahiti, of course, but then those who do so are usually headed for sailing in the Tuamotos, where chartering a yacht is possible and the coral atolls fulfill many a sailor's dream of the South Pacific at its best.
These islands in the Marquesas by contrast are volcanic, piercing the sky above, dramatic and lush, rainforest and palm trees and gentle Polynesian ('we're French of course you know') people. Everything seems gentle here, the music, the breeze, even the rain. The mists seep around the tops of the high crags all round us, nestling into the gorges, softening the skyline, and the even the waves seem to lap the dark sandy shore lovingly. After rain the cliffs run with waterfalls in every direction, distant and noiseless.
So one feels particularly privileged, having sailed the three thousand nautical miles to be here, and rewarded as well after the three weeks sailing marathon that's necessary from Galapagos.
Exploring Nuku Hiva is a delight – we take some four wheel drive trucks with other cruisers and set off across the tops of the mountain peaks, stopping to examine the undergrowth or marvel at the staggeringly beautiful views.
Over several days we eat at the few restaurants that are spread around the island – dining on seafood in coconut milk, pork and goat specialities, together with breadfruit and plantain, bananas and fresh cucumber.
Father's Day brings a special celebration in the form of an umu - roasted pig in the ground....
...and some Polynesian dancing – it's tribute to the internationalism of today's world that one of the dancers is distinctly blonde and blue eyed.
The history of the Marquesas is a little horrifying, as we learn of the cannibalistic rites of the past, the sacrifices and the celebrations that accompanied them. We visit recently uncovered archaeological sites, including that at Kamuihei, complete with banyan tree where the sacrifices were held in a pit.
The legends vary – one story is that the remnants of sacrifices are thrown into the pitafter the celebration. The other more grisly legend is that the pit was used for holding those meant to be sacrificed until the celebration.
The site is vast, with large stone platforms and a sacred marae rectangle, surrounded by petroglyphs carved into the rocks and bold stone tikis. Much about the site is shrouded in mystery, but the very size of the abandoned site is testimony to the huge population that once lived on the island.
The rain has come early this year – July's rain is all falling in June it seems. In the so humid weather, back on the boat we run to close and reopen hatches and portholes with each downpour. In the meantime we struggle to solve our maintenance issues – a borrowed spinnaker pole, a repair job on the engine, new alternators needed to be flown in from Papeete.
Time passes pleasantly enough, but we are anxious to be gone – the year is running away, and we must be south in Australia before the cyclone season.....
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