Marquesas-Tuamotus-Tahiti - Plan B  July ‘16

Marquesas – Nuku Hiva

Before we left the Marquesas, we rented a car to tour Nuku Hiva. The vistas we encountered were marvellous. The extreme ranges in flora as the elevation changed made you question if you were still on the same island. PICS The road itself was a challenge going from 5 kilometres of paved two lane to single lane goat track and back to paved for no explicable reason. We rarely got out of 2^nd gear! Chickens are everywhere, but in the higher elevations cows and horses roam freely (mainly on the road). Wild pigs were also a common site.

With such lush vegetation, we couldn’t understand why we needed to be at the local vegetable market by 5:00 am in order to get the slim pickings that were offered. The real treat, however, was at the local dock where fresh yellow fin tuna was to be had for $5 a kilo.

Early on the docks for fabulous tuna

A great tiki rebuild (except the palm leaf roof is plastic)

This is one island that definitely held “the wow factor” for us.

The Tuamotus

After a week at Nuku Hiva, we moved on. Having just been “fixed” after two hours the auto pilot packed it in again, which necessitated 200 more miles of hand steering.

The Tuamotus are a series of coral atolls covering an area 600kn by 1500km and are said to be the largest group of coral atolls in the world. Only half have a pass enabling a boat to enter inside the reef which must be negotiated with the tides and depending upon what the winds have been doing there could be a build-up of water inside or a deficit changing the nature of the water flow.

Look close for one that didn't get the tides right

According to Darwin these circular reefs are the remnants of a volcanic island, where the coral reefs formed around the shores. But the volcano has since disappeared leaving the low string of palm fringed islands making up the atoll.

We had no problem with our first atoll Ahe, but once inside found it littered with bouys marking the black pearl oyster beds.

Our first atoll was Ahe,  a smaller one where you can see all inner shores (motus) once inside. Some of the motus are connected by low concrete bridges built by French legionaries. The principal mode of transport around Ahe, apart from the open fishing boats was the three wheeled bicycle. Some cars and trucks, but when your stretch of road is only 5-10 kilometers the bike makes good sense. Folks were very friendly and quickly realized our high school French was something best forgotten.

The dark blue patch is 500 meters/the white is 2 meters

The string of motus ringing the atoll

Homes are smallish, run on solar panels, have large water catchment systems, with many having additional reinforcement against the winds.

This is the rope and sand bag approach

Practically everything comes in by boat from Tahiti – food, building supplies, fuel and this is reflected in the price.

Snorkelling around the many coral heads was not inspiring because the coral is struggling owing to bleaching from the sun. Fish population is diminished due to coral decline and overfishing by the locals.

Our second atoll was Rangiroa. One with a very large interior, such that you couldn’t see the other side and it had two passes. The water in the passes runs quite strong, but apparently it is wide enough and deep enough to enable a large cruise ship to slip in.

Across the atoll is a lagoon (Blue Lagoon) which could be visited by your own boat, but because of distance, the many coral heads and poor anchoring possibilities we opted for a day trip with a local tour operator. The ride over and back at 20+ knots in lumpy seas will remain memorable. But, although the lagoon was very picturesque the snorkelling was lacklustre. Inside the lagoon were many black tipped sharks (benign) ranging in length up to about one meter and constantly hovering around while swimming. Outside the lagoon, where the tour operator threw all the lunch leftovers were lemon sharks 2-3 meters long, creating quite a frenzy when the food hit the water.

 A BBQ on the beach was provided and at the end of the meal three large parrot fish were laid on the BBQ. Instinct said – don’t eat the parrot fish/they are coral fish and susceptible to ciguatera (a toxic substance that comes from the coral and works its way up the food chain). But the belly said – it looks good and the locals are eating it. Should have listened to the brain. I had an afternoon of what we dubbed Rangiroa Rage, but Magnus’ endured his for three days. – if in fact that’s what hit us.

 On the return trip the operator dropped us into the nearby pass and here the snorkelling was exceptional. Vibrant coloured coral and fish were to be found in abundance. Unfortunately it was an out going tide and we were swept past much quicker that we would have liked. So we later visited another pass by dinghy and found the same plethora of sea life, which we enjoyed at our own pace.

Before we left the Rangiroa atoll we visited a local pearl farm to learn how the oysters are seeded to create the pearl and why they are black. The pricing however remains a mystery.

Inserting the shell irritant into an oyster

Note the white shell irritant in the center

Tahiti

We were fortunate in leaving for Tahiti when we did because the weather changed and blew hard the following week. Safely inside the reef which rings Tahiti we watched the 2-3 meter waves crash upon the reef, curling along in one continuous wave for hundreds of meters. At the right sun angle the entire wave shone an azure blue. Just the stuff brochures proclaim.

Doesn't do it justice - a 3-4 meter wave breaking over the reef

Plan B

We are now moored in the Tanai Marina, Tahiti, having sailed 4600 nautical miles and have been notified by the owners that they are selling the boat here in Tahiti. The long distances and constant mechanical break downs have been more that they wished to endure.

So Grace and I have booked flights to New Zealand, Tasmania and Australia and will be renting “land yachts” (camper vans) to complete the passage we had originally envisaged. Sounds like a good plan, but it is now their winter period and this morning’s check on weather indicated night time temperatures in the range of two and three degrees Celsius. Snow might also be possible in the more southerly areas. At least the beaches won’t be crowded, but there goes the tan.

We have done some touring around Tahiti and agree it is our least favourite destination this summer. There aren’t the high rise hotels you see in Hawaiian travel pics, but there are 117 kilometres of road with 40,000+ vehicles. I’ve stood where Captain Cook stood in 1769 to take his sextant sights on Venus and also where Captain Bligh landed in 1788. The vegetation is very lush, PIC  but we just haven’t encountered “the wow factor” experienced in other landfalls. The people remain very friendly, but it is just too busy, noisy and uninspiring. You have to admire the tattoo artwork displayed on practically everybody and it is tempting……… but on a 66 year old sagging body, I fear an embarrassing smudge may be the best result. I feel like we are going to miss the best part of the Pacific Islands by ending the sailing trip here, but maybe another opportunity will arise where we can make those missed landfalls and then we can reconsider that tattoo.

Nana (goodbye)……….Grace and Mike

The land crab (this one about 25cm) lives in a burrow, climbs trees and can cut through a coconut husk and shell