Pacific Ocean – Part 2: Hiva Oa, Marquesas

Pacific Part 2 includes an account of our time waiting for our new rudder to arrive, and the great time we had here! We didn’t move much, but because we spent over a month here, it is well worthy of a chapter in our lives...

An intense rainbow over the outer anchorage at Atuona

When we lost our rudder we learned that the only place to haul out in the Marquesas was in Hiva Oa at the Marquises Maintenance Services.

Atuona, Hiva Oa, is an interesting place, with a very rolly anchorage but a breath-taking view! You may have heard or read about the Marquesas Islands, and I would have to admit the stories are false; it is WAY BETTER!  The Marquesans are friendly, beautiful, and generous people, most covered with bold tattoos! Women adorn their hair with a fresh flower picked off a bush on their way into town. In Atuona, there’s a post office, general store, hardware store, police station (gendarmarie), pharmacy, restaurants and of course a tattoo parlour, in the centre of town. In front of the general store are two long benches, normally occupied by locals. When someone new shows up, they say “bonjour” and shake hands or kiss both cheeks – very European.

The inner anchorage near Atuona with the mountain shrouded in clouds in the distance.

A mother and child Tiki at the Temple in Atuona

Paul Gaugin's grave in the Atuona cemetary

Karen having a mountain water shower on the docks in Atuona. The tiled surface in the foreground is the laundry station

There is a rhythm to this town, based on the arrival of the ships that bring everything here, and take everything from here away. The dock becomes a beehive of activity for a day, with traffic congestion and people everywhere.

This combination Cruise ship-freighter is unloading important goods while the passengers spend a day visiting the island.

But when the ship leaves, calm would return to town, and the dock would once again be safe for the chickens. Actually, there are a lot of chickens here, and the ridiculous number of roosters don’t wait for dawn to cock-a-doddle-doo; they compete all night long. One morning when we were on the hard, we had a rooster in our cockpit, trying to eat our bananas!

Copra, dried coconut meat, is pagged and stacked in a sea container ready to send to Papeete for processing

After spending nearly a month-and-a-half here, we have never paid for fruit. It is so abundant, that the locals offer it to you out of friendship. The legendary Marquesan “pampelmousse” is like a grapefruit, but twice as big, and the first taste will put you in Heaven! It is a mix between grapefruit and pear. That’s the best way I can describe it, anyway – simply delicious! It was worth the trip just for the Marquesans and their pampelmousse!

Marquesan pampelmousse on a tree. Each fruit is the size of a large cantelope

Our gear net in the rear cockpit storing pamplelmouse, mangoes, papaya and bananas, all gifted to us.

Tim holding a juicy pampelmousse.

One day, we met “Pifa”, a large Marquesan man who is considered to be the best tour guide on Hiva Oa. We could have rented a car for half the price, but we decided the history he would provide would be worth the expense. We were not disappointed. He showed us the only “Smiling Tiki”, that his uncle had discovered on his “farm”, which, not being a famer, more resembled a tropical rainforest. The tour continued up into the mountains, where we actually felt comfortable temperatures at 800m above sea level. The winding roads were insane; some portions paved with concrete, other places gravel, and twisting through the mountains and valleys, often with sheer drop-offs on one side or the other. Then we reached the north coast of Hiva Oa, where Pifa was raised, and rode to school on horseback 1 hour… and 45-minutes home. At one point, there was a rock over looking the ocean called the “Sacrificial Rock” where once a year the prettiest young girl in the village would be sacrificed to the Gods to ensure continuing bountiful harvests of fruit and fish and that rains would come. Continuing along the coast, on narrow gravel roads, often tossing rocks off the road tumbling into the sea hundred of metres down below, we finally arrived in a village where his grandfather lived, and we visited the “Giant Tikis”, the largest Tikis in all of French Polynesia.  This was a sacred place to the Marquesans, but had been damaged by Europeans by removing penises, and one has it’s head removed, and is now on display in a museum in Germany.  We had a beautiful traditional lunch, consisting of numerous banana dishes, goat, wild boar, tuna ceviche, all washed down with starfruit juice, Awesome! On the way back, Pifa stopped at one of the many banana palms along the road, and cut down a large bunch of bananas for us. All in all, it was an amazing day!

Pifa, our Marquesan tour guide

The "Smiling Tiki", apparently, the only one ever found anywhere.

Karen and Tim at the Giant Tikis. The roof was constructed by UNESCO to protect this World Heritage Site.

The Sacrificial Rock, on the north coast of Hiva Oa

Our new rudder arrived one day by ship, and we installed it as well as some other work on Vata.

The remains of our rudder before removal at Marquises Maintenance Services boat yard

The Taporo freighter which delivered our new rudder

While we thought we spent a very long time in Hiva Oa, it was nice to get to meet some of the locals, and to be seen as a familiar face out of all the other visitors. Despite our circumstances, we had a great time in Hiva Oa!