Pacific Crossing and Marquesas

We have now completed the longest leg of the round the world voyage, sailing from the Galapagos Islands to the Marquesas. A distance of over 3000 miles where there are no islands and usually nothing to see but the sea and the sky. It was therefore with great excitement we awoke one morning to see a sail coming closer and for a few hours to be able to sail in company with another boat. This is Pytheas, another rally boat and she is sailing with the typical 'downwind' rig of twin head sails.

There were sometimes other things to see and here some very wild dolpins were giving a great display, but sadly not very near to the boat.

Fishing in the Pacific was not very sucessful as nearly everything we hooked was too big for our tackle and either broke the line or got off. This was the one exception, a very big tuna which took an hour and a quarter to land and although we hooked it in daylight it was dark by the time we had got it aboard.

Then, at last after 21 days at sea we reached Fatu Hiva in the Marquesas. We were keen to get off the boat and stretch our legs and you could not immagine a finer place to do this. The islands are steep and of volcanic orrigin but incredibly beautiful, with lush vegitation and lots of rainfall.

Between the rain showers, which are heavy but warm and short, the sun comes out and lights up the most beautiful landscape, with picture postcard views where ever you look.

With all the rain falling, waterfalls are common and spectacular. We scrambled up to this one and swam in the pool at th bottom with the cool shower cascading over us whilst we sat on the sun warmed rock beneath.

Then it was on to Nuku Hiva where the rally was welcomed by the local dancers who performed for us.

The 'music' is produced by a drum group and the dancers singing as they perform.

This is the bay the rally boats were anchored in, a view we were able to get when we did a tour of the island by landrover.

The four wheel drive was required on a few occasions. Here is one of the 'bridges' we crossed.

We were taken to a 'Marae' site. This is where human sacrifices were made in times gone by and the sites, which are comon on all the Polynesian islands are steeped in superstition and folk lore. Here our guide is explaining that the Christian Missionaries were buried in a line at this site!!!

Central to all Marae sites is the banyan tree, with its mass of exposed roots into which the bones of the victims were pushed to wqard off spirits.

There are always 'Tikis', the stone carvings depicting gods, often with other symbolic creatures like turtles or fish and often babies carved in to curious positions within the main statue.

After spending some time in the civilised part of Nuku Hiva we sailed round to Daniel's Bay were we made a days excursion to visit another waterfall. There are no roads or bridges as we made our way up the river which we had to ford regularly, in water up to our waists.

As we got closer we could se the top of the fall still a mile ahead of us..

At last we arrived and were able to swim the last few yards across the pool at the bottom.

It was a very impressive waterfall and the air was full of noise and a fine mist from the fall. The only disappointment was we had to retrace our steps the five miles back to the sea. Where we spent our last night in the Marquesas before setting sail for three days voyage to the Tuamotus.................

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