Our reach from Hiva Oa to Ua Huka was blissful, and we whupped some butt. Arriving at Vaipiee Bay we entered a rather narrow high walled canyon - one other boat, a French Outremer 51' anchored in the prime spot. We had been briefed by Patrick on SV Lollipop that a stern anchor and a single file kind of anchoring scheme might accommodate up to 3 boats in the narrow bay. We dropped the hook and deployed the stern anchor, settling about 50 meters forward of the Outremer. We could have sworn we'd just sailed into a canyon in Moab, Utah as there was a lot of red rock, although we've anchored in various Mexican Baja locations with similar geology. A bonus here was hundreds of wild goats scampering along the cliffs, seemingly playing chicken. I reckon one occasionally falls to their death, but I found myself envious of their agility and fearlessness.
A walk around the small village yielded a good bit of inte and a cold Hinano. We elected to rent a car for the following day to see all that could be seen. The best cultural museum in the Marquesas was reportedly up the road a few kilometers, along with a shop packed with local carvings for sale. Apparently Ua Huka is known for their wood carvings.
The next morning our little 4 door 4wd pickup was delivered the wharf where we had hauled the dinghy onto the hard. The rental lady provided a great briefing regarding all the sights and attractions then we were off. First to the cultural museum which we found to be closed due to an ill attendant. Nuts. We pressed our noses against the windows and oogled an amazing array of antique artifacts and reproductions. Nuts. Onwards to Hane, the next town along which had the shop with carvings for sale and a museum of old photographs. The darn museum was closed, but capitalism reigned supreme and the shop was open for business. Pat and Ceiline have been hunting a special carved bowl for a friend, alas nothing tickled their fancy or dented their wallet. Maybe on Nuka Hiva.
We drove along the coast until we ran out of road, then returned to Hane to park and hike to a Tiki carbon dated to have originated around 600 BC. Those Polynesians sure got around and unbelievably they sailed thousands of miles upwind to the various locations they settled. Tough people. We found the trailhead and shortly arrived at the ancient and holy grounds where locals were tidying things up for the visit by passengers from the cruise ship Aranui the following day. We met the president of the tourist committee who spoke great English and he offered us the verbal history of how the various Marquesan islands were named. Fascinating! We removed our shoes before treading on the holy ground, studying and photographing the old Tikis. Awesome.
Our guide also called his son and arranged to have the museum opened for our visit, and in about a half hour we were inside the building enjoying close up views of the contents. Outstanding! Onwards to the botanical garden where we wandered among a large variety of native trees, encouraged to pick all the fruit we wanted, so out came the bags and in went star fruit, mangos, guavas, limes and pamplemouse. Doesn't get much better than this.
Returning to JollyDogs we readied for departure then Pat and I did very manly things, getting that darn stern anchor off the bottom into the dinghy. I had helped Phillipe from the French Outremer do the same thing the previous day and it nearly killed us both. When the Aranui comes into the bay everyone else gets kicked out as they kind of take up all the room, even mooring the stern of the ship to various bollards installed in the rock cliffs. Wish we could have seen that, but instead we motored out and around the corner, anchoring in Haavai Bay within a few meters of where we first arrived in the Marquesas with Thad last May. Darned if Pat hadn't had the same experience 35 years ago, arriving as crew on a Bowman 70.
Wonders never cease.
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