Our three and a half weeks in the Marquesas has been a highlight of our voyage so far. The spectacular lush mountains, delicious fruit and friendly locals made this destination a worthy stop after a long pacific passage.
Our route (in order) was Hiva Oa, Tahuata, Fatu Hiva, Tahuata, Ua Pou and Nuku Hiva. Our favourites (crew unable to agree on order) were Fatu Hiva, Tahuata and Ua Pou – with the others still wonderful also.
We were glad to only spend two nights in Hiva Oa (Atuona) – time enough to do our paperwork and move on. We did not use an agent and the check-in process was smooth and doable. We purchased refundable air tickets to avoid paying the bond, and mailed our check-in papers to Papeete.
Tahuata – meeting locals and loving the blue water!
Next was Tahuata – Wow! A short 4 miles from Atuona and our first truly south pacific anchorage (Hanamoenoa) unfolded before us. It’s palm tree lined sandy beach, clear turquoise water and spectacular scenery, complete with friendly visiting manta rays and dolphins made this an early favourite. We jumped into the water before the anchor had set and wished that auntie Gill, our fabulous pacific crossing crew member, was still with us to enjoy it.
After a few days in Hanamoena, we sailed on to Hapatoni bay, a short 6 miles away, where we were delighted to find delicious mangos strewn about the walkways and were lucky to be invited to play many games of Petanque (French bocci – hugely popular in French Polynesia) with a local carver and another 10 year old boy. We had a fun afternoon despite our patchy French and (non-existent Marquesian) while the local pair cheerfully fleeced the Canadians and subsequently had to partner with us so as to have a decent game.
Fatu Hiva – The best of the Marquesas!
After Tahuata we caught a nice wind shift and sailed on a close reach the 40 miles to Fatu Hiva. Usually this would be dead upwind (hence why many people stop in Fatu Hiva first though due to no official checkin option, many people sail onward to Hiva Oa) so we were happy to have a pleasant sail.
The Bay of Virgins was as beautiful as we could have hoped. It’s image graces the covers of two of our cruising books for a reason – it is touted as one of the most beautiful anchorages in the world. Despite many photos and attempts to record it digitally, it was impossible to capture its full essence this way. The earthy tropical smell, lush green foileage, bleating white goats precariously grazing on nearby slopes and backdrop of black rock jutting skywards in all directions, was incredible.
On our first evening walk we met a nice local family who waved us over to their home and started picking fresh pamplemous off of their trees, offering it to us and the kids. We inquired about the best way to enjoy it (with our basic french) and rather than explain, they cut one open and offered it to us. WOW!! I cannot describe how sweet and succulent these delicious fruit are. The best ever! We’ve had pamplemous at home before (rarely) and once in Cambodia – but none of these even compared to Fatu Hiva Pamplemous! The locals asked us for items to trade – (milk, coffee, wine) and we happily agreed to return the following day with supplies.
We met another cruising Norwegian family on SV Mlle Momenti and their buddy boat SV Aluta and enjoyed a walk to the waterfall and a home cooked meal at the local family’s home (the same folks who gave us pamplemous and bananas). WOW! We were blown away with a delicious meal of poisson cru (raw tuna in coconut milk,lime and shavings of green papaya, roasted chicken and pork, breadfruit and rice. The kids loved it, especially the breadfruit.
Thank you to SV Aluta on their tip of another hiking trail and we followed the winding roadway and dirt road straight up the side of the mountain one early morning. We were rewarded with amazing views at every turn and I can safely say that this was the most enjoyable hike of our trip so far.
I bargained with the rest of the family to stay one more day at Fatu Hiva as I loved it (kids were wanting to go back to blue water and sandy beach at Tahuata). Then we were back again to Tahuata and an anchorage on the north side of Hiva Oa (Hanamenu) before a slow overnight sail to Ua Pou. We were very happy to catch a large yellow fin tuna just outside of Tahuata and promptly filled our freezer with delicious fish. It’s our best catch yet, with huge fillets of perfect Tuna. We have enjoyed many meals of ahi grilled tuna steaks, tuna poke (Nathan’s favourite) and sushi.
Ua Pou – Beautiful views, new friends, and Marquesian dancing
We loved Baie d’Hakahau on Ua Pou. Maybe this was because it was there that we met up with two more super fun family boats (SV Luminesce and SV Dogbark) or maybe it was the beautiful scenery? I think it was both! We stayed five or so days with the kids getting their schoolwork done at record pace in order to enjoy afternoons playing with all of the kids (local kids and boat kids) while Gavin and I were able to do our workouts on shore and run errands. We were also lucky enough to enjoy a local music and dance performance which was riveting – a small audience, loud drums and fantastic dancing. Then enjoyable afternoons with kids playing and evening potlucks. This is the cruising life we dreamed about!
SV Luminesce and SV Dogbark were heading to the Tuamotus next but we hadn’t seen Nuku Hiva yet….So we discussed which Tuamotu atolls to head to and parted ways, hoping to meet them later.
Nuku Hiva – Sharks, Paeke ruins and more delicious fruit!
We had a beautiful reach across the 20 miles to Taiohae bay on Nuku Hiva, with dolphins greeting us as we entered the wide bay.
Herman Mellville described Taiohae Bay in his book, the Typee, where he escaped from a whaling ship in 1842 and lived with the Typee people before later escaping once again home to Europe. His descriptions were in our minds as we entered Taiohae Bay and we marveled once again at the beautiful Marquesian scenery.
Highlights of our stay in Taeohae bay included the fresh vegetable market (expensive but great to stock up at prior to heading to the Tuamotus), morning shark frenzies as the local fisherman cleaned their catch and of course the fresh baguettes! We spent a couple of days exploring, then visited a neighbouring bay (Baie du Controleur) where we were interested to find a catamaran that we had almost purchased (and had flown to Puerto Rico to view) anchored in the bay. We were glad with our decision to purchase Slingshot instead of this particular Catamaran, as we watched the current crew struggle with some of the issues we’d found on the boat!
Our visit to the village of Taipivai and hike to visit to the ruins of Paeke was the highlight of our visit to Nuku Hiva. This large maeae site was featured in the Typee book. It is a ceremonial platform made from large basalt rocks that was used predominantly by priests, and sometimes for human sacrifice! It was fun to meet a large mama pig on our hike with her piglets scattering through the forest as we approached. Different local wildlife than we are used to!
We met some friendly locals along the way who gave us fresh lychee nuts out of their trees, bananas and fresh pamplemouse. Fruit grows everywhere in the Marquesas – it is truly a paradise!
We were planning to head to Daniel’s bay to hike the famous waterfall (one of the largest in the South Pacific) but we’d heard the waterfall was dry at this time of year, the ‘no-no’s were fierce (biting sand fleas) and most importantly, our weather window to head the 450 miles to the Tuamotus was slowly closing and the kids were anxious to meet up with their new friends. So off to the Tuamotus we went.
The Marquesas were a rich experience for us and a wonderful introduction to the South Pacific. I hope we will be back someday! The fresh fruit, greenery and flowers blooming everywhere stands out in our minds, but especially the Pamplemousse!
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