Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia--Landfall!

As we mentioned in our text this morning, getting cleared through immigration and customs went fairly smoothly. It's done through the gandarmerie, a sort of local police force throughout French Polynesia. The young officer who helped us was polite and friendly. We're required to post a bond equivalent to an airline ticket out of the country, about $1400 per person. It's refundable when we leave the country.

First things first though, it took us about half a day to get past the vertigo. We looked like two drunks staggering along. Then we were fine. Until we got to shore again this morning.

Right now we're sitting while the world rocks back and forth. And sore legs, oh my.  

Formalities done yesterday, we bought a fresh warm baguette and French cheese and devoured both while sitting on a long bench in front of the store alongside heavily tattooed Polynesian men. People have been friendly, but we're feeling for the first time in our lives what it's like to be in a country in which we don't know either of the spoken languages. Sign language, a smattering of French and some broken English among local folks is getting us by so far.

Climate-wise, it's hot and humid during the day, but nights are refreshingly cool by comparison with what we experienced closer to the equator. A light blanket is welcome by halfway through the night. Showers pass through several times each day.

Other sailboats come in and leave daily. There are roughly 15-20 sailboats in the harbor at any time. Most are from Europe and the USA. Minimus is by far the smallest boat here. Apparently there was a gathering of sailors the evening we came in and our having entered under oar power was a highlight of conversation.

We're getting to know other sailors, all very friendly. In comparing passage notes, it seems that most folks have had longer than expected passages due to unusually fickle trade winds. As expected, those who pushed their boats hard had significantly more equipment breakages.

Interestingly, almost half the boats here are catamarans, a sign that folks are finally beginning to wise up to the fact that they're significantly more comfortable sea boats than ballasted monohulls. It isn't the heeling (leaning over) that's the issue, but the rolling back and forth that's the issue most folks talk about. Not that even catamarans are comfortable, mind you, as no small boats are at sea, just relatively much more so. So why didn't we get a catamaran? We didn't have time to build one and small used ones are hard to find. Meanwhile, Minimus is working well for us.

There's so much we want to learn, like the names of all sorts of trees, fruit, flowers, birds, etc. that we've never seen before. We met a woman yesterday at the cultural center whose husband gives tours of the island, something we're thinking of doing partly to see more of the island and also to learn the names of so many things we don't know.

The one downside right now is that our stern anchor seems to be stuck on something so that we can't free it. We'd like to move it, as we're anchored too close to another boat. And, of course we need it before we sail from here. We're talking with other boaters now and trying to figure out a solution.

A local woman named Sandra has a covered deck overlooking the bay with internet. The view from here is absolutely stunning. I know I've already used that adjective, but am at a loss for another one.  Blue water, white surf, jungle covered, near vertical mountains rising thousands of feet into the clouds. 

We've taken several photos from here, none of which begin to show the majesty of the setting. We'll keep trying.

Land Ho!

Pearl with Minimus visible just to the left of her.

Polynesian Cultural Center

Mary Jo with art work on tapa, a cloth made from bark.

Fragrant flowers everywhere. This is the one most women wear in their hair. We hope soon to find out what it's called.

My lucky day. I (David) found a rare blond vahine in Polynesia!