Back from the Marquesas..

Now back in Tahiti after our two week trip to the Marquesas. A spectacular trip to say the least, and we will post pictures as soon as we have a functioning laptop again. In the meantime, while we are waiting about 3 hours as we back up 40GB of photo and video here are a few paragraphs on our Marquesan ventures…

The overall impression between Tahiti and the Marquesas seems to be rather like the manner of two siblings, the larger one appropriating all the nicer possessions of the smaller one! Paul Gauguin spent time on and is buried on Hiva Oa island in the Marquesas, but the “big” Gauguin museum is in Tahiti. The “Dance Spectaculars” so avidly peddled by all the hotels in Tahiti borrow heavily from Marquesan dance (but, according to Marquesans, are commonly the most horrible mauling of the “real” thing). Take a trip to the market and you find vendors justifying the inflated prices of their fruit by claiming it to be from the Marquesas, and if you then choose to relax in a spa you and may be sold a treatment “inspired” by Marquesan traditions.

Given this, it was with some curiosity that we stepped off the plane in Nuku Hiva. It had taken a lot of persistence to contact our pension to organize an “airport transfer” but you might find yourself with a long wait otherwise! The transfer was something of an adventure in itself comprising a 2 hour 4×4 trip where we needed to cross a fairly precipitous 1100m mountain ridge from sea level followed by a rendez-vous with a speedboat where the road ran out on the other side. For those who happen to be familiar with the music of the Saw Doctors (you know who you are) the twisting, turning, winding roads of Galway and Mayo have nothing on the serpentine roads of Nuku Hiva!

The 4×4 drive from the airport to Hatiheu bay must surely be one of the most varied and scenic drives anywhere. In two hours (as well as getting “all shook up” on the rough unsurfaced tracks) you pass through the “Terre Deserte” (an arid zone with cacti and desert scrub), through tall pine forests, past forests of Pandanus and endemic tree ferns, edge along the top of the “Grand Canyon” (some 600-700m deep we estimate). Passing over the ridge you emerge straight into a gobsmacking panoramic view of the Toovi’i plateau – a large patchwork or grassland, pine forest, and native forest surrounded by rugged volcanic mountains on all sides.

Descending into the Toovi’i plateau (about 800m altitude, so enjoyably cool) you pass through flowery meadows with local horses and cattle before ascending the ridge on the opposite side through almost African looking woodland (there are a lot of Gabonese Tulip trees here, turning the canopy red when they flower). Down the final ridge the vegetation becomes much more verdant, and the deeply incised bay of Hatiheu stretches out below, buttressed on the left side with massive volcanic spires emerging out of the forest. The village itself is almost postcard perfect – a small collection of houses and a bright white and red church set back from the beach with roads and houses surrounded by fruit trees and carefully cultivated flower beds. The one thatch roofed restaurant in the village serves top notch grilled lobster freshly speared out of the bay… need we say more!

The speedboat rendez-vous worked perfectly and we arrived in good spirits (if a little tired after a 4am start) in Anaho bay. Our research (and some good luck) served us well, and we found ourselves in a large bungalow with thatched shutters (no windows) a few steps from a wonderful horseshoe shaped beach in a very sheltered bay, again with spectacular volcanic pinnacles and mountains as a backdrop. Our days were most enjoyable and most relaxed (the only way in is by private boat or hike over the ridge), admiring the local gardens, exploring towards the ‘Silent Valley’ and feeling the sense of antiquity in a place where ancient ruins still stand around the edge of the village and the land crabs ‘dig up’ artifacts when they make their burrows!

Our Sunday was made more memorable by meeting a Polish guy who is attempting a circumnavigation world record… been round four times so far…interesting chap!

In Hiva Oa we finalized the details of our boat charter to Fatu Hiva and were pleasantly surprised by the size of the boat, and the fact they set up a mattress laden area on the outer deck. The reason for all this soon became apparent – you’d be a bit mad to try the passage in anything smaller, and you needed the mattress to pad the impact as you were knocked around incessantly for the whole trip! “Sick as a dog” is I believe the phrase, but you couldn’t let your guard down to much as on one occasion we rolled so violently a 4 person wooden bench was thrown the width of the deck to hit the one the other side!

All being more or less well we finally arrived in Fatu Hiva and it was indeed an impressive arrival. The island rears out of the sea as if it were the flexed skeleton of the earth itself – buttresses extending up hundreds of meters almost vertically into jagged mountain ranges the kind you might expect to find in Conan Doyle’s “Lost World”. The two villages are nestled into the two main bays, le Baie des Vierges (Bay of Virgins) and le Baie de Bon Repos (Bay of Good Repose). The small bungalow we rented was very nicely located at the back of the valley close to a very clear freshwater stream with some great bathing pools (and large freshwater shrimp who would seize upon your feet the moment you got in!). As well as learning how to make bark cloth (tapa) a highlight of the week would have to be the walk from the Bay of Virgins to Bay of Good Repose, ascending the indomitable looking mountains, crossing the central plateau and descending into the village of Omoa – a tiring but very rewarding 17km (or, if you get a bit lost at the start, closer to 20km!!).

We had the good fortune to coincide with an official government visit to the island, and so enjoyed some unexpected festivities and dances in both villages. There are approx 630 inhabitants in the two villages on this most isolated island of an isolated island group, but fear not, it is French, and as such the two small shops both have an entire wall devoted to wide selection of Chateau wine and several fridge shelves devoted to Roquefort and Camembert!!! Shocking, but we should have expected it!

We made an attempt at the “Deserted Valley” where there is a deserted traditional village, however this is a difficult proposition indeed, as we found out. In all but the most clement conditions it is not safe to take a 4×4 along the track towards the head of the valley as the clay-like soil becomes dangerously slippery. The only alternatives are to turn it into a 2-3 day hike with a bivouac in the mosquito infested bush (you need to travel very light to avoid getting exhausted on the ascents) or take a small boat around the coast hoping for conditions safe enough to land in. We took the boat option, but conditions were choppy to the point of nausea in our little 6m aluminium boat before we’d even rounded the headland, at which point we concluded enough was enough. We did enjoy great sightings of turtles and “Electra dolphins” on this abortive trip however.

Our return journey proved less eventful, and through the trip we were also able to buy some very nice art pieces – including hand decorated tapa cloth, carved bone, and some lovely ironwood carving.

We look forward to the next adventure, unfortunately not Ouvea due to a Dengue fever epidemic and tropical storm damage in the region, instead we will be on Rangiroa atoll in the Tuamotus with the aim of diving the famous “Tiputa pass” and seeing the enormous shark aggregations there amongst some other things…. Stay tuned!