This Other Eden!

09 May 2024

Where am I? 

Latitude: 08°55.0 S

Longitude: 140°05.9 W

At anchor in Taiohae Bay, Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands.

How is the weather?

Warm, sunny days with a little rain at night. The bay is well protected with some swell coming in from the ocean.

What am I feeling?

I’m feeling pretty good that we made it all the way to the Marquesas with only a couple of relatively minor boat issues along the way. We’ve sailed more than 5,000 miles since Antigua, meaning that we are now more than half way to Australia!

What has happened this week?

The big event, of course, was our landfall at Hiva Oa last Saturday morning, at Tahauku Bay.

Our arrival was eventful in that we decided not to attempt a night entry into the bay and hence motored back and forth outside until dawn – the night was very rolly and wet with many rain squalls ripping through. We found out later that many yachts had left Tahauku Bay the day before because of the rolly conditions.

We found ourselves a spot in the bay – but it turned out to be one of the less comfortable anchorages I have experienced. In particular, lowering and raising our dinghy, as well as getting on and off the yacht from the dinghy was quite challenging given the swell. We had enough room to put down plenty of chain, so there was no risk of dragging, but it certainly wasn’t the quiet, placid bay that we were hoping for after our long voyage!

As the Gendarmerie is closed on weekends, we checked into French Polynesia on Monday morning and used the weekend to tour the island. The process of clearing in was very straightforward – much more so than the agent I had engaged had made out – there’s definitely no need to use an agent for French Polynesia.

We departed Hiva Oa on Monday, heading first to Anse Ivaivanui on neighbouring Tahuata and then to Taiohae Bay, Nuku Hiva. Taiohae is the largest town in the Marquesas and Nuku Hiva is the most populous island. But all things are relative – Nuku Hiva’s total population is only 2,900 and Taiohae has only 1,700 residents.

We are now at Taiohae Bay, Nuku Hiva – it is much more comfortable with plenty of room for yachts to anchor without being cheek by jowl. We’ve toured the island and done some provisioning – the stores are quite well stocked but with most products being very expensive. For example, $80 for a bottle of basic gin! 

Tomorrow, we will take on more diesel and then head off to our next stop – Rangiroa Atoll in the Tuomotu Islands – which is three and a half day’s sail away. We will stop there for a couple of days before making for Papeete, Tahiti where we have a bit of a crew change.

The Marquesas are stunningly beautiful islands. Our first sight of Hiva Oa rising from the sea, green-clad and majestic, will long remain in memory. These fabled isles, so remote from the world, are legend to sailors everywhere. A destination of dreams, a land of nature unbound, their allure heightened by their very distance from all that is familiar to us. The population of these islands is now a mere 10% of what it was when Europeans first laid claim to them, thanks to imported disease, warfare and a struggle for survival. Much of the population lives at a subsistence level, having relatively little need for money as much of what they need for daily life is freely available – fruit, roots, fish, wild goats and pigs, etc. And the French state subsidises essential products heavily with red stickered products in the supermarkets being sold at prices which may not exceed those charged in metropolitan France.

But what struck me most about Hiva Oa and Nuku Hiva was a sense of melancholy, of loss. A sense of absence. Rather like Sherlock Holmes’ dog that didn’t bark. The huge fall in population over the last 200 years with the remainder depending on subsidies from a land so far distant speaks to a loss of cultural identity. While the Marquesan language has survived, the physical aspects of their culture have not – there are many ruins in the islands of sophisticated settlements which have been reclaimed by the jungle. Coupled with the absence of a written record of their history, it’s almost as if modern Marquesans need to find and write a new history for themselves if they are to thrive into the future. I wish them well for there is no doubt that they inhabit a land which is the closest we are likely to come to the Garden of Eden.

Fujin out!