Tall, green, and beautiful

Destination: Marquesas

Don and Agnes Reed explore the beautiful islands of the Marquesas on their way home from Panama to Australia. These islands lie in the eastern corner of the vast area of French Polynesian islands and on most maps appear only as small dots.

The French Polynesian islands, the jewels of the Pacific, can be roughly divided into three groups, each with their own beauty: the Marquesas, the Tuamotos and the Society Islands.

The first, most westerly group of islands we sailed around was the Marquesas, and these are high, very green, steep-peeked islands, with no fringing reefs. The Tuamotos are mostly coral atolls and the Societies are high islands ringed by lagoons and coral. Having France as the benevolent parent country has given the Polynesian people on these islands a comfortable lifestyle and generally the islands are clean and their people happy and healthy.

Making a landfall after a long passage is always an exciting time when cruising. However, the landfall in the Marquesas is just that bit more special because it is the culmination of one of the longest passages we have made on our way around the world and also these spectacular green islands are so beautiful. The 3,000nm passage from the Galapagos Islands was a mixture of light air and solid trade winds, and we were pleased to make our way to the well lit harbour at Hiva Oa with the full moon to help guide us. We had checked the accuracy of our GPS position as well, with the radar, as we sailed along the south coast, ticking off headlands and their distance off. The seas were slight, so we were able to drop our anchor outside the breakwater and have our first uninterrupted sleep for 20 nights.

Prevailing winds

Most cruisers visit the remote Marquesas on their way from the US west coast or from the Panama area on their way across the Pacific using the favourable NE and SE trades.

The Marquesas consist of 10 major islands on a NNW axis. We chose to clear in to Hiva Oa in the south, because we presumed the prevailing SE winds would make it easier to head north and west to the other islands. Fata Hiva Island lies further to the south and officially must be visited after one clears in at Hiva Oa, although some cruisers chose to call in briefly on their way in.

Clearing in

The official clearance ports are on the islands of Nuka Hiva and Hiva Oa. The officials at the Gendarmerie (police office), where most of the procedure takes place, are welcoming and spoke good English. The regulations vary according to your nationality. Those with an EU passport have no costs at all (French Polynesia is part of the EU). At the time of our arrival, Australians needed to post a bond to the value of air tickets back home, which was to be refunded when we cleared out of French Polynesia, or have — hopefully refundable — air tickets home. The bond needed to be cash in Polynesian francs and was returned in that currency when we left French Polynesia. We were told all non-EU people had to do the same. We attempted to extract the $2,800 cash from the local bank and were sent to the ATM machine outside but were restricted by our daily limit.

Frustrated, we eventually decided to opt for the use of Polynesian Yacht Services (PYS), a company that can provide a bond exemption letter for a fee of US$188 for two people, but only if you use their services to do the clearing in and out as well, at a further cost of US$116. They also can help us get a fuel tax exemption certificate for US$116. This let us buy fuel for half price (about A$1 a litre). The PYS agent, a very friendly lady who spoke good English, met us in Hiva Oa, after we called her on the VHF on channel 11, and she drove us around to begin the clearing-in process and handed us all the paperwork completed the following day. We were calculating that the money saved on cheaper fuel, the savings on Visa card fees and loss of the exchanged rates fees of the cash (or fees charged to get a refund of plane tickets) would offset the cost of the charges of PYS agent. It probably did not, unless you used a lot of diesel, but it certainly made the clearing procedure easy. Four weeks later we were met in Tahiti by Laurent, the PYS main man, who took care of the final clearing-in procedure there and prepared us for the clearing out in Bora Bora.

He also was very helpful with local information about repair facilities and supplies.

Another option for non-EU cruisers is to be part of the “Puddle Jumpers” rally group, because they were exempt from the paying the bond. We recommend cruisers heading for French Polynesia from the Panama or US area look up the Puddle Jumpers website and see if there is a rally and put their name down before a set date. We were really sorry we had not heard about the mostly US group of Puddle Jumpers and the rally until too late. Other non-Puddle Jumper cruisers who cleared into Nuka Hiva delayed paying the bond until Tahiti because of the bank difficulties.

Shopping

We had been warned to take water along to the local small supermarkets when we went shopping to cool down the credit card, and the prices were breathtaking, mostly 2-4 times that in Australia. This was partly due to the poor exchange rate while we were there but also the high tax on imported goods. The delicious French stick bread, tinned NZ butter and long-life milk were, however, a normal price, as were potatoes and rice but all other groceries, fresh vegetables and fruit were expensive. We all were very pleased we had stocked up in Panama and did not need much. The fruit trees were laden but frustratingly not much fruit for sale in the shops. We approached a local to buy the large yellow grapefruit that were falling from his trees and lying around on the ground and he sold them to us for $3 each. Large orange mangoes hung high in the trees until the birds picked holes in them, and they often crashed to the road to be squashed by the cars before we could grab them.

Hiva Oa Island

Our first harbour in the Marquesas was on the south side of Hiva Oa Island. This bay, near the town of Atuona, has a half breakwater that only partially lessens the active SE ocean swell. The anchorage is tight and a stern anchor is necessary to keep the yacht’s bow into the swell and from hitting the other yachts crowded in there. The dinghy landing on the small concrete dock can be a challenge but the bench to do laundry and shower with free water was great, especially after the hot 90-minute round trip walk to town over the hill. In town there was internet at the post office, the Paul Gauguin Museum and Art Gallery as well as a variety of small supermarkets, an ATM and bank and the Gendarmerie, where you needed to go to clear in. The fuel station in the dock area, where you could get diesel and petrol also sold bread, internet connection cards (at a very expensive rate) for the wifi connection that was possible, intermittently, on board in the anchorage.

We were all enjoying our fist landfall after the long passage: shops, fresh bread, ice-creams and lots of gatherings ashore to swap tales of the passage experience and next planned destinations. All of us had to clean the “moss” from our topsides and scrape off the goose-neck barnacles from our hulls after the long passage. Some had repairs and because there is very little in the way of yacht repair facilities here most managed to get the jobs done themselves or with the help of fellow yachties.

The view from the yacht of steep cliffs and razor-back ridges covered in lush jungle that surround the bay, is spectacular. The local population is made up of friendly Polynesians, some French ex-pats and a few Chinese, who seem to run the shops. Our inability to speak French made our contact with the locals unfortunately shallow. The cost of transport from overseas to this relatively isolated group of islands is high, so tourism here is low key.

Tahuata Island

The VHF was running hot with stories about an anchorage just five miles away on the north of the small island of Tahuata where the swell was less and there was a sandy beach and more room to anchor, so some yachts headed over there to relax, swim and enjoy the clear warm water. Each day the mantarays came into the bay and it was possible to swim among them. There were other possible anchorages every few miles down the west coast of this very stunning high island, and we hoped the U-shaped bay near the small village of Vaitahu would be calm but the swell managed to find its way even into this deep western bay. However, the holding was good and we enjoyed the company of Migration, a US yacht that had sailed from Tahiti after being hauled out on Raiatea Island for the cyclone season. We were given wonderful information about the islands and atolls from Bruce and Ailene between there and Tahiti. It was one of the few yachts we had met that had come “against the trades” to get to the Marquesas.

There were more islands to explore, so after a brief stop to get our fuel voucher from the agent and top with diesel in Atuona, we headed north. For an overnight stop we anchored in a bay on the west coast of Hiva Oa, Manmenu Bay, and this double bay with a few weekend visiting locals managed to have one black sand beach and one white, as well as a pretty freshwater rock pool and a pleasant walk up into the valley.

Oa Poa Island

Rumors were that the island Oa Poa was as beautiful as Bora Bora, and we would have to agree. As we approached this small jungle-clad island the tall rock spires that rose above the steep mountains disappeared into the clouds that hung over the island. The harbour at Hakahau on the north coast did not seem too promising on the charts because of the easterly swell, but we were pleasantly surprised to find a reasonably peaceful anchorage behind the half breakwater and concrete dock. The town had a post office, internet, bakery and small stores and was nestled in the fertile valley that stretched out beyond the bay. We did find the Gendarmerie opened on Sunday, which was a surprise, so we completed our check-in easily, which we were expected to do at each island we visited. It was easy to obtain fruit here from the locals, and we enjoyed meeting two of the local characters who spoke English. Keith is a Queenslander who married a local lady and now lives on this island, and loves a chat and his lovely wife was very generous with her neighbour’s pompolmus (giant sweet grapefruit) and mangos. She runs a dress shop in town. Also each day a chap called Xavier swims by the yachts and hangs around at the waterfront. He had taught English in Nuka Hiva for years, and we appreciate his efforts because it certainly made life easier for us. Although we speak hardly any French, we were able to get by.

We woke the one morning to see the five magnificent tall granite pillars and the steep green mountains against blue skies. The pillars are the solidified core of the volcano and have resisted the erosion of wind and rain to be left as bare rock, and we were reminded again of the violent volcanic activity that must have pushed lava up from the deep seas to form these remote rugged steep islands millions of years ago. We never tired of this spectacular view from the yacht.

Nuka Hiva Island

Many yachts which did the Pacific passage made Nuka Hiva their first port of call and this easily entered large bay with the town nearby made a good choice if one did not want to get back to Hiva Oa. There are a number of shops, vegetable stalls and a bakery that only the very early risers saw open and a good landing place for the dinghy. The anchorage had good holding, and we lay out a stern anchor to try and keep Honey Moon’s bow into the persistent swell that works into the bay. We went on an island tour with Jocelyn’s Tours and were shown the many interesting ancient historical sites and several high viewpoints to see the other bays on the north and east coast. The bays all were fringed with a small white surf break, which hinted at the swell working its way in, even though the bays were deep, but there were yachts anchored them.

Out favourite bay in Marquesas was Daniels Bay just five miles west of the main town on Nuka Hiva. This bay is the calmest we found and we had a relaxing week there. It was the site of one of the Survivor TV shows, but it didn’t look too tough to us. A wide freshwater creek ran through the village and at high tide you could take a dinghy into it, moor and scoop up fresh water for washing. To add to this there was a wonderful walk to a very high waterfall, through a lush jungle, passed ancient sacred sites and old village foundations to end at a refreshing rock pool for a swim.

Heading west

We had enjoyed wonderful three weeks in this remote string of beautiful emerald islands but the Tuamotu atolls lay ahead on our way to Tahiti, so we left for the 500nm passage to Makemo, our first Tuamoto atoll.

Facts & further info

Websites

www.latitude38.com — Puddle-Jumpers information

www.iaoranet.com — wifi internet provider in French Polynesia anchorages

www.polynesiayachtservices.com — agent in French Polynesia

Guides

Moon Handbook of the South Pacific by David Stanley

South Pacific Anchorages by Warwick Clay. publisher Imray, UK

Landfall in Paradise by Earl R Hinz and Jim Howard,

University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu

Ten main islands

* The Marquesas are made up of 10 main islands.

* Even in winter the weather and water are warm.

* They are 3000nm from the Galapagos Islands.

* Tahiti is 800nm to the WSW.

* The islands are high, green and steep-sided.

* Locals speak French and their own native language.

* Some people speak English.

* The currency is Polynesian francs.