Taiohae, Nuku Hiva, Marquesas

So we take out our “post pacific passage” to do list and start with a series of more or less small repairs.

First thing Reto needs to go up into the mast to check what happened to the broken wifi antenna of which luckily after one week in the pacific we had found the loose part down in the net between the two swimmers. We realize that only the cables were broken, the rest must have gotten loose even though he thoroughly checked it just before leaving Panama.

Next thing is the provisory repair of the genua with the help of the good old Bernina sewing machine.
The largest bit of work is the improvement of the bathing ladder platform.

Since once again the screws became loose Reto now makes 4 square holes, fills them up with a sponge and epoxi and afterwards a nice layer of gelcoat.

Afterwards it looks better than new and now for sure there is no more water dripping inside…

At the same time we do several small hikes in the surroundings of Taiohae.

First thing we visit the cultural site of Kouevi about 45 min above Taiohae. After some pictures we flee again thanks to a large number of mosquitoes.

Together with Ellen and Martin we hike to one bay to the west.

Passing the college we realize that it must be a special day.  We find out that it is “marquesian day” and all the students learn about their culture and customs today, rather than maths or french…

We admire the art of tattooing,

the art of making wood sculptures,

the way of making baskets and plates from cocopalm leaves,

the procedure of getting out the tapa cloth from a piece of a branch,

and of course the procedure of making coconut milk which we already have seen at Fatu Hiva, but which once again is impressive (and still a bit more efficient than what Reto does on She San in the meantime…).

Of course when we continue our hike, the sun is almost at its highest and we sweat quite a lot on the way up the west side of the bay. We continue down to a onesome beach where we have picknick in the company of some curious horses that don’t even eat carrots I have to learn.

On our way back we get held up by two curious but very cute puppies that would like to follow us if it was up to them. We instead head for the terasse of the hotel to get some refreshing lemonade and Hinanos, what a treat!

Then on Sunday morning we arrive at 5 to 8 am at the local church called Notre Dame des Marquises.

It has been rebuild in 1975 completely out of stone and wood, The numerous wooden sculptures made by local artists are very nice and have features of local people.

We are happy to get a place to sit, because it really is fully packed with people…

At punctually 8 am the mass starts and of course the first thing is singing.

We are absolutely amazed by the way the marquesians sing.

It seems to be naturally for them to meet the different tones and even to sing in canons without having anyone apperantly coordinating who does what…

After 1.5 hours we absolutely do not regret to have joined. It really was an event for us.

In the afternoon Franzi and Pesche visit us with their drone and we get the first closer experience of this “toy for big boys” as Reto says. Some awesome pictures and movies, only sad that the sun is gone already.

Biketour from Taiohae

Then on Monday morning we finally get out our mountain bikes. It is the first time since more than half a year in Santa Marta, Columbia.

Apart from some flat tires they are fine and we leave early in the morning to head upwards. Luckily we also have a bit of drizzling rain, just enough to cool us down the first few hunderts of meters.

After 850 meters of height we stand at the antenna that is overlooking the bay. Great views and we are happy to have been able to come up here after such a long pause…

Tatoo from Moana

The following morning we actually had planned to leave, but due to a chat with his sons Reto got challenged to also get a compass tatoo on his arm… We visit again Moana, whose work we have admired already and take the next open appointment he has for Thursday morning.