We had agreed to meet Gerald and Dianne ashore at 9 O’Clock. We had arrived a little early and were hanging around a map of the area. There were two waterfalls shown on the map. I asked a local sitting in his car, using my pigeon French, which of the falls was best. I was having trouble understanding his responses until he switched to English which was a whole lot easier to understand. He explained that the map was made by the tourism office in Tahiti and was not accurate and there really was only one waterfall to go and see.
I ended up asking him if he was Etienne who I knew to be someone who offered dinners at his home and knew a lot about the local area. Turned out he was. I asked about eating with them that evening and he was free. When Dianne and Gerald arrived we asked if they were interested too and they were so we had a booking for five. We’d seen Sea Mist arrive in the anchorage and figured if we met them around town we’d invite them too. Etienne said this would be ok too.
So we walked off towards the one waterfall. On the way we passed the beginning of a reconstruction/repair of a traditional village just behind the main village. It was interesting albeit far from finished/complete. The location was stunning so we took a few pictures before moving on. The hike to the waterfall was not too arduous. Our efforts were rewarded with a perfect waterfall and pool set amongst the rocks and jungle. We swam in the pool for a short while – not too long as it was quite cool. We dried off on the rocks before returning the way we came.
On the way we bumped into Dominique and Milou from Catafjord. We invited them along to dinner in the evening and they were glad to join. We gave them directions to the falls and parted company. All the way back we were scanning for fruit trees away from private property. We found some lemons but not a lot else.
Back in the town there was a great big tree in what looked like common land. We were looking up at the huge but unreachable mangoes and examining the squished ones that had fallen when a local women said we could use their stick with a net on the end to help ourselves to mangoes. We managed to collect quite a few mangoes which were delicious. To get at some of the bigger ones I climbed the tree in my bare feet and had the mango net passed up.
We didn’t get to see Sea Mist as it turned out they had decided to move on. I later learned they wanted somewhere less rolly for the night and following day as it was Cheryll’s birthday the following day. Understandable. So far, our contact with Sea Mist has always been by radio – first time in The Saintes off Guadaloupe. Soon we must meet.
Back on the boat I learned our water maker part had in fact arrived in Tahiti and was already with the local freight company to arrive in Nuku Hiva today (Monday) at 11:30am. Quick work. We are not going to get there until tomorrow as we have other plans for today. Helen and I have been discussing getting a Marquesan tattoo for some time. Ordinarily I am dead against tattoos but a Marquesan tattoo performed by a native Marquesan in the Marquesas would be somewhat special. A lot of sailors do it so it’s not uncommon. It’s kind of a mark of ones crossing the Pacific. We have that lined up here on this island today. Helen is still in two minds about it but we’ll see. We don’t want to leave it to Nuku Hiva as it is the largest island, has a little more tourism and hence will be more expensive.
We were back ashore by 5pm and met up with the others. Etienne soon showed up. He only had room for 4 in his vehicle and couldn’t use the back of his truck as if spotted by the gendarmes could be subject to a fine. I opted to walk with the Catafjords for a while while the rest were dropped off. Etienne returned and picked us up. We ate out in his garden which was in an idyllic location looking out over the bay. They had around 32 cats which seemed to get on ok with the chickens also living there. The meal itself was not as good as the one we had in Fatu Hiva but it’s more about the setting and the company. Etienne was a great host. We learned he was once major of the town. He also gave us a one man rendition of the Marquesan pig dance complete with sound effects. It’s a dance about a male pig coming home and making love to his sow. You can fill the rest in with your imagination.
As it was dark we were all able to ride in his pickup down to the dock where we headed back to our boats for an early nights sleep.