Catching our breath in the Marquesas

Approaching the beautiful island of Ua Pou, Hakahetau Bay

Leaving Hiva Oa, we first headed to the island of Nuku Hiva after an overnight sail between the islands. It was mostly uneventful, calm and a steady breeze. Our only issue is that at this point was our freezer deciding to join our refrigerator -- and stop working. We had defrosted multiple times but still it seemed to be having issues, and then it went dark. So we were very thankful to meet our crew, Deb & Gregg who had arrived in Nuku Hiva earlier, loaded with bulging bags of parts for us. Every time crew comes it feels like Christmas!

The chandlery in Nuku Hiva, well stocked and a short walk from the Dingy dock

Our list of things to fix before heading out again was fairly long. Four of our halyards needed replacing, our watermaker leak fixed and our refrigerator AND freezer needed to be repaired. Dan tackled the refrigerator/freezer first. We discovered that in the last few months, due to such humidity, rain, sloshing around the compressors of our refrigerator had totally corroded and the freezer one partially. Dan installed the new one that our crew brought, and because the fridge and freezer failed for different reasons he was able to do some McGyver work to turn the two broken ones into one working unit. What a relief to have the refrigerator and freezer working again! Then Dan went to work on splicing halyards and finally, last night he tackled the watermaker. All systems are once again go!

Corrosion of some weird crazy kind on the bottom of the refrigerator compressor

The WorldARC hosted several events on Nuku Hiva including a showcase of local tradesmen/women and a traditional pig roast dinner with Marquesan dancing at the rendezvous. We said goodbye to our friends, pulled up our anchor and headed to the island of Ua Poa (only 22NM away). As we've shared plans with the other ARC members we will likely meet up with them as we cruise to Bora Bora over the coming weeks.

Learning how the Marquesan families traditionally prepare breadfruit

Highlight of the week -- all the WorldARC men learning to dance the Haka

The village we are currently anchored in front of has 200 or so inhabitants. Each home has lovely lush gardens with fruit trees everywhere. We hiked up the road about 1.5 miles to a beautiful waterfall and pool, then continued up the road further to the 'choco mann' as the sign read.

Dan enjoying the refreshing waterfall on Ua Pou, we all got in -- but left the cameras on the shore!

The Chocolate man, is a ex pat German that came to French Polynesia 40 years ago. He told us he ran a spa in German, but it caught fire and he moved the very next week to French Polynesia to start over. I'm sure there is more to the story, or perhaps something lost in translation? But he enjoyed telling us he had massaged thousands of women....quite a character. He and his Marquesan wife live off the grid in a beautiful valley--and produce chocolate bars that he sells for $6 each. When we arrived we were thoroughly soaked both from swimming in the pool under the waterfall, but also from walking for an hour in torrential rain. So, it was nice to spend 30 minutes chatting with them and letting the wrinkles dissipate from our fingers and toes. We purchased some chocolate and headed back to town. In town it was very quiet -- except for the church -- which we realized was holding their Good Friday service.

Uo Pou mountains - "the pillars"

Tomorrow we leave the remote & spectacular green islands of the Marquesas in our wake and head to the Tuomotos Archipelago. We are planning for a 4 day sail. More on that next week! Onward.