Hakahay Bay (

We started the day with a warm welcome from the village people 

It included a necklace presented by the major of the island & the traditional kiss on both cheeks. There was a huge spead of fruits including star fruit, pamplemouse, guava, banana,dried bananas, bread fruit chips, & passion fruit. We were then taken on a walking tour of the town where visited the beach

And then as we proceeded all the local fruit was pointed out to us. We also saw many private gardens filled with flowers & fruits. We visited the local church where they left a strategic opening to allow you to ponder the glory during the service. 

The wood carving inside like in Hiva Oa was breath taking 

We visited an ancient sacred site & then went to the town centre where we were welcomed again

With a a necklace of palm frowns. We taught the importance of breadfruit to the Marquesian people and how a father plants a new breadfruit tree every time a new child is born. We were told how they are stored in the ground for years of drought or famine. They then taught us how to peel breadfruit using a tool made from a shell. We were told the many ways breadfruit can be prepared & were allowed to prepare it

We then sat down to a meal of breadfruit, curried goat, octopus and fruit. Following the meal we were driven to the beach where the flower rocks are found. These rocks have only been discovered in Ua Pou and in Brazil. 

On the way home we stopped at a village where they carve the flower rock. 

In the evening we enjoyed a BBQ with goat, rice & sausages. 

Ua Pou. Hakahau Bay

We departed Hiva Oa at 5 PM last night & just missed a big rain storm. We sailed all night & arrived in  Ua Pou. Hakahau Bay and dropped anchor about 11AM. 

 Ua Pou as we approached

There is a great beach here. We travelled over with S/V Heron Reach. There are 2 days of planned activities here with the final day ending with a pig roast where they will wrap the pig & everything in leaves & bury it in the ground to cook it. Shortly after I came to shore a big sip left

Maggie is the blue hulled sail boat on the left 

Party time

On April 7 one of the BPO boats Lovesail had a party for the rest of the odyssey. It was a great chance to sit & discuss our past crossing and plans for the future. A lot of the boats that went through the Panama Canal & went on to the Marqueses will now slow down as they were just part of the Pacific Odyssey which ends in the Marqueses. A lot of the boats that arrived prior to us had already moved on to see other islands in the Marqueses as we need to be in Papaetee Tahiti by May 4. 

Tour of Hiva Oa

On Monday we went on a tour of the island. Our first stop was the smiling Tiki. 

On our way we saw banana growing and the banana flower

Apparently when the missionaries came to the island they discouraged the Marquesian's from worshipping their gods so a lot of the Tikis & their sites were left & forgotten. Today the French in particular are attempting to find a lot of these lost sites. We had lots of photo stops along the way

Breathtaking views 

There are goats on these cliffs. The locals apparently shot the goats up here from the water & rush to get the goat before the Sharks get to it. The Sharks are said to be waiting

We also were able to pick guava and it was delicious. At the far end of the island we visited a very well preserved or restored Tiki site. 

Unfortunately here the heads were cut off the some of the Tikis as were some of the private parts by the missionaries. 

We had a great lunch of chicken with rice and bananas, poppia and pamplemouse. 

Unfortunately on the way home I was in the back of a truck for 1.5 hours bouncing down a very rough gravel/Rock road eating dust & breathing desiel 

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Pictures

At Jacques Berl's grave

Paul Gauguin's grave

During baptism service on Saturday night

Beautiful carving on the pulpit at the church

We visited a wood carver after the church service on Sunday. Here we are hamming it up 

In the Marqueses

We arrived on Good Friday at around 11AM local time. We set a stern anchor as that is what is recommended & all the other boats had one so it is required. We headed to shore with the dingy & Rob tossed out the stern anchor for the dingy after tying the line to the boat. For the 2nd time he forgot to tie the line to the chain on the anchor. He went & got his mask & went diving for the anchor but could not find it. We ended up using a rock. While in town everything was closed but we toured around to see what was there. There was a mass going on & the Marquesian singers were phenomenal.  We visited Paul Gaugain's grave in the cemetery. That night we headed out to supper & ended up joining some other BPO boats at a restaurant & had pizza. It was great to reconnect with everyone that was there. 

The next morning we knew that this would be the only time a lot of the places would be open until Tuesday. We visited the Paul Gaugain museum & saw the house he lived in as well as replica's of many of his paintings. We did some shopping & headed back to the boat. That afternoon I took a stab at cleaning all the green slime & barnacles off the boat. A big job. That evening we attended a baptism at the Catholic Church & once again the singing was incredible. The service was in Marquesian & the sermon & a few other parts were in French. On Sunday morning we attended church once again & in the afternoon we all caught up on our email as we had not had internet since March 10.  That evening we had 2 Norwegian young people from S/V Milla over & heard their fascinating stories of their trip so far. 

Spinnakers are such fun

We have had another slow day with the winds between 6 and 10 knots most of the day. It appears the winds have just picked up so perhaps the winds will increase and we will make some decent mileage today after all.
Things have been slow but busy on board with the changing of sails and preparing for shifts in the night.  The other night it was decided that we were making such good time with the spinnaker up that we would attempt to leave it up all night.  About 9 PM during my shift the wind came up and was over 20 knots so it was decided that the spinnaker needed to come down.  My job is to pull the sock over the spinnaker so there I am looking up and decided that the line connected to the blue line must be the correct one to bring down the sock. Pull as I might it wouldn't come down so Rob was headed forward to help.  I yelled try the other line and lo and behold the sock started to come down.  Back Rob went to control the line and down came the sock slick as a whistle.  I won't be making that mistake again.
We are getting very good at putting the spinnaker(Para=sailer) up and down but often we have a glitch putting it up as the sock or lines get caught in the bellow that go forward from the front of the sail.
We made 135 nautical miles in the last 24 hours at 11 AM in our new time zone.  We all had hoped that the number would have been higher.  Checking just now we have 361 nautical miles to our destination.