< Back to Overview << Prev | Next >>

5/22/2006 7:00:00 PM
Ua Pou
An island south of Nuku Hiva

The northern Marquesas Islands

Ua Pou was probably our favorite Marquesas Island

Hallo here are the Schmids again,

Well we have left the Marquesas over 3 weeks ago and have been spending our entire time so far at only one Atoll at the Tuaomotos - our own little paradise, but more about that in our next report. Before that we owe you the happenings of the northern islands in the Marquesas. Don't worry if the names of each of those anchorages sound confusing or the same, it's more for us later on and to recapture our route.

UA POU (5.3.-8.2006) We actually came to Ua Pou twice, first 5 days and than again 3 days on our return trip and crossing for the Tuatomos. But lets just go slow from here... In our last report we ended with our visit to Tahuata island, from there we went back to Hiva Oa just for one night at the north/western anchorage Hanamenu Bay. The mosquitos and noseeums unfortunately were so intense that we even got bitten badly during a quite short walk and dip in a beautiful little swimming hole (surrounded by palm trees and exotic flowers). Therefore we planned to leave the next day and did so with a very early departure at 3am, to arrive in the early afternoon in the next anchorage on Ua Oou, Hakahau Bay. Capaz and Ohana Kai had already arrived there a day earlier and since we had to put out a stern anchor we all were sort of parked next to each other - just like a parking lot. The five days we spent there we all enjoyed some relaxing time. Robert had to do some computer work, after school the boys spent a lot of time with the other kids and we could hardly get them out of the water. One afternoon we celebrated Zach's birthday which was a big treat for all the kids. One morning we took a short hike up the hill with a spectacular view over the anchorage and the next bay over. It is quite funny to see the boats from a different perspective - it makes great pictures!  During our stay there we also met two other Austrian boats - I guess there are some more "landlocked" pals that have found their way to the ocean. Susi and Georg (from Vienna!) on "Tortilla Flat" have been cruising for the last 10 years and are on their 2nd time around the world! They had started with their two daughters (then 12 and 15) and so far have not had enough of this lifestyle. The second boat "Baloo" with Gerhard and Elisabeth have left the Meds 2 years ago and the two boats met in South America, now traveling often with each other. As a matter of fact a week earlier they had heard us call on the VHF radio and were wondering "whether those Americans knew what - Lawur - means, or maybe it was an Austrian boat?" Needless to say that it was a fun gathering and we spent 2 evenings together also watching some Austrian comedy and laughing a lot together. They had left for the Tuamotos (3 weeks before us) and funny enough we met them again at our current anchorage. I have to say I never really thought that we would meet other Austrians but certainly not that quickly into our trip and at the first island group. Well I guess the saying "Vienna is a village" is correct and I wonder if we will find out that we know some of the same people back home.

NUKU HIVA (5.8.-20.2006) Ua Pou and the next anchcorage Taiohae Bay on Nuku Hiva Island were only 4 hours apart and thanks to a nice breeze we were finally able to sail most of the route again! For a long time we were accompanied by tons of dolphins, giving us a wonderful performance far and near the boat, those experiences are priceless and always a special treat.  Nuku Hiva is the main Island in the Marquesas and Taiohae the biggest town with about 2.400 people. There is a proper hospital, a nice hotel, a few restaurants and even a prison... The town itself carries along the long bay and we walked quite a few miles between the anchorage for the dinghy and the stores, bank, post, etc. A small cruising store even offered internet but the access was so slow and took forever that soon enough Robert gave up. We used the days there to also bring the ripped jib to the sail repair shop. We tried to get fresh baguette as often as possible and stocked up a bit on some items we had run out already. On Saturdays they offered a fresh market and if you were willing to get up early and be there at 4.30am! you were treated with fresh fruits and vegetables, wonderful croissants, quiche and Eclairs, fresh fish and many other little items.  One afternoon Robert and I enjoyed a nice outing together while Ryan (from Capaz) watched the boys. We had a great lunch at the Pearl Lodge Resort with a view over the bay, they even had a special room rate for cruisers... The manager had lived on a boat himself once and I guess he knew how much fun it is to spend a night in a "regular" bed, splurge on a long hot shower,... We almost were going to spend a night with the boys there but it somehow did not work out with the timing - oh well, we'll get a chance somewhere else. On Saturday after my first market outing together with Laura and Ross from "New Dawn" we all (Ross's parents on "Nereid" as well) took off to a beautiful bay on the north part of the island, only about 25 miles away - Anaho Bay (actually our favorite place in the Marquesas). During our motorsail we got accompanied by another kind of dolphin this time - electra dolphins, they look a bit like mini killer whales. They are not big jumpers but are very curious and come close to the boat to check you out with their big black eyes. Anaho Bay is tugged in a bit away from the ocean and therefore is really calm and comfortable with white beaches and blue waters. It also has the only coral reef in the Marquesas with a good access to the fish life. During our snorkeling trip we saw lots of colorful fish. Ohana Kai an Capaz had arrived a few days before and we also so Sarabi, the big catamaran, again. On Mothers Day we all went off to a 2 hour hike over the hill to the next anchorage (Hatiheu Bay). We again enjoyed a marvelous view of the bay and the somewhat muddy walk was rewarded by visiting a big archaeological site. We were lucky to come across the owner of the grocery store who was kind enough to drive us to the site in his small van and even though it was Sunday they later on opened their store for us and served us fresh pampelmousse and bananas.  Anaho Bay itself has no town and therefore is very quiet. There are a few little houses with a small population but there is now street leading to it and it is only accessible by horse or foot. Sometimes it is hard to imagine how people live there. The bigger towns are generally quite modern and you can get almost anything you want (not in a big variety though). On the other hand the small places out of the towns seem very remote and far away from it all. We certainly enjoyed the serenity and the kids were constantly swimming, snorkeling or using their own little row boat. We wish we would have known about this place earlier and had a chance to stay longer.  Back in Taiohae Bay for 3 days we did some more shopping, errands like checking out with the harbor master from the Marqeusas, bank and post office drop offs and one important one - Robert's tattoo wish. Yep, he is "marked" for life... tattoos have a very special meaning in French Polynesia and even more so in the Marquesas (history says this is where it started). They even have a saying that a woman is not a real woman if she doesn't have a tattoo... So therefore the boys and I got "dotted" - Sebastian and I on our ankle and Benjamin on his upper arm. For Robert's you have to be a bit patient and wait for pictures since it is too complicated to explain, but let's just say it is a bit bigger than a dot... it took 5 1/2 hours! It really turned out nice and he is very happy and proud of it. Being in Taiohae Bay another Saturday I took off to the market at the crack of dawn again and afterwards we took off, first to Daniels Bay (only 5 miles) for lunch and to say we were there, since that is the bay were the TV-show Survivor was filmed. Some of you might remember that is was aired just as we were starting with our plans for this adventure, hence that being the reason why it is called Project Marquesas. We did not have enough time to stay for the night, but we also heard that the noseeums were rather a pest so we really did not mind - being there was enough, specially since there is nothing one can see as a left over from the show.

UA POU (5.20.-23.2006) Yep, we came back to Ua Pou but this time we went to the anchorage on the otherside of the island to Hakahetau Bay, together with our friends on New Dawn and Nereid. On Sunday we had planned to take a short stroll through the little village and Laura came with us. Having passed most of the houses we came to a junction with another road that said "Manfred - Cascades", well that sounded interesting enough to explore and we did, since Manfred sounded very German and we wanted to know more about that... After a while the boys and Laura decided to turn around since they had not have the right walking gear and Laura had made arrangements to meet up with Ross in town. So Robert and I proceeded on by ourselves and shortly after got rewarded for it. The cascades was a beautiful waterfall with a nice size swimming hole - picturesque! After a quick swim and admiration of the beautiful landscape we also wanted to know who Manfred is and went on along the dirt road (it reminded us a lot on Tinkers Trail in Boulder Creek, except that there were Redwoods instead of Palm Trees...) It took us another 20 minutes up the hill until we finally came to "Manfredville", a German guy who has been living there for 10 years, being married to a Marquesen woman named Teresa. They have built themselves a little paradise in the middle of palm trees, orchards of pampelmousse, lemons and avocados. In between there are tons of chickens, ducks, cats and a dog. Manfred was in town at that time but with a bit of English, French and even German we made arrangements with Teresa to maybe come back the next day. We told Ross and Laura about it and sure enough he came to pick us all up at 7am at the dock. After a short ride (the walk was a lot longer!) on the bumpy road he gave us a cooking class of some of his recipes (cookie dough without eggs, lemon syrup, bread and homemade chocolate), we even got to taste them! After a good snack and full of energy we started our 2 hour hike. Ua Pou is famous for its gigantic spires which rise up almost 300 feet high. They are located smack in the middle of the island and there are no marked trails going to them. Thanks to Manfred and his groomed trail we were able to get up to them and it was quite impressive to stand in front of them and have a view over the island down to the ocean. On our way back we got some more snack from Teresa and bags of pampelmouse, lemons, coconuts and starfruit. We had originally planned to leave for the the Tuamotos that day but were happy to have had the experience to meet these two interesting people and explore the island from another angle. On our walk down we once more stopped at the waterfall and I was happy that the boys got to see it too and jump into the wonderful water. Our last bay and night in the Marquesas we spent in Hakamaii Bay, in the hopes to have less swell... thanks to the stern anchor we did but we were glad to leave the next day because it was quite small and the landing for the dinghy was almost impossible since there was no dock and only a rocky beach. Ross, Laura, Ray, the boys and I were eager to go though and swam to land, our last walk on Marquesan soil. Hakamaii is an idyllic little village with about 200 people, as almost anywhere the Catholic Church was in the center of it all with a view over the bay (the Protestant Church usually is further in and 1/3 of the size. There also was a beautiful little school (in process), a small town hall/post office. Robert could not go swimming yet with his tattoo (for 10 days!) and got everything ready for our crossing in the meanwhile. Just before we wanted to leave we got visited by three young men in their own built outrigger canoe, bringing us some bags of fruits. We soon found out that they actually wanted to trade them but none of the things we had pleased them (they really wanted a harpoon...), it spoiled our farewell from the Marquesas a bit but at the end we settled on some fishing gear and they seemed happy enough.

So now we have moved further to the South West and have been here for the last 3 weeks. We plan to be here for maybe 1 more week and then go on to the Society Islands (Tahiti, Bora-Bora, Moorea,...).  We certainly hope to hear from some of you what's going on in your life - and please even though it might sound like we are on a endless vacation keep in mind that we have a somewhat "regular life". There is always something to do on the boat for Robert, errands on land take quite a while and doing a bucket of laundry get be easy a 2 hour job. A big junk of the day the kids and I do school before we all can enjoy a snorkel or swim. No doubt, the experience and happenings of the land and people are incredible, I just waned to let you know that we aren't just basting in the sun not doing anything... it almost seems we are not doing enough of that.  We certainly hope you are all well and are looking forward to your replies.

Until soon - enjoy the summer beginning  Big hugs from Niki, Robert, Sebastian and Benjamin (a lick from Matey)

TheSchmids Family Sailing on Lawur --------------------------------------------------------------------------- !!! PLEASE DON'T INCLUDE ORIGINAL WHEN REPLYING TO REDUCE DOWNLOAD TIME !!!

---------- LIST MANAGEMENT ---------- DIGEST - To get a digest version of our postings on a bi-weekly basis, send an email to STServ@TheSchmids.org with the following text in the message body:

Set mode digest EnglishLogbook

UNSUBSCRIBE - Send an email to STServ@TheSchmids.org with the following text in the message body:

Unsubscribe EnglishLogbook

< Back to Overview << Prev | Next >>