We’ve spent the last three nights and days offshore on the 500 mile passage from the Tuamotus to the Marquesas. We had absolutely no cooperation from the wind so were forced to motor the entire way and came close to using up all our diesel. However we are now anchored in a charming little horseshoe shaped bay, rocky reef on the outside edges and a beautiful sand beach with gentle surf at the center, lined with coconut palms and backdropped by mildly rugged mountainous terrain. There are five other sailboats anchored here in the bay with us – one U.S. flagged, two Canadian, one French and we haven’t figured out the fifth boat…maybe Swiss. Tomorrow morning we’ll head over to the neighboring island, Hiva Oa, and refuel at the service dock there.
Sorry to be slack with the emails for a few days but somehow with the boat lurching into the waves on the passage it just wasn’t conducive to typing and composition.
Talk about a small world – the skipper of the American boat, Ruby Slippers, came over in his dinghy to introduce himself as Jim Rard from the Seattle area – well acquainted with Raven and Jan and Signe, Raven’s previous owners. He owns a boat service yard (Marine Servicenter) up there and has done plenty of work on Raven when she lived in the part of the world. He inquired into the health of our Panda generator (don’t ask), the bow fitting for the spinnaker pole, and some other items that his yard had installed on Raven.
Before leaving for the Marquesas we had a couple of very full days in Ahe. Not long after our arrival, as we anchored near the small main town, boats starting coming by to check out the new visitors – teenage boys in outrigger (fiberglass) canoes and kayaks, and a launch from a nearby pearl farm. The teenagers suggested a trade – pearls for whiskey! – but we declined. The launch turned out to contain an old friend of Paola’s from her pearl farm days. He (Pierre) was quite startled to recognize her, but immediately issued an invitation for a personalized tour of their very small pearl farm operation.
Our morning tour included a taste of raw oyster muscle (served on its own half shell with a squeeze of lemon) and a close-up view of two Tahitian technicians; one implanting nuclei into the oysters to seed the pearl growing process, and the other harvesting mature pearls. In its production lifetime an oyster can produce three to four pearls, each one larger than the previous, requiring 12-18 months to grow each pearl. Apparently 18 month pearls are biggest and best, but harvesting at 12 months often improves the cash flow even though the pearls are smaller.
Paola also phoned up the Motu Kamoka pearl farm, where seven years ago she lived and worked for four months, and we received an invitation from them as well for an afternoon tour.
Between pearl farm tours we dinghied into town to watch the ceremonies as the former president of French Polynesia arrived that morning to make an election campaign speech. The entire town (very small) turned out for the festivities, and Paola and I hung out on the fringes taking photos of the many kids who were climbing trees, hanging out of windows, and eventually wound up clinging to Paola, instant friends.
Paola’s friends at the Motu Kamoka pearl farm pulled out all stops by way of hospitality. We anchored Raven within swimming distance of their beach and work area and were given a complete tour of the pearl farm, including a ride out on their launch from which free divers dove down 15 meters carrying along cages containing the newly seeded oysters, to be tied off on underwater lines.
We also joined in on their Friday night barbeque, which included homemade pizza for appetizers, chicken kebobs (which we provided), grilled fish caught that day by spearfishing, and coconut crab.
By the time we sailed away Saturday evening, it was like parting with dear old friends…hugs and kisses (French style – one each cheek) and much waving goodbye. Paola was especially crushed to leave them behind – everyone was so sweet and warm and hospitable, it was easy to see how she still thought of them as family, even though so many years had passed by.
A lot of the photos I took, both of the kids in town and also at the pearl farm, turned out well and I wanted to share them plus get model releases for my photo class, so we printed them out and made a special trip into town to try to locate some of the kids. This was easier than expected, for as soon as we located one boy (my favorite photo), he immediately looked at all the others, saying “this is my brother, this is my other brother – this is my niece, this is my niece’s sister” so that with only a few visits to a couple of houses we had distributed most of the photos and collected a fistful of releases.
The Kamoka group also enjoyed their photos – and as we had handed out Raven T-shirts to all of them, they posed for a group shot in their new shirts at the end of their dock with Raven visible in the background. They also have a collection of yearbook-type sentiments written inside the cupboard doors by other passing visitors, and Paola added one of her own – however it was elaborate enough that the farm manager asked her if she needed another door!