Marquesan Tattoos

Tattoos have been popular all over Polynesia for ages, but in the Marquesas it was at its most refined. Men were, unlike on other islands, often tattooed entirely, including the skull, which was kept shaved, or on more sensitive parts such as the eyelids or tongue. Even now, we frequently meet a local guy ashore in Taiohae (Nuku Hiva), who has his head covered with tattoos. The most frequently chosen body parts were the earlobes and the space behind the ears, the lower back, legs and arms. Something we still notice around us. There are more than 400 diverse and ancient designs and the main source of inspiration is the tiki, representing both divinity and the original human. In the Marquesan language tattooing is patu’I te tiki, literally “hitting the tiki”.

The mythological meaning of tattoo is one of astatic value and sexual attractiveness, but it is not the only one. Beyond the decorative aspect, tattooing spoke of the passage from childhood to adulthood. In the Marquesas Islands it was also a mark of identification, of belonging to a group and a protective barrier against evil influences. Now, Marquesans – after being banned of living according to their culture for a long time thanks to the missionaries (until 1975!) – get a tattoo to be handsome, to help the rebirth of an old custom and to prove their courage.

Marquesan tattoos are intricate, beautiful and unique. Not two are the same and each one has a personal preference and story. It is safe to say that almost every adult in the islands has at least one tattoo and the craft is performed well. Many tattooists are often off island, working in Tahiti, on other islands or in Europe, and are well-regarded internationally. Because of its Marquesan roots, their originality and their appeal, many cruisers also get a tattoo while visiting the islands.

 

 

The Scoop in Taiohae

Mark and I have been in “the capital” (of the Marquesas) for almost two weeks now and most of that time has been spent online. Stuff on the internet to-do-lists accumulates over the months and slowly but surely we are ticking some items off, like health insurance and boat insurance dealings, sending full size pictures and articles for writing assignments, making the layout of the previous blog posts a bit better :-), research for boat and other  reasons, necessary behind the scenes work for the Wirie, and so on. Trying to shake off that zombie feeling you get from sitting hours behind the computer, we went ashore frequently to take care of some doctor, pharmacy, hardware store and supermarket visits. The town of Taiohae is very spread out, so it takes a while to walk to some of the shops, but the locals are very friendly, offering rides when they see a protruding thumb along the side of the road.

The hardware store was a bit of a disappointment and the bank machine only gave out bills of 10.000 francs ($110) – which they refused to change in the adjacent bank for smaller bills without the receipt (which Mark never asks for since it is a waste of paper) - but other than that, you can find quite a bit here, non-cruising related. For necessary boat parts, hiking shoes and Tevas, we will have to wait another six months until we reach Tahiti. Maybe… There is a cool church, and some tiki sites, and a walk along the big bay is pleasant, but hot. The anchorage is on the bottom of a collapsed volcano, so the surrounding “wall” (= jagged hills) is quite picturesque.

The rumors of sharks are true. Apparently, the bay is “filled with hammerhead sharks”, which we have not seen yet. But, presence of the grey shark is a fact. Every time the fishermen get back to the dock and clean their catch, they toss the unwanted fish parts over the side, into the bay, where tons of hungry six foot sharks, violently snatch them up. Once, Mark and I just arrived ashore in our dinghy when that happened. The trashing of the grey beasts created waves in the water and the splashing with their tails got us soaking wet! We try to take quick showers and avoid the seawater when we are bleeding. We did dare to be in for an hour or so on a clearer day, because Irie’s bottom really needed scraping and cleaning. Since the sharks get fed daily, they shouldn’t be hungry outside of their meal times, right?

Just like in the good old Caribbean days, we do take it easier on the weekends and try to have some fun. Last weekend, the guys – and girls – from SV Iona joined us for a walk to the “Sentinels”. It was good exercise to climb the well-kept and nice trail up a hill and the view was worthwhile. On the way back, we saw the cemetery lit with candles and filled with singing voices. The celebration of the dead had just finished by the time we arrived down there.

Every evening during the week, a local group is practicing their singing, drumming and dancing skills for the festival coming up in mid-December. It promises to be a fun and spectacular cultural event. We still hope to make it back to Ua Huka for that. There are a few restaurants around, but so far, we have only tried the yummy and relatively affordable food at “the snack” closest to the dock. A decent plate of poisson cru (raw fish cooked in lemon juice with some veggies) with rice and avocado costs about $5.50. A visit to the fancy restaurant is still on the agenda!

City hall in Taiohae

Beach right off town, close to the shark feeding "platform"

Tiki site - site of one of the first Marquesas Art Festivals

What do we have here... a big grey shark!

 
 You don't want to go swimming here!!!

 
View of the Sentinells, with Ua Pou in the distance
 

Peace in Nuku Hiva's Biggest Bay

Irie is peacefully anchored by herself, again, in Anse Hakahaa, the middle and deepest finger of the large Baie du Controleur in southern Nuku Hiva. We are surrounded by green hills and flat water, once in a while disturbed by a manta ray doing a back flip. This happens so quickly that usually all we notice is a big splash in the water. Unlike the dolphins, they only do this once and you never know where another one will follow suit. The only other sounds are of birds, goats or roosters. Yes, it is nice and quiet here.

Peaceful bay of Hakahaa in Baie du Controleur

Life aboard a flat boat!

At the head of the bay is a black beach, where we can land the dinghy, but it is “easier” (= closer) to visit the little town of Taipivai by driving up the river and tying to its concrete dock. To accomplish this feat, one has to wait until it is about high tide, ride the half breaking waves into a short stretch of river bordered by big boulders, get spit out into a brown lagoon without hitting the rock at the mouth, make it to the other side avoiding tree trunks or other debris, follow another stretch of shallow, mucky  river dodging scattered rocks, duck under a black hose carrying water across the river, dock the dinghy, and – important - make sure to be back in time as to not be trapped “inside” for eight hours. It is an adventurous trip, especially with the usual current at the narrow entrance of the river. Heading back into the bay and the incoming waves is always exciting!

Leaving the river and heading back into the bay

Looking back towards land. Where is the river mouth?

During the day, we count on the three hours around high tide, to go for walks. There is a farm close by, Taipivai has grocery stores and an interesting site – where the big Arts Festival of 2011 took place - with relics from the past and tiki reproductions. Every four years, the Marquesan Arts Festival draws thousands of visitors, performers (dancers and drummers), and artisans from all over the region and the world. The next edition (in 2015) will be held in Hiva Oa, but this year – and also every four years in between the real deal – a mini-festival is organized in Ua Huka. Mark and I hope to sail back there for this cultural event in mid-December.

Farm near Taipivai – It has been a long time since we saw one of these!

Reconstructed tiki on the old Arts Festival site

There are unexplored (by us) waterfalls in the area, destinations on our future agenda, when Marks elbow has been healed. We did manage to hike a muddy trail up to the Tiki Paeke archeological site yesterday and to the – even quieter – neighboring bay of Hooumi today. And, no, we don’t really know how to pronounce all these local multi-voweled names correctly, but you will have to get used to them just like us. :-)

Paeke archeological site, with two levels of paepaes (platforms)

Decent size stone tiki in Paeke, near Taipivai

The nights are also quite spectacular, especially when the moon is absent. Above us, we see a super bright Venus and millions of twinkling stars, while underneath us all life becomes lit up and visible. The water in the bay is full of organisms and looks totally unattractive and too dirty for a swim or to cool off during these hot and humid days, but at night it provides us with a lovely form of entertainment – better than TV, or in our case movies on the laptop: our own private light show. Because of the massive amounts of phosphorescence in the water, every movement turns into a shiny, glittery performance. We create shooting stars and fireworks with our own hands, or we watch the fish chase each other like comets and greeting each other with bursts of light.

Cute church of tiny Hooumi

Pretty valleys with pretty rivers (Hooumi)

If the sea would be cleaner, we could stay here longer. And, we will come back here the coming months of our Nuku Hiva stay. There is fresh water onshore for a daily shower, as long as we can deal with the overpowering presence of mosquitoes and nonos (small biting flies). But first, the big city of Taiohae calls. We are basically out of food and need to – urgently – do some research and other things online, so we’ll be off to civilization soon.

Shower time, but hurry, before you are eaten alive by the nasty bugs!

Rolling, Rowing and Rambling in Ua Huka

Not many sailboats visit the smallish island of Ua Huka in the Marquesas. The only anchorages are on the south coast and reputed to be uncomfortable, in turn making landings difficult as well. Marks’s first comment “These bays should not be called anchorages!” sums up our time onboard. Even though we planned to be there in pretty calm conditions (NE winds 10-15 knots, swell under 2m), the wind was very gusty and fluky, turning Irie around and around and having her sit on a lee shore regularly, when the wind followed the land and, accelerated, came into the bay from the south. The swell still managed to enter as well, so we rolled and jerked the whole stay. The constant flow of seawater onto our bottom steps turned them green, just like Irie’s water line and bottom! Our recommendation to visit Ua Huka by boat is to wait for a forecast with winds less than 10 knots from the northeast and a swell of less than 1.5m – it will be as calm and comfortable as it ever gets, but you have to get there first…

Rowing to shore and parking the dinghy in Hane Bay

 

Luckily, once onshore, it is comfortable and there is plenty to see and do. But first, with no dock or big sandy beach to land, there is some exercise to be had. Every morning, we dropped our engineless inflatable dinghy and clumsily rowed the half a mile to shore, which took about 20 minutes. Then, we had to haul the awkward thing over some rocks and above the high tide line to a level “parking spot”, where we left it, unlocked, and set out for half a day or a day. The islands of French Polynesia are very safe and the people – especially in the Marquesas – are extremely friendly. They all greet you; some of them shake your hand, introduce themselves or have a chat. Others invite you over to their house or give you a stack of bananas. The result of that is that we have about 100 bananas, all turning ripe as we speak!

Students carving tikis out of rosewood

 

On our first encounter in the small village of Hane, we met the principal of the local vocational school. He gave us a tour of the buildings and the garden, introduced us to teachers and pupils and encouraged us to chat, in English, with some of the students. After checking out the little store (no baguettes – they had been out of flour for three weeks) and church, and waiting for an hour long rainstorm to pass, we headed for Vaipaee, the biggest village on the island with about 200 people. This town lies only 2 miles away over the water, but, by winding road it is about 10 miles. We started the walk through the barren, but fascinating landscape, enjoying the views and the good, paved street. It was cloudy, so not too hot and the road was leveled against the rocky cliffs, so not too steep. This is my kind of walking!

South coast of Ua Huka towards Vaipaee

 

About halfway, near the airport and the nicely erected structures at the site of the upcoming December festival, we hitched a ride with one of the few cars, hoping to avoid the next rainsquall. A friendly lady picked us up and gave us a tour through the village, before we got out to inspect the narrow, canyon-like bay of Vaipaee. We both agreed that Hane is the better place to anchor. The small town boasts an interesting museum – called “the best of the Marquesas” in a few guidebooks, a nice church with all its statues and scenes depicting facets of the bible carved out of wood, and a few stores. We easily hitched a ride back to Hane in the afternoon.

Church entrance in Vaipaee

Vaipaee museum

 

The following day, we walked the coastal road to Hokatu, passing a viewpoint and some wild goats and horses. These animals outnumber the local people by 10:1. Once in the beautifully located town, we braved the heat and the humidity, to hike up a few hills to see what we could find. We were looking for artisans, willing to sell or trade for their wood carvings. These are known to be the best and most affordable ones in the Marquesas. It was very quiet all around (the Taporo cargo vessel was in Vaipaee, attracting everyone to pick up goods, especially flour) and in the end, we found someone with a key to the artisanal building near the water. After looking around and choosing and comparing some pieces for an hour or so, Mark and I went home – by car – with $100 worth of wooden treasures. It had been a while since we spent some money; believe it or not, but life in the Pacific can be cheap! :-)

Hokatu’s waterfront

 

A day of rest, while rolling, was in order, after barely sleeping at night, and on our last day in Hane (Sunday), we set out towards the hills. One of the church going villagers gave us good directions to reach the local archeological site. The walk was uphill the whole time, but doable, albeit the high level of humidity and the gallons of sweat we had to shed.  We took our time and easily found the ruins on a flat part up one of the hills. Three ancient, weathered tikis stood on the edge of it. Once back in town, we watched the quiet Sunday scene for a while before rowing home, into the wind once more, since it had changed directions… again.

Archeological site in the hills behind Hane

 

One last row and carrying the dinghy ashore on Monday, to pick up some anticipated baguettes, before we slowly sailed to Haavei on the SW corner of the island. We passed two interesting looking islands with hundreds of birds circling around them, before entering the idyllic looking bay. A sandy beach with heaps of palm trees lured ashore and the dry features of the rocks and cliffs around filled our view. It was quiet and attractive, but … rolly and with fluky, onshore winds. Again. Kind of ready for some sleep at night and some chores to be done in a non-moving boat, we decided to pass on this anchorage and – even though it was already 11am - sail on to Nuku Hiva. There, in Baie du Controleur, we found an incredibly flat and peaceful anchorage (no crashing waves!) after a fun and smooth five hour sail. Ah... the pleasures of not bumping our heads and toes anymore!

Haavei Bay

Tikis carved in stone in front of Hane’s hospital

Church in Hane

Stone carved statues in front of the Vaipaee museum

There are tikis everywhere on these islands; here in front of Vaipaee’s town hall

Hane Bay – with Irie – seen from the viewpoint towards Hokatu

Picturesque rock at the mouth of Hane Bay

Interesting looking “bird islands” off Haavei Bay

Dorado (mahi mahi) for dinner, once in Nuku Hiva