Weather plays a very important part in our decision making. We move when we have the weather for it and we stay put in a safe place during stormy seasons. The Marquesas islands is a popular place to hide from storms in the South Pacific. We were late in arriving this season, but once we got here we have definitely made ourselves at home. Our anchor has been in one place since January 3rd. We have loved our cyclone season in Taiohae. This place is ultra charming with a long, gorgeous waterfront, complete with supermarkets, a wonderful market, tourist information office, yacht services and tikis everywhere. It has been an absolute pleasure to be here for a longer time.
We have had some lovely company this year. Teo has been loving the company of a gang of short pirates from Panacea, Larki, Calle II, Minstral Boy, Elena, Poppy, Luminesce and Alondra. There have been hikes, dog taming, body surfing, movie nights, joint boat school and tons of trips to the beach. Itchy Foot has a special place in our hearts for Panacea as they have been our closest neighbors and friends. We have been joined at the hip and have loved every minute. A special shout goes out to Misha who teaches swimming and piano and generally herds the smaller cats and always keeps them amused. But we have also enjoyed the company from other good friends, the young at heart on Barbarossa, Breakaway, Airborne, Little Wing, Iiris, Mana Kai, Easy and White Shadow.
We all looked forward to Wednesdays and Fridays. We went ashore and met at the dock and hurried to the library. Pita, with the patience of a saint taught our kids to drum. The wonderful Fabienne then took over and taught dance lessons, the youngest girls first, then the older group and finally us ladies. The library also doubles as the Internet cafe on the island and it is definitely on island time but it is a very pleasant place to be and so most Wednesdays and Fridays we were there. There were swimming lessons ala Misha, aka the idol of boat kids of Taiohae 2019 and Larki made sure we learned about the creatures of the sea. We swam with manta rays and learned about their habits also we collected plankton and looked at them under a microscope. The parents even got a separate session which was very interesting. We went on a tide pool walk and learned about that habitat and it’s creatures. We enjoyed teaming up for boat school when we could.
Not only is the waterfront lovely, but it has everything you need to spend the season here. Kevin and Annabella at Yacht services supports us with there knowledge and assistance and also have lovely articles for sale, plus they just got the super fast internet which every sailor needs at some point. And two doors down Henri has a lovely snack bar and is generous with his time and his internet and usually has ukulele jam sessions to treat the ears and soul. Colette at Tourist info is also wonderful and happy to help any way she can. There is fruit and herbs (hooray for the basil behind the town hall!) for picking and all the water you could need. The showers will be complete for the next season, probably as we depart. We also used both hardware stores, the pharmacy and gorgeous fruit market. Oh, and there is pizza and a cinema, too.
Jon was brave and went to Teiki and got the coolest tattoo we have seen. And as Teiki says, now I’m married to a man. So hurrah for that! We have seen some beautiful tattoos and meeting Teiki properly has been such a pleasure to chat with him and learn about the sacred art of Marquesan patutiki.
Other highlights have been the wonderful community of women. Even if you don’t want to commit to Polynesian dance lessons, there is aqua gym at the beach two days a week and it’s a fabulous workout and giggly fun, too. And we were lucky enough to be here for International Women’s Day and the celebration was wonderful with locals teaching flower crown akin get and palm frond basket weaving and coconut squeezing competitions and we finished off by doing Zumba and then dancing of course. It was fun to see so many familiar faces and lovely to feel so welcome.
It hasn’t been all fun and games and we had lots of boat jobs to do. On top of regular maintenance stuff Jon sewed chaps (covers) out of sunbrella material we were lucky enough to find next to the bins. This is quite a score since it really expensive and hard to source and the dinghy needs all the protection it can get in these sunny places! Itchy Foot also got new curtains made of Polynesian fabric and a new coat of varnish for the hatches.
On Saturday we attended the end of the season party at Kevin and Annabella’s. It was a perfect garden party/potluck BBQ/music festival and completely wonderful day! The ladies danced wearing crowns of flowers we made ourselves and there was live music. So, we are busy with our preparations, making water and filling diesel and provisioning dry stuff and fruit and vegetables for ourselves and to trade in the Tuamotus. It is a flurry of activity onboard and we are watching the weather and dreaming of crystal clear water for snorkeling.