Fullmoon over Fatu Hiva

Once again I have difficulty finding the right words to decribe our
experience In Fatu Hiva. But let's start where we left off last time,
with the boys getting a ride ashore. I am telling this secondhand as it
was told to me and I looked at all the photos, so I have a fairly good
idea of what went down, and what went up. The boys, I should use the
word men really, missioned passed a small settlement and followed a
trail to a fresh water stream and followed the stream further up. Every
now and then they would take a break and sit or splash in the
refreshingly cold water. I told them to look out for the fresh water
prawns and eels in the streams and pools. Quite an experience tosit with
you feet in the water and let these little creatures take off all the
dead skin on your feet. They found some and enjoyed there pedicure very
much, although they say it felt like little electric shocks as the
prawns were cleaning their feet. Not painful but nearly. There are huge
coconut palms on the island and on there way Eduan decided to climb one
and see how high he could get up. Every coconut belongs to somebody on
these islands and they carve small steps into the stems to assist
climbing to the top to reach and harvest the coconuts. Palm trees are
not trees at all, you can google it to find out exactly what they are
and that every bit of a palm tree is utilized for something. Eduard got
about 15m up and came down fairly unscathed. They obviuosly missed land
terribly and couldn't get enough of such pristine forests all around.

I asked them to be back at high noon and back they were, having had to
swim about 500m to the boat. Steven and Eduan arrived first and Nick
followed leisurely afterwards. On the breakwater where they first tried
to enter into the ocean, Eduard had a slight mishap and was lucky to get
away with only a few cuts and bruises. The other two then decided to
enter from the safety behind the breakwaters. The other anchorage was
only half an hour away and the guys that gave them a lift in recommended
highly that we make a turn there which we did. I learned then that there
is a fresh water supply at our first anchorage and returned to try and
arrange a lift in again. Steven's one kneee was troubling him a bit and
as I said Eduard was cut and bruised, both them needing to catch their
breath again. After waiting for about an hour for a lift a fisherman
eventually came past and Nick and myself hitched a ride to shore. I was
now ready to step foot on land after a month at sea and enjoyed our
little expedition very much. Got to meet some locals, were introduced to
some of there amazing craftmanship, checked out some tattoos and
generally had a whaleof a time. We got some fruit etc and bumped into
the same people that gave the boys a ride in. They gave us a ride back
to the boat and offered to take us ashore again to fill our waterdrums
which we gladly accepted. By the time this was achieved it was just
about 6pm, 6 hours behind schedule. For their trouble we gave them a big
bag full of goodies that we still had left over and haven't used at all.
Loads of tea and bushtea, spices, wasabi, soya sauce and a few other
sauces, 2.5lktrs of Lecol lemon juice etc. They were absolutely
delighted. If we had time we would have joined a fullmoon wild bboar
hunt with some of the locals who invited us. Apparently a fairly
dangerous hunt as the boar comes for you once he hears you. They then
either use a spear or a gun to stop the boar in it's tracts.

At six am we raised our anchor, bid our new found friends farewell and
were off into the sunset, heading straight for Tahiti. The sunset was
purely a show of nature at her best, and when we looked back the full
moon was just starting to peep over the jagged cliffs that is Fatu Hiva.
We didn't know where to look and where to take photographs. As the sun
went lower and lower and the sky turning a deeper and deeper red, the
moon behind us was rising higher and higher, casting the island in a
mysterious shroud of silver blue magic. All the boys were in total
agreement that they have never seen a place so beautiful. We were also
escorted out by a few dolphins, and one that jumped about 2 mtrs out of
the water over our bow. How else can anyone feel but totally blessed,
totally humbled, and totally beautified by this experience.

We are 690 nm from Tahiti, and having left six hours later thanplanned
we are running the motors a bit harder tomaintain 6.5kts in order for us
to arrive at tahiti early on the 10th. We will cut through the atholls
and once again we will all be witness to beauty untold, but not planning
to stop. Our position currently is 11*03'S/139*42'W. I have turned our
clock back another hour for the last time and we are now 12 hrs behind
SA and UTC -10. If I haven't got your email address and if you like,
send it to me at sailwithpaul@gmail.com. I am planning to do a proper
web album of our trip with photos and captions and will send you the
details.

Hope you are having a safe and blessed Easter Weekend.

Paul