25 July 2007 | Fatu Hiva, Marquesas
Ahoy Bahati Comrades!

It has been a while since our last “Ship’s Log” update (exactly one month ago), and for once we have a very good excuse… we have been at sea. And guess what? We are STILL at sea! We are writing you this brief update, via shortwave (or SSB) radio, from 11�53 south, 140�16 west (plug that into “Google Maps” for a neat surprise!).

Since you received our last brief update, from the island of Isabela in the Galapagos, we have had quite an amazing voyage. Here’s the story, in brief, since we are limited by the amount we can send through this radio operated email system… as with last time, amazing photos are coming once we arrive at an internet connection in Tahiti.

DEPARTURE:
We departed the Galapagos the morning of July 5. We had been requested (or demanded) to leave the island of Isabela immediately by the port captain who was under pressure from the National Park, who we believe are under international pressure to reduce tourism in the reserve (and are strangely doing so by clamping down on the very few private boats who visit. Many more tourists visit the islands on cruise ships ranging in size from 15 passengers to 100’s but, of course, they are the source of much income, not the sailors!). We were lucky to be on the island at all, and only allowed to after Captain Biscuits complained to the authorities that we had sick crew who needed to rest and recover before continuing our passage on to the Marquesas (only a pseudo-lie given Michael’s recent bout with Dengue Fever and various intestinal issues Josh and Nat both faced while in Santa Cruz). We weighed anchor and set sail into a beautiful clear morning, planning our departure with the four other sailboats in the harbor who were also being told to leave. So there we were departing on a passage of epic (or pseudo-epic) proportions, alongside our now good friends on NORDIC (French Canadian), CHECKMATE (New Zealand), OUKIOK (French), FRICTION (Australian and Colombian, who had departed the day before), plus — DON QUIXOTE (a young Swedish/Norwegian couple on a 28′ boat who had transitted the Panama Canal tied alongside our friends John and Gudrun on SPEEDWELL) and, finally, EMPIRE (Norwegians who had recently rounded Cape Horn), who had departed from a nearby island within a couple of days.

So we all coordinated shortwave radio nets to stay in communication, when reception allowed, flew our various sail configurations, and headed southwest towards Polynesia, all of us making our first landfall in the Marquesas islands, a mere 3,000 miles away. BAHATI and her crew had an amazing passage, delighting in the trade-winds and the simplicity (most of the time) of life offshore. Days melted away, like a slow drip of honey, each one slipping into the next, our conceptions of time and space slowly eroding. Book after book was devoured. BAHATI’s bakery went into full effect as Michael and Josh discovered (or re-discovered) their love for the yeast life-form, creating many a loaf of fresh bread, along with english muffins, pizza, banana bread, oatmeal chocolate-chip cookies, Irish soda bread, and ginger bread. We happily proclaimed ourselves the best fed crew on the Pacific, with Michael and Josh’s creations of mango curry wahoo, fresh baked pizza (with sun-dried tomatoes, fresh olives, smoked muscles, and garlic), fish chowder, linguine with chopped clams and fresh parmesan, pan seared ahi tuna… etc… etc… even Captain Biscuits got into the act, baking some banana bread from our ever-ripening banana tree hanging from the arch on the aft end of the boat!

We learned the art of flying our glorious asymmetrical spinnaker (with a number of dangerously exciting moments amid looming squalls), and became one with our Monitor windvane automatic steering system (powered by nothing but the wind). BAHATI was graced with fresh fish on a regular basis, providing her eager crew with a cornucopia of wahoo and tuna. Dolphins graced our bow-waves, and pilot whales visited our “mother” hull. Through squalls and star-saturated skies, BAHATI gracefully glided her way west, ticking off the miles, loving every moment of the steady Pacific trade-winds. We could tell she’d been here before!!

We made 3,000 miles in 21 days, averaging between 180 and 140 miles a day, and on July 25, under the power of our beautiful blue spinnaker, Captain Biscuits spotted land in the form of the voluptuous overflowing green volcanic mountains of Fatu Hiva. Over the course of the day, as we ticked off the miles, with visits from eager boobies and playful pods of dolphins, the island slowly revealed herself as one sharp jungle-covered valley after another. By evening we were pulling into remote Hanavave Bay, surrounded by possibly the most spectacular scenery this humble crew has ever feasted its eyes upon. The fertile, green, volcanic mountains plummet down for thousands and thousands of feet straight into the water, creating the fjord that makes up this anchorage. All around us stood majestic rock spires, which look almost as though they could be alive. To the right is a lush palm tree forest, above which, wild goats (whose cries are clearly audible from our cabin) graze on a almost vertical green slope. In front of us, reaching its way up the jungle valley the small remote village goes about its daily life. Robert Louis Stevenson and Bernard Moitessier both called this their “favorite anchorage” in the South Pacific. What an initial landfall for BAHATI!

There are only two small villages on the whole island, totalling about 600 people. Both are set in lush valleys centered around a river for fresh water. This remote island is one of the few which still does not have any French officials (lucky for us, as we had not yet cleared through customs).

As we happily discovered, tourism is almost unheard of in the Marquesas. These are truly remote islands, as the expense and difficulty in getting there has kept tourist development (and the tourists!) away. The islands are basically only visited by people sailing westward across the Pacific and by monthly supply ships that bring fuel and provisions from Tahiti. The land is wild, rugged, and lush, featuring steep cliffs and valleys that lead up to high ridges. The warm and welcoming people live in small villages in the narrow fertile river valleys. The interiors of the islands populated only by wild pigs, goats, and horses which the people hunt for food.

This being our first landfall in Polynesia, some history is in order, which we’ll continue when we arrive in Tahiti, as the history of colonization and resistance is rich and fascinating… How did people get to live on these remote islands?? Through planned voyages in out-rigger canoes from south east Asia, we are told that Polynesia was settled around the 1st millennium AD. The voyagers carried with them, from island to island, everything they needed to start their new island lives, including plants and animals. Navigating by the stars and a keen intuitive sense of wave pattern (see “The Last Navigator” by Steve Thomas), these early ingenious mariners reached the Marquesas from Samoa around 300 AD, and around 500 AD some then sailed on to settle Hawaii.

Early religion on the islands was centered around open air temples with stone alters. Human sacrifices took place on important occasions and cannibalism was practiced in both the Marquesas and the Tuamotus. Museums around the world contain beautiful wood and stone tikis (remnants of which we found overtaken in the jungles of Fatu Hiva), that were stolen from the Marquesas (where the aesthetic and artistic senses were highly developed) during the ugly period of European missionary activity (during which many were also destroyed). During this period, European missionaries suppressed local spirituality, enforced the Ten Commandments through violence, and clothed the Polynesian women in dresses that covered their bodies from head to toe. Singing anything but hymns was banned, only puritan dancing allowed, and all customs that they found offensive to their puritanical senses were wiped out. As David Stanley says in his book The South Pacific, “Morality police terrorized in an eternal crusade against sin. Even the wearing of flowers in the hair was prohibited.” (Thanks goodness the flowers are back!) As in most colonies and former colonies, we found the spiritual life in the remote Marquesan islands today contained many contradictions, as people are both practicing Catholicism (the church playing a major role of social organization) and are striving to reconnect with their lost Polynesian spirituality through dance, chanting, ceremony, and the rebirth of the ancient arts of tiki carving and tapa cloth making — almost all of which we were lucky enough to be invited to witness.

Official political control of the Marquesas, the Tuamotus, and the Society islands (Tahiti… etc…) was seized by France in 1842, when they tricked four local chiefs into signing an accord while the ruling queen (who they later forced to accept the accord) was away. Later the next year, the French deposed the queen, who was still hostile to the French control, and occupied the territory. The Polynesians resisted this occupation for years. In 1847, when it became apparent that they were not going to receive any international support in their resistance, the queen and many of her followers reluctantly accepted their status as a French “protectorate”. During this early colonial period the economy in “French” Polynesia was based on the cultivation of cotton and vanilla, the collection of pearl shells, copra making, and phosphate mining. By the 1960s these were largely replaced by nuclear testing (more on this practice in the Tuamotus, and local and international resistance to it, soon…), tourism, and pearls (it should be noted that this is not so much the case in the Marquesas, who we witnessed still relying on fishing, copra making, and some very limited agriculture for their needs).

Our glorious time anchored in Hanavave Bay on the island of Fatu Hiva was spent:

Playing soccer with the kids:
Michael, Josh, and Catherine (from NORDIC) had the delight of building relationships with the village kids (and some adults) by playing soccer every day with throngs of eager young Marquesans. The large futbol field was situated right at the foot of beautiful rock spires and at the very edge of the lagoon — making it by far the most beautiful field we’ve ever played upon. We were horribly out of shape after being at sea for almost a month, and through huffing and puffing up and down the full field (the kids insisted on playing full field, even when the games were only 5-on-5), we quickly shook off our sea-legs. The young girls were especially talented soccer players, often trashing their male counterparts. As our time on the island passed our team became quite a crew — when we would land at the pier, the kids would start asking, “la fut? la fut?”… and off we’d go…except for the one day when no one could find the ball!

Snorkeling with Harry the hammerhead:
Michael, Josh, and Catherine had the incredible (and terrifying) opportunity of encountering a large hammerhead shark while snorkeling along the edge of the cove in which we were anchored. The first time we saw him, it was exciting and beautiful. Then he came back. The second time he came to check us out it was a bit more frightening. But the third time when he came back out of the blue, while the three of us were attempting to swiftly swim back to BAHATI, was down right scary as he passed very close, heading upwards from below. At Michael’s intelligent insistence we got out of the water on some nearby rocks and called for Captain Biscuits’ to rescue us in the dingy. As Catherine said, “three times and you’re out!” We also got to swim with beautiful spotted eagle rays.

Dinners with NORDIC and FRICTION:
While anchored in Hanavave on Fatu Hiva we had the delightful opportunity to build stronger relationships with our friends aboard the sailing vessels NORDIC and FRICTION. Many nights were spent delighting in our beautiful surroundings while feasting on fresh fish, chickens, and rum in on one of our various boat-homes. The conversation would always be a loud blustering of Spanish, French, and English as this international crew did its very best to share stories and dreams. Laughter was always filling the air. We were sad to say good-bye to these lovely sailors and hope to cross paths again in some island chain down the line.

Hikes up the mountains and to the waterfall:
We had the joy of hiking high into the valleys and up on the ridges of this beautiful landscape. One particular hike (which we did twice!) brought us to a gorgeous cascading waterfall, with a very refreshing pool the size of an olympic swimming pool at the foot. After sweating through the jungle and fruit groves to get there, the water was always welcomed with open arms. The second trip, a crew of local teens hiked up with us and showed Josh the best places to scale the high rock walls and leap off into the water with great delight and to the cheers of the lounging lunching crowd below.

Trading with villagers for fruit, chickens, fish, and bread:
On many occasions we found ourselves trading with people in the village for various foods. Often times we would offer to buy something, and given the remoteness of this island, folks were much more eager to trade for useful things then to sell them for currency which would be of little use. In the end we traded for piles and piles of fresh tropical fruit (including grapefruits/pomplomouse the size of your head), chickens, bread, and tuna. Captain Nat also brokered a trade of his old binoculars to the local shopkeeper, a village elder named Daniel, who was ecstatic to be able to now count his 5 cattle (which he shared with this neighbor) without hiking all the way up the mountain. Initially, Daniel offered a “cockadoo” rooster as part of the barter and Nat thought this might make a nice ships’s pet as well as a good watchkeeper/waker but the rest of the crew put the kabosh on this idea so we stuck to fruit, bread, and much goodwill! Josh got offers everyday for his spearfishing gun, which he managed in the end to hold onto so we could eat well in the lagoons of the Tuamotus.

Boat building:
The local boys spent many hours designing, testing for seaworthiness, and racing model sailboats made from coconut shells, scrap wood, odd pieces of plastic and other flotsum and jetsum. These boats were real works of art! One evening, as we sailed in the growing dusk back to our anchorage, about a mile offshore, we suddenly noticed one of these creations, a genuine two-masted schooner (!) sailing past us and headed out to sea! What a delight! It seemed she was sent out to greet us!

Refueling and dealing with trash:
Upon arriving on Fatu Hiva we had the dilema of needing to refuel our diesel tanks after having run the engine a lot on the last passage to charge our batteries. We asked around everywhere and no one could supply diesel. As luck would have it, one day the supply ship came in from Tahiti. This was of great excitement as it only arrives every month or so. The whole village was out for the occasion. After talking to dozens and dozens of people (struggling to communicate in French) we were finally introduced to the man who could get us the fuel. The only problem was filling our tanks was a drop in the bucket to them, and really more of a pain then a money maker. Eventually Captain Nat sweet-talked the guy into selling us fuel off the ship. We took the dinghy out to this massive supply ship, dropped Nat and the jerry-cans off, and Josh circled the ship while the crew filled our cans. Viola! Fuel! Now we could spend all of our time on Fatu Hiva and not have to sail 24 hours north to Hiva Oa, the larger town where diesel was available. Yippie! Our next quandary was what to do with the bags of trash that we had accumulated over our month at sea… it was quite heartbreaking to see how much trash one creates when you don’t have anywhere to dispose of it. It’s a real reality check! While the locals said they were happy to take our trash, we couldn’t stand the thought of ourselves sailing around the world leaving piles of trash in remote communities. So… the only other option that we had was to take it along with us to Tahiti, and leave it in a more highly populated, industrialized community. Not a very attractive option either, but somehow it seemed better then leaving it all in the Marquesas… So, our aft-deck has industrial trash bags cooking in the equatorial sun.

Surfing in Omoa:
One sunny day soon before we departed Fatu Hiva, we took a boat load of friends to Omoa (the other village on the island, which we had tried unsuccessfully to hike to through the high mountains — Michael was the only one to reach the high ridge which divided the two villages). Reportedly this village had ancient and newly created tapa cloths with designs hammered into bark,, which we were very eager to see, as Fatu Hiva is the only island which still makes them, but all the tapas in Hanavave had been sent to Tahiti for an exhibition. There was also reportedly a surf break there. So off we went, the crews of NORDIC, FRICTION, and OUKIOK, all aboard trusty old BAHATI towing 4 inflatable dinghies! Upon arriving there was definitely breaking waves… unfortunately they were breaking onto a violent shorebreak, making both for highly unfavorable surf conditions, and making landing the four dinghies almost impossible. The crews of the other boats went ashore by anchoring the dinghies off a stone pier on the point and swimming ashore. Captain Biscuits and Michael stayed aboard on anchor watch, and Catherine and Josh paddled into the break for Cath’s first surf lesson. Everyone had a beautiful day — the anchor watches had beautiful swims (aside from when Nat swam into the surf break, got slammed by a procession of waves, and lost one of Josh’s fins! and almost lost his suit to boot!), the various crews had a wonderful time meeting folks ashore (bringing back a beautiful carved tiki of a manta ray for BAHATI), Catherine stood up on her first wave in the white-wash, and sadly Josh broke the beloved surfboard that he had just picked up in Panama when the first wave he took closed-out into a violent shore-break. Needless to say, he is very sad, and desperately trying to figure out how to finance a new board in Tahiti. At the end of the day, Martin and Dani on NORDIC had problems retrieving their dinghy anchor and they ended-up having to skin-dive to 50 feet to release it from a rock (not bad guys!)… at that point the sun was setting, so we escorted them back to Hanavave aboard BAHATI and had one last shared dinner of local steak (ala Dani) and fresh fish (ala Michael).

Off to the Tuamotus…
In the morning, after our last dinner, we shook off the rum (and the last two Panamanian beers for thousands of miles [thanks Martin!!]) from the night before, hauled anchor (by hand, since our windless is currently not working), and pointed BAHATI again southwest in the direction of the Tuamotu Islands.

The Tuamotus are a remote chain of 78 islands encompassing a vast area of ocean. They are the largest group of coral atolls in the world… and what is an atoll you ask?? Darwin described the formation of atolls as high volcanic mountains that over the course of millions of years sink and subside, the tip of their caldron turning into protected coral lagoons. The island’s fringing reef grows into a barrier reef. When the last volcanic material finally disappears below the sea, the coral rim of the surrounding reef remains to indicate how big the island once was. This creates large circular reefs (actually former volcano craters) which enclose perfectly protected and still tropical lagoons. Where the reef sticks up high enough, some vegetation forms (usually palm trees) and some people live, surviving off of the abundant sea life in the lagoons and the harvesting of black pearls. There are often small passes in the reefs, through which small boats (very carefully navigated) can sneak through and anchor amidst teaming tropic fish and sharks in these coral oasis.

Over millions of years, the Tuamotus have eroded almost to sea level, making them extremely vulnerable to being totally wiped out as ocean levels rise with global warming. Island groups such as these are making strong demands against corporations who are pumping pollution into the atmosphere, and have appealed to the UN and launched international social movements to attempt and protect their community’s existence. Studies have also shown that increasing temperatures are likely contributing to the dramatic jump in the number of hurricanes in the South Pacific. For example, as recorded in David Stanley’s “South Pacific”, Fiji experienced only 12 tropical hurricanes from 1941 to 1980 but 10 from ‘81 to ‘89. And after a series of devastating hurricanes in Samoa, insurance companies announced in ‘92 that they were withdrawing coverage from the country. Demands must especially be made against 1st world industrial nations, those most responsible for the problem, and especially those led by United States who have strongly resisted taking any action to curtail the greenhouse gas emissions of their corporations.

Anyway, we are on our way to the Tuamotu Islands, where we will spend time diving and fishing amongst these amazing coral atolls. Variable currents, sudden storms, and poor charts make navigating this reef encrusted maze of islands extremely hazardous, which is why this island group is popularly known as the “Dangerous Archipelago”. Wrecks litter the reefs of many of the atolls. We’ll be very alert when making landfall, and relax when we arrive in the tranquil lagoons! Thanks to modern GPS and radar, navigation is easier today than in earlier times.

Keep an eye open for our next update, in which we are sure to have many incredible reef experiences to share, along with the fierce history of resistance to French nuclear experimentation in these islands… coming soon!

All our love,
BAHATI’s faithful crew
Nat Warren-White, Josh Warren-White, and Michael Callahan

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