Horses – by Gary

The French admiral Dupetit-Thouars is reputed responsible for the introduction of the horse to the islands of the Marquesas in 1842. He was responsible for a number of significant changes in these parts – being the bloke who, in 1841 after a brief scuffle with the Tahitian queen and the British consul, snatched possession of the Marquesas, Tuamotus and the Society Islands as French protectorate.  But back to those horses - I’m sure they were quickly attractive to the locals – the additional mobility and load carrying ability offered would have undoubtedly made life easier. And I’m guessing the steepness of the terrain and the narrow, muddy, slippery tracks favoured horses of small stature and strength.

Evidently the environment proved very favourable to the animals as well because at least one island now supports numbers of wild horses – with inevitable environmental repercussions – though I’d reckon it’s still modest when compared to the damage caused by feral goats and sheep.

In the current era horse ownership remains surprisingly high, even while practically every Marquesan family owns at least one flash, new four-wheel drive.  Horses are everywhere.

Any grassy patch around town is a good place to tether a horse – and they are pretty efficient lawn mowers.

Partaking a brisk, joyful gallop in the coolness of the late afternoon.  The horses are small, compact and strong.

I reckoned this gentleman walking his horses through town to be particularly photogenic.

I have seen this woman astride her donkey on several early mornings.  I am guessing she is on her way out of town to tend her garden patch.

The impetus for such a high level of horse ownership remains a bit unclear, but I’m guessing for many it’s simply about the pleasure.

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An Interesting House – by Gary

Marquesans have definitely abandoned tradition when it comes to housing, they now live in comfortable, if architecturally unremarkable houses.  Many of them are light weight kit houses that arrive from places like New Zealand as 'flat packs' (some assembly required!), while others are constructed almost entirely of concrete.  They are practical, low maintenance houses.  There is little about either their design or materials that speaks of locality or culture.

However there are a few stand-outs, houses that Vicki and I found particularly appealing.  Here is a gem that Vicki picked out.

This house features a stunning mixture of local materials.  As for style it feels a bit like French colonial meets Polynesia.

Its lack of glass (who needs it in this place), and excellent under-roof ventilation ensures the breeze can always work through.

There is a fine level of detailing, right down to the exposed rock in the base of the walls.

No matter which way the breeze is blowing there are windows and doors to open up, while the lack of thermal mass ensures it would cool down quickly at night.

The cladding is a fascinating blend of low cost, local materials, but very labour intensive and, as you can see, definitely not low maintenance.  Look at that carved panel.

Two of these panels sit either side of the main entry.  Nifty hairstyles huh?

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A School for Zeke and Nina!

 

Zeke and Nina are back in a proper school! Are they happy about that?  Well sort of.... but they reckon it suffers a couple of tedious drawbacks, although I am sure you will agree with me they are quite minor:

1.  they have to get up at 5:45 am – even for us that's pretty early! and...
2.  school is conducted in a foreign language!!!

Yes, Zeke and Nina are enrolled in the Collège Te Tau Vae Ia in Taiohae, Nuku Hiva.  Its student population numbers about 220 kids, mostly indigenous Marquesans, but with a light peppering of Caucasians, mostly French natives.  All classes are conducted in French.  So do our poor, lilly-white, uncomprehending children stand out in this crowd?  Like the proverbial sore thumbs I'd say!

The plan of course is that they learn a a little French.  But they better be quick learners because we have only enrolled them until the end of the school year (29  June), then we must be back on our way across the Pacific.  

Much to their embarrassment I recently followed them as they walked to their new school, taking a few photos.



They have to be dressed, fed and in the dinghy by 6:20.  On the way to shore they pick up their friends, sisters Mia (left) and Arielle.  They are boat kids like ours, and have been attending the local school for some time.  It was Mia and Arielle's dad Olivier who first encouraged us to think about enrolling ours, and then generously assisted us through the process.



The kids arriving ashore.  Mia and Arielle are notionally French, but have lived overseas for years, are multi-lingual, and are both perfect English speakers.



The scholars head past the fishermen processing their morning's catch (mostly tuna) ...



… and out along the foreshore path.  Mia and Zeke are in the same class and generally sit together so Mia can offer Zeke a little guidance on what is happening.  Arielle and Nina are in the same class and also generally sit together so Arielle can offer Nina a little guidance on what is happening.  How fantastic is that?



They walk past the shore-front tohua with its enigmatic stone ti’i ...

...past the chooks that are everywhere, brought by the Polynesian’s
in their voyaging canoes several thousand years ago...

… and past the grazing horses that are everywhere too.



The school is in sight now.  Its a nice walk in the cool of the morning.  The shelter directly above their heads is where they all sit down for their lunch time meal, a full cooked lunch.  They reckon the tucker is all-right.



In the gate they go.  They arrive at school just before their first class at 7am.  Three days a week school gets out at 3:30pm.  That's a long day for our kids.  On Wednesday and Tuesday they have an easier run, school gets out at 12:30.

 

So in this total immersion are Zeke and Nina sinking or swimming?  So far they seem to be keeping their heads above water – perhaps even enjoying it. Viva la France I'd say!

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Ua Pou – by Gary

  

Approaching from the sea the special-ness of this place quickly became apparent.  The creation myth for the Marquesas pictures each island as a different part of the house in which the people live – Ua Pou is the massive columns supporting that house.

Entering the relative calm of the port of Hakahau, mostly the columns were lost in cloud.

Breaking out in splendid grandeur every now and again the central peak, Mt Oave, at 1,230 m is the highest in the Marquesas.

The Marquesas are sometimes pictured as being a Polynesian culture free zone dominated by the French – but it’s not true, although it nearly was.  But since 1979 a cultural association, the Motu Haka, has set to work vigorously defending the indigenous culture.

The association focuses particularly on retention of language as well as reviving chants, dances, legends, tattoos, ancient sculptures and wood carving.  

The centre piece of the association is a program of art festivals that rotates through the islands.  During each festival ancient sites are renovated – such as this huge ceremonial site (called a tohua) at Hohoi, renovated during the 2007 festival held in Ua Pou.

A new stone ti’i (known by the Polynesians in NZ as a tiki) at the Hohoi tohua.

Emblematic of cultural pride is the wearing of tattoos, some subtle, others more flamboyant....

And the Catholic Church, for so long one of the principle drivers of cultural annihilation, has joined this renaissance movement.  Here the wonderful airy church in Hakahau.

A dazzling celebration of local wood carving skills.

And here, for the tourists, a performance of traditional music making, dance and chanting.

 

We reckon the Motu Haka is doing a pretty good job!

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Atuona, Hiva Oa – by Gary

 Finally, after 27 days sailing from Galapagos, we made landfall in the eastern most archipelago of French Polynesia, the Marquesas.  The passage had not been without trials:

• enroute Vicki developed some worrying health issues
• beset with very light winds and calms, we made slow, uncertain progress
• with the sails slatting and thrashing in the oily swells we did considerable damage to both them and our and rigging, and 
• to top it off we grew an amazing crop of goose barnacles on Mojombo’s bottom, ensuring that even when wind arrived, progress remained painfully slow.

So perhaps you can well imagine our relief and excitement to finally make our destination; the little town of Atuona on the island of Hiva Oa.  And what a brilliant place to make landfall, we just loved it – reckon it’s got to be one of the most likeable little villages on the planet.

Snuggled at the foot of a rugged, mist shrouded volcanic peak on the windward side of the island of Hiva Oa, it is green, lush and flower filled.  The stunning setting endlessly changes with the sun, the clouds and the passing rain showers.  The local Polynesians charmed us with there warmth and open friendliness.  There were even some kids for ours to play with.

The anchorage was a perfect spot to unwind and undertake repairs to Mojombo.  And out of the ocean swell Vicki’s health rapidly improved – although with Atuona’s limited health facilities we still lack a definitive diagnosis.

Our repairs included dropping the forestay to do some work on the roller furling foil – here taking it ashore.  Tolly  (yellow top)from the boat Le Mistral was generous in his assistance.

The town’s stunning natural setting, one to rival Rio!

Warm smiles were always waiting to break out among the locals

Towns and villages throughout the world love to claim a celebrity as their own.  Benalla has Ned Kellie, Bordertown Bob Hawke, Salzburg Mozart, and Atuona??  Would you believe that most famous post-impressionist painter Paul Gauguin  He lived his final years here, dying of tertiary syphilis

.

Flowers riot through the lush greenness.

One of the few surviving colonial buildings – now a general store.

But it’s the locals that really charmed us!

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Passage - By Zeke

 

Dear Reader
Recently we crossed the Pacific Ocean between Galapagos and the Marquesas. This passage is over 3000 miles long and takes a long time. It took us 27 days of drifting sailing. Boy what a relief it was to get there. Below I have written about the day to day routine of life on passage, why we like passage and many other things.


What’s Above Deck Like on Passage?

Mojombo under sail

Passage is often quite boring but at the same time quite interesting. A large part of the time you are on the sea is spent on deck watching for hazards such as squalls and other boats, of which there are many.

When you’re on watch it is an interesting feeling to know that you are in the middle of an ocean with nothing and nobody anywhere near you. Also at night the stars are amazing so bright and clear with no big lights competing or smog. The boat sails on over the waves rolling from side to side on the ever present swell. Excuse the pun but it really is a swell experience.

There are of course reasons other than star gazing that make us do watch. As mentioned before ships, squalls and keeping the boat moving in the right direction help keep you awake day and night. Passage is often quite tiring as someone has to be always awake and watching. If the wind changes direction a sail change is often required. Sail changes can last anywhere between a couple of minutes to an hour and can differ in their physical demands.

Staying awake on watch at night is not often easy. I split two three hour watch’s with Nina at night meaning I come on at 10:30pm and come off at midnight and come back on at 4:30am and off at six in the morning. When you come on watch you are initially quite tired but after a hot drink you are feeling better and you try and keep busy tidying a rope, checking your course and the sails.

The sunset’s as we run before the trade winds

I like passage being out there in the middle of nowhere just sailing forever sailing onwards with the purpose of going somewhere new. There are of course down sides one of these is that you can become extremely bored and I have more to say about this in the next paragraph.

Somewhere new

What’s Below Deck Like on Passage?
When you are down below lying in your bunk there is only a limited amount of things one can do. Trying to find some diversity in the days events can be quite hard and in the end all the days blend together. Read on to find out about our day’s events.

Reading is my chief occupation during passage and occupies me from around six in the morning to nine. At nine o’clock, the computer comes out and I proceed to play two to three hours of computer games. Around noon I come on watch and at two o’clock I come below to read some more. Dinner is at five and afterwards Nina and I tidy up. In the evening Nina and I watch a movie, read or go on watch. In the morning the processes repeats itself day after day. This is a very simple roster and often changes but it gives you a rough idea of our day.


What its Like to Get There

Food fantasies

After so long at sea fresh food starts to become scarce and meals ever more simple. Food fantasies of fresh bread and other everyday food items become increasingly common. Also exercise is another one of those things you want, so when you finally get there after almost a month you just can’t wait to get ashore and walk to the shop. It is our custom that when we arrive at port after a long passage we celebrate by sharing a large bar of chocolate (this also helps us walk to the shop). When you arrive there can be sometimes a great sense of achievement you have crossed an ocean harnessing the winds as billions of people have done before.

Harnessing the wind as billions of others have done before us.

Thanks For Reading This

This blog piece you can tell is written from the personal feeling’s and I have tried to make inspiring as possible and make you realize if you already haven’t why we are sailing around the world. Admittedly sailing round the world is mostly about seeing other places and that is another amazing experience on its own. But another part of the experience is the sailing it’s what keeps us moving on around the world.

I hope you have enjoyed this blog entry about the life I live upon the seas and have not found me boastful as I tell you about the life I live.

Zeke

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Darwin's Diary: Charles Darwin in Galapagos - by Nina

Teachers Notes
Nina had been set a school writing assignment which required her to write a narrative in three separate parts, viz: an orientation, a complication and a resolution.  She was encouraged to be as descriptive as possible in her work.  The plan she developed for her work is presented below:

Orientation
Darwin sails to Galapagos, anchors in Academy Bay and starts exploring.

Complication
Darwin sees woodpeckers similar to the ones found in South America and wonders about this. He also sees variation in finches and tortoises found between islands.

Resolution
When he goes back to England and mulls it over he comes up with a theory. He tested it on pigeons and other animals and plants then writes a book about it. The theory is about the origin of species and natural selection.

Her final narrative is presented below:

Darwin's Diary: Charles Darwin in Galapagos

1835
Monday
We have just sighted some islands off the port bow and Captain Fitzroy thinks they are the Galapagos Islands as there are no other islands in the vicinity.
They are particularly hilly and there are a few particularly pointy hills, like volcano cones. We are still a fair distance away so I can't see it clearly but I can make out that there is a brown strip around the bottom and then there is a line where it suddenly goes green all the way to the top.

Tuesday
We anchored yesterday afternoon in a sheltered bay that the Captain decided to call Academy Bay. I was taken ashore and I immediately found a species of lizard that is able to swim in the water, even though being a cold blooded animal this should be impossible, especially as the water temperature here is significantly colder than it should be this close to the equator. This is probably caused buy the Peru cold current, which gets pushed out to sea from Ecuador. The bay is also full of sea lions.



Wednesday 
Today I went exploring again and I found a woodpecker that was very similar to a species I found in Ecuador, except that its’ bill was slightly different.

Thursday
Today we hiked up inland. The highland is quite wet and as a result it is almost a rainforest. The only way I could move around was to go on the trails made by giant tortoises. Tortoises are a reptile that has a high, dome like carapace made of keratin (the stuff your fingernails are made from). When it feels threatened it withdraws its head into its shell and puts its armoured legs into a position to protect its head.

Friday
Today we sailed to another island. This one is quite large and has five large volcano cones. Here I was amazed to find a species of cormorant that could not fly. It's wings were small and sparsely feathered and obviously would not be able to fly. I was also amazed to find penguins on this island. This would make them the only known penguins in the northern hemisphere. They were very similar to Marconi penguins.

All these animals I have found are similar to ones found on South America.  The book I was given by Capitan Fitzroy about the origin of species says that species continue on unchanged until they go extinct. At the time I read his books I excepted this theory but the species of woodpecker, finch and tortoise I have discovered are very similar to ones I found in South America. This indicates that some of the ancestors of the woodpeckers that I found in South America flew to Galapagos and then adapted to the environment there.

2 October 1836
Tuesday 
I am no means disappointed to tell you that we have finally reached England. I am planning on first visiting my family for a while then I will travel around England looking for people capable of preserving and identifying the specimens I found on the voyage.

1 December 1836
Wednesday
I have found the people necessary to look after the specimens I collected. I also met Charles Lyell, the author of the book on the origin of species Capitan Fitzroy gave me. He was a very interesting man but I am inclined to disagree with his theory. I am intending to write a book about my theory but it will be difficult to present this to the public. My theory goes against everything the church has taught people for hundreds of years and if I present it in the wrong way I will be discredited and no one will ever read the book let alone consider my theory. As a result I will have to spend a considerable amount of time getting the wording of it right. I will first get a number of species of every day animals and test my theory on them. If it proves successful I will write the book out in a way that normal people will be able to relate to. If I don't do it this way I am sure to be discredited.

22 November 1859
Thursday 
My book is finally on sale. 1250 copies of my book were produced but more people have subscribed than books were made, so that is a bit of a problem. The theory in question is that species evolve around different habitats and climates by natural selection. For example maybe once upon a time giraffes had short necks. Then one was born that had a longer neck and it was able to reach juicier leaves that the others couldn't, and because of it it lived a lot longer than the others and it has lots of children, all with longer necks. Now all of these giraffes had longer necks and they started to take over from the shorter neck ones. Then some of his grandchildren had even longer ones and the process keeps going on for hundreds of years until their necks are as long as they can go.

Afterword
Darwin's book proved very popular indeed and people are still reading it, for example my Mum just finished reading his Origin of Species and a number of other books by other people about him too. If Darwin new how many people had read his book he would be very proud indeed, and he should be.

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