Relaxing and Recovering in Hiva Oa

With such a long gap between blogs, perhaps you were thinking we had abandoned ship and headed for the hills?  Does that sound like us? Of course not! You can’t get rid of us that easy.  We have had Dad on the case chasing up parts and sending them to us, while we have been merrily exploring the remote islands of the Marquesas.  But first a word on our stay at Hiva Oa, the island we first arrived at.

Anchorage at Hiva Oa

Anchorage at Hiva Oa

After our lovely long sleep, we made it to shore the next morning to put our feet firmly on solid ground for the first time in nearly a month.  It was glorious.  We headed into town where we checked in at the Gendarmerie. We asked the Gendarme, in our broken French, whether there was a mechanic on the island who could help us with our broken autopilot.  Going beyond the call of duty, he called up the professor at the local mechanic school, who said they could weld it for us.  A local, who happened to also be in the office, offered to drive us there.  These people just couldn’t be more helpful. 

Up the hill at the mechanic school, we conversed with the French professor with the help of our “French for Cruisers” book, a few diagrams and a lot of hand gestures.   In a few days, we had our autopilot tiller fixed sufficiently to get us to Tahiti where we have a complete replacement coming. 

Over the next week, we headed to the shop just about ever day for baguettes (that we often ate at least one of before we made it back to the boat!), fresh tomatoes and French cheese.  Sometimes we ate lunch at the local stall, which offered baguette sandwiches with a range of fillings including omelette or french-fries.  We visited Paul Gauguin’s home, that is now a museum, which boasted a huge amount of copies of his artworks, but no original. 

 

We spent a good amount of time fixing the odd thing here and there and cleaning the boat, which had been a bit neglected during the sea passage.  

We were visited often by the local wasps who were more annoying than aggressive and twice the size of any wasp I’ve ever seen. 

I attempted cutting Gary's hair.  Perhaps 5pm, just after my first wine of the night, was not the time to begin this mission, especially without a comb.  Gary gave me instructions on how to cut it, beginning with the sides and back.  I hacked away at it until the light was so bad I couldn't really see what I was doing, and all my giggling began to concern Gary.  He was left with the top part still untouched and so long it went past his ears.  It wasn't until a week later that he got the confidence to let me attack the top! 

But mostly, if I’m honest, we spent a ridiculous amount of time relaxing, reading, watching movies and sleeping.  After a week on Hiva Oa, we decided we were ready to explore the other islands.  Next stop Tuahata then Fatu Hiva.