It feels as if we have finally settled into why we are doing this. The trials and tribulations are all becoming worth it. We have landed in a place so beautiful and so remote that few regular tourist visit. The reward of all this time spent preparing the boat, waiting for sails, and enduring a huge ocean passage has finally come. We are actually cruising, exploring and experiencing this amazing place!
Once we arrived in Hiva Oa, we needed to check in with the Gendarmerie, otherwise known as customs and immigration. Unfortunately, Hiva Oa anchorage isn’t great. We decided to anchor outside the breakwater with a few other boats, which quite honestly became miserable after 24 hours. Not only was the swell making us feel like we were still underway, but local boats were coming in and out creating more waves. Getting on and off the dinghy was maybe the worst part. Getting the dinghy raised up on the arch at night was dangerous. There’s an inner section behind a breakwater that is somewhat protected, but it was extremely tight and I was not feeling comfortable squeezing in between a bunch of boats with little maneuverability in reverse. Additionally, a supply ship from Tahiti comes every so often and there’s an area that needs to stay clear and you will be asked to move if you are there. It came while we were there and it was a huge cargo ship! We were amazed watching it come in at dusk and enter this tiny harbor.
The Gendarmerie and most provisioning was a bit of a walk, about a mile and a half with hills, and we had serious sea legs. We got the dinghy prepared and set off to get checked into French Polynesia before they closed for the day at 11:30am. The check in process involved filling out a form online, reserving a refundable one way plane ticket back to the states 90 days from now, and then all crew is required to come to show their passports at the Gendarmerie. It was honestly the simplest check in we’ve had since coming into USVI. They didn’t ask for my ZARP (clearance paperwork from Panama), they didn’t do any of the biosecurity inspections, and they simply took our passports, reviewed my vessel registration, the online form, the plane ticket PDF on my phone and sent us on our way in 5 minutes. Wallah, 90 days in French Polynesia, done!
Bear in mind French Polynesia is comprised of a huge area, so while 90 days seems like a lot of time, it’s really not. After Marquesas, you still have the Tuamotu’s, and the Society Islands to visit. If you arrived at Gambier, further east, you would add that to the mix. You could spend a full year here and not visit all the islands and atolls that comprise FP. Regardless, the extended visa process is a huge undertaking, so we decided this would suffice. The world has far more for us to see!
We were told to go to the Marie (town hall) next and pay a water and garbage tax but they were closed. We tried two more times before leaving, even on a Monday morning and they were still closed. We couldn’t stay in the rolly anchorage another day just to wait to pay a small tax. We walked to town 3 times in the next 3 days, each time shopping for provisions, stuffing as much as we could in our backpacks and lugging it back to the boat. One time we got lucky and secured a ride back by a local with a few other cruisers. That was also the time we had the most to carry. By day 3 our legs were trashed… We had been at sea for over 30 days and while your legs do a lot of balancing and climbing around on the boat, there’s no walking. We were beat up and ready to rest!
We moved over to the island of Tahuata next door to a popular anchorage known for being calm with clear water, and manta rays, Hanamoenoa. There was some snorkeling there and a nice beach. Calm anchorage are not super common in the Marquesas because these islands unlike Tuamotus and Society Islands, lack coral reef protection, so most anchorages do have a swell. Certain ones are better and in those the swell really isn’t that bad. Reverie was in desperate need of a hull scrub after the long passage. Not only was she invaded by goose neck barnacles on the lee side and on her stern, but she was slimy all above the waterline. It was a sad site and required immediate attention.
Arriving in Hanamoenoa was an instant relief. The calmness alone finally allowed us (especially me) to relax and feel like we could rest and recover from our long passage and the miles of walking we did in the days prior! We felt lucky, Reverie crossed the Pacific and the biggest job we had to do was clean her hull. There were a few other small items of maintenance, but in general our work had paid off and we were in pretty good shape to begin our exploration of the South Pacific!
It took most of one day and a few hours to clean the hull and Patience’s rudder. Some of the stuff above the antifol on the hull above water line (when sitting still) didn’t want to come off. Scrubbing the hull is a full body work out and I had lost my suction cup in Panama which gives you something to hold onto. Imagine being in the water. It’s fluid and hard to stay in one place. Each scrape and scrub pushes you away and you cannot get purchase to apply force. So you have to kick as you scrub. And as I mentioned, all that growth from the sea doesn’t like to come off. Even small sparse barnacles on the antifoul wasn’t easy to remove A woman from a nearby boat swam over after watching us and brought is one! By that time we had 65% of the hull done, but we certainly wouldn’t turn down the offer. By early afternoon on day 2 the hull was clean!
Some local guys is a boat came around selling fruit to all the cruisers. Particularly, the best of all is the local grapefruit, better known as pamplemousse. It may be the best grapefruit we’ve ever had!. In addition we ended up with bananas, breadfruit, some local plantains, and some Vi Tahiti fruit which is kind of like a fibrous apple that becomes more tart as it ripens. We had gotten some fruit in Hiva Oa, but now we were set for a few weeks! They sold us a garbage bag full and then piled more on the deck after.
We enjoyed 3 days or rest and snorkeling in Hanamoenoa. Then it was time to further our exploration of the Marquesas Islands. I had my mind set on not missing Fatu Hiva and the famous Hanavave (sometimes known as Bay of Virgins) anchorage. Unfortunately, it was upwind from where we were about 40 miles.
Our Route:
The Marquesas are divided into a north (Te Henua ʻEnana) and south (Te Fenua ʻEnata) sector. The Marquesas tend to be arid without very consistent precipitation. However, we happened to be here in the wet season, technically May – October which is the opposite of Tuamotu’s and Tahiti. This is due to the proximity of the Marquesas to the equator. These islands are mountainous and extremely 3 dimensional with pinnacles, ridges and rock faces, and mountains green and forested, all steeply diving toward the ocean. Every anchorage is a stunning and dramatic landscape. When you step onto shore in the remote villages, you feel like you are stepping into someone’s home. The people are friendly and welcoming. There are many skilled artisans since the tiki and tapas are a huge part of their historical culture. We couldn’t visit every island, but here’s what we managed to fit in:
- Hiva Oa – Atuona
- Tahuata – Hanamoenoa Bay
- Fatu Hiva – Hanavave Bay
- Tahuata – Hapatoni Bay
- Nuku Hiva – Taioha’e
- Nuku Hiva – Anaho Bay
Hanavave Bay – Fatu Hiva
When sailors consider crossing the Pacific, they dream about landing in this bay in the Marquesas as their first stop. It is also called “The Bay of Virgins” and it’s a dramatic landscape with a very beautiful village, amazing drinking water at the dinghy dock, a waterfall to swim in, and wildlife that has evolved from domestic animals brought over by the Europeans. Goats climb the pinnacles and steep mountains speckling the landscape, chickens roam the village, and pigs live wild. The locals will hunt and even catch and domesticate the wild farm animals as a source of food. Meanwhile, the natural wildlife mostly comes from the sea. Manta Rays glide and do somersaults through the water, fish jump in schools as they evade the predators, frigates fly high looking for their next meal to steal from the booby who does all the hard work catching it. It certainly is a paradise…
While I wanted this to be our first landing, you cannot clear into French Polynesia here and we had heard they will fine you if there is a patrol. That said, most folks say there is no patrol and the majority of people do it anyway. Unfortunately, this island is upwind of Hiva Oa, making it a not so nice sail to come to after the fact. I was worried I would be uneasy and want to leave too quickly to ensure we were legal, so we decided to bite the bullet and suck up the 40 mile upwind battle. I would not miss what many people say is the most beautiful anchorage in the world!
We departed at 3am from Hanamoenoa Bay and battled the wind head on. We had to run the engine the entire time as the waves were slowing us down so much and there was no way we would arrive in daylight. It was a very annoying day, but worth the effort. We arrived just at sundown and this anchorage is deep! If you go in too close you risk dragging anchor due to rocks being pushed out by the river. There were 7 other boats and it was getting dark. We opted to anchor in the back in 90 ft of water. It took all our 200’+ chain plus another 50ft or so of rode!
The next day we hiked through town to the waterfall and went for a swim on fresh water! The village is so quaint and well cared for. In all of the Marquesas it feels like the locals care deeply about their home. Even if they don’t have much, they rake the road sides, landscape around their homes, and leave no trash anywhere. It is the cleanest place we have visited in a long time.
We spent around 5 days here. We hiked up the steep road that goes to the neighboring village to get to the top where the cross is for insanely amazing views of this dramatic landscape. We went for a dinghy ride around the sea cliffs and had a manta ray gliding up right next to the dinghy as we floated it gently flapped it’s wings around us. The one downside to here is there’s not much in terms of snorkeling since it’s quite deep. We also had a lot of rain during our stay. It always opened up for some period of time during the day, but much of that time the clouds hugged the high mountains.
The anchorage was not extremely packed with only7 boats when we entered. We had gotten lucky. All those boats disappeared one by one over the next few days. For about 4 hours we were the only boat in the anchorage. I snapped a shot from high on the mountain of lone Reverie, a speck in the bay. That evening more and more boats came. The next day more. The following day even more. It was time to go and getting very crowded. By this point there were 18 boats in the anchorage, one of which we knew was right on top of our anchor. I had to message them on Noforeignland to leave. At first he tried getting in the dinghy in case he could just bump his boat over, but it became apparent, they would have to pull their hook for us to get ours out from under them. We had planned to try the southern anchorage for a day before leaving for Nuku Hiva as we awaited the wind to come back and in the right direction. That would not be the case… That morning the rain was intense and it seemed the dam at the river may have been overcome. the anchorage went from deep blue clear water to mud and coconuts. We departed and motored around the corner. A supply / passenger ship was anchored just outside the southern anchorage. We approach and the conditions were terrible. There was no way we could anchor there. So, it was an immediate change of plans. We threw on the autopilot and got the dinghy on deck and deflated while bobbing slowly forward in the ocean and headed back to Tahuata, Hapatoni Bay.
Hapatoni Bay, Tahuata
Once we realized the southern anchorage in Fatu Hiva was a no go, Hapatoni made the most sense as the closest stop. It looked like a nice anchorage with some snorkeling, resident spinner dolphins, and an artisan market where locals sell their carvings. Unfortunately due to the lack of preparation, this meant we would arrive into this bay at night. It appeared to be a relatively simple anchorage, so we crossed our fingers and sailed on. That is, until the wind died… Then we motored. Most of the way unfortunately was under engine. It did however allow us an earlier arrival than predicted at around 10:30pm. As we began approaching the south side of the island something happened that neither Tony nor I could have ever imagined. It smelled so strongly of flowers, like gardenias. Typically, land smells somewhat foul, like a low tide, but this was glorious and sweet.
Coming into the anchorage I was nervous. We couldn’t tell for sure how many boats were there, but I knew at least a few. There is one area where there are rocks and we needed to be in the sandy area for good holding. It was deep and the shallowest water required you to go close into the cliff line. It was really dark with no moon and I had to focus on the chart plotter. It’ feels like being in a video game. Tony was up on the bow with the mag light to keep a close eye. As we approached I could see one anchor light. Then all the sudden Tony yells “I think there’s another boat on your starboard bow with no anchor light!” Then I saw it and it seemed so close. I panicked slightly as I threw Reverie into reverse. I needed to circle again and get my bearing. Deep breaths, we can get this done in the dark. Trust yourself… We did a circle and I had Tony shine the light between the boats. I would try and snug up between them as it appeared there was space and I could be confident it would be sandy. Shortly thereafter we were anchored. It was not perfect and we would move later to have a better position and a bit more scope out, but it would be ok for now…
The following day I pushed Tony to be ready mid-morning so we could we could go to the artisan market that would for sure be open because a small tourist boat from Hiva Oa was coming in. One the way to the dinghy dock we were greeted by at least 30 spinner dolphins. A small group of 6 of them stayed with us for a ways as we slowly moved toward the village.
Hapatoni was yet another beautiful village, even smaller though than Hanavave, with not a single store. It was perfectly manicured with large centuries-old Tamanu trees along the shoreline. The closest store was one bay north and a 3.5 km walk or drive over the mountain on a jeep track. The smell of those flowers once again overcame our senses.
The market was small, but the works of art so beautiful that it was hard to choose what to take back for the wall collection. I circled the tables multiple times. There were rosewood carvings and bone carvings, some combinations of both. There was jewelry and more decorative items. I settled on a paddle carved from rosewood and a necklace with a bone carving. We spent another 2 days here and did some snorkeling which was decent along the cliff wall. We had one day of bad visibility and then it improved the following day. Then the rain set in. It was time to move on to Nuku Hiva. The wind had come back to it’s normal self, at least according to the forecast…
Taioha’e, Nuku Hiva
The sail to Nuku Hiva was a little over 100 nm. This meant that we would need to do an overnight to arrive the following morning. We departed around 3:30pm from Hapatoni hoping to get settled before night set in. It was immediately annoying. The rainy weather and the lee of the island were playing games with the wind. It was there and then it wasn’t. It was coming from the right direction and then it wasn’t. To add to it, the seas were not great. Just a bit rolly and uncomfortable. A few hours later it improved slightly and we had some great wind and were speeding along. Then it got fickle again. Lot’s of whomp whomping of the sails, lots of rolling with the messy following sea. It ended up being much slower than the PredictWind predicted and we arrived late morning in Taioha’e Bay. This is the main town and largest of all the Marquesas. It’s a huge bay and there’s a lot of boats in it. We settled easily in a wide area between other boats closer to the side of the bay with the dinghy dock.
No matter where you are in the Marquesas, the landscape continues to impress. Every place is beautiful and unique in its own way. Even though the water quality here wasn’t as nice and the anchorage wasn’t very comfortable, it was still beautiful. We were here for business only though. Time to do some provisioning… It had been almost two weeks since we had a proper provisioning session.
The dinghy dock here is large and busy. It also has an annoying surge. It can be challenging to get on and off the dinghy with many dinghies and only two ladders. Fishermen toss discarded fish parts into the water so there’s a ton of black tip sharks lurking and feeding.
We stayed here for 3 days and walked to multiple small grocery stores each day, sometimes twice a day, buying more and carrying it all back to the dinghy and the boat. The final day we took the dinghy over to fill our diesel jugs and prepared to leave the following morning.
We planned to depart for Anaho Bay at 7am. We were swapping roles. Tony would skipper this one and I would be crew (but also remain Captain). He planned the whole thing, used the weather app to determine our course and decide our departure time. We woke early and after some coffee went to the bow so Tony could explain the anchor since I rarely do it and only know portions of what he does up there. Then Tony looked over and saw it. Our starboard headsail sheet was hanging in the water. He picked it up and immediately said “this line has been cut.” I was confused. Then we looked around more. Two spare lines hanging on the stern had been taken. Then we noticed the furling line and the boom vang line were also cut. The boom vang was maybe the scariest because at that moment, I nknew someone had to have boarded the boat while we were sleeping. The whole thing was so strange. It felt so malicious. There was $150 worth of diesel on deck, a chart plotter, a starlink that they could have taken, yet they just cut lines making it harder for us to depart.
Luckily we had spares and now I wanted out of here as quick as possible so we set to replacing the sheet and the furling line. The boom vang would just be shorter. It was extra long anyway. I just kept looking aoround me wondering who and why someone would do this. We minded our own business. We were respectful. It made no sense. I posted the warning on Noforeignland and we later learned another boat had the same type of vandalism that night across the bay when they commented on the post. There had been a few other warnings of boats who used a stern anchor having them cut and then dragging. We didn’t use a stern anchor. Things could have been so much worse, but it was extremely creepy to think that someone boarded the boat while we were sleeping.
Anaho Bay, Nuku Hiva
The best of all of the Marquesas saved for last. The impression left from this place will never be forgotten. It was the best anchorage for us and likely the best anchorage in all of the Marquesas. The water is calm, the landscape is stunning, there’s drinking water at the dinghy landing, farmers with amazing fruit and vegitables for sale, good hiking, and even a bit of decent snorkling. The only downside was the fact that I got anihilated by sand flies without even knowing it on our hike.
We decided to hike over the small saddle to the beach / bay on the eastern side. This puts you hiking through the orchards of Roger and a few other locals growing fruit. We were flagged down by one of them who gave us a taste of the watermelon he was growing. We continued to the beach after and really wanted to get a look at the rock spires on the other side. I had forgotten my sunshirt and was in a tank top. When we crossed the beach after watching the crabs follow the surf and proceeded into the trees on the other side to try and find a way up to the spires. We tried to follow what appeared to be a trail and then it disappeared. I though maybe I noticed something biting me, but couldn’t see anything. We went back out to the beach and hopped some rocks to try and reach the hill up to the spires and then we saw some locals, one on a horse, likely out hunting. Perfect, now we know the way. We hiked up to the spires, mostly on goat trail once we passed the local guys. Goats were climbing the cliffs and they told us to be careful of rockfall. We returned to the boat with tired legs after at least a 5 mile hike. The next day the outcome of what I thought was something biting me was a bit scary to look at. Surprisingly it was not terribly itchy. I may have gotten lucky because I read this is not always the case. It seems I had been bitten excessively all over my arms and shoulers by sand flies (AKA nono’s).
The following day our legs were sore, so we rested and did some snorkeling. While the water clarity wasn’t great, there was some really amazing coral formations and tons of fish life including turtles. One day I went for a paddle board. I followed the reef around the bay. At one point I was paddling along looking over at a turtle when I heard a loud water rushing sound. I looked up and tons of foot long fish were jumping out of the water in unison in front of me. I tried to film them under water and was mildly successful. I crossed the bay and when I started paddling back and coming close to the reef, those same fish leeped out of the water all right toward me. I squeeled as I was so stunned to see tons of fish heading straight for me… I wondered if anyone heard me and started histerically laughing.
We needed to order fruit and produce from Roger one day prior to when we wanted it, so we went to shore one afternoon and met Valerie at Roger’s house who took our order. We would pick it up the following day at 4pm. Sadly she was worried we wouldn’t return for our order as some cruisers have not kept their word. We would certainly be back, I promised.
When we returned the following day we were handed pomplemousse, cucumbers, tapioca, bananas, watermelon, lettuce, thai basil, limes, and eggplant. It was a beautiful spread and filled 3+ shopping bags. All for $50 which is a pretty good deal in FP. His home garden is so beautiful and the soil here is obviously quite rich in nutrients.
Our plan was to hop over to the neighboring bay to hit a small store before leaving that afternoon on our passage to the Tuamotu’s. The following morning we pulled the hook and somewhat reluctantly left the best anchorage in the Marquesas. If we weren’t under a 90 day visa, we may have stayed longer. We motored around the point, anchored, went into town and got what we could at two small stores. Then we prepared for the passage and departed the Marquesas at 3pm on June 18th.
3 responses to “The Marquesas Islands: A Remote Cruising Paradise”
What an awesome and spectacular adventure. Thanks for sharing
It’s like your in another world! It looks like so much fun and such an incredible adventure with memories for a lifetime.
You guys are so photogenic!