So we had along, unplanned stay on the island of Makemo. We met an extremely nice family there, and I also had some medical issues, but I'll explain that later. Right now we are in Tahanea, but we have had rainy and stormy weather for a good five days; an occluded front is passing through. My mom's 51st birthday was the on the 13th, my grandmother's 84 was on the 4th, today is my grandparent's 59 anniversary, and tomorrow is by brother's 22nd birthday. October is a full month. Makemo is a beautiful island but we had to keep going.
During our stay my brother and I decided to get SCUBA certified in Makemo. The instructor spoke broken English so most of it was watch and learn experience rather that aural explanations. Anyways, our first day of diving was fine, only in about 15 feet of water. I got a headache underwater and when the class was over and we had surfaced it really began to pound. I usually do not get headaches, but it subsided after about 45 minutes. The next day as soon as I went into the water my head started to pound again. It was started again later on by simply putting my head underwater. Then I went to snorkel and dove down, but when I surfaced I was in so much pain that I wasn't sure if I could swim back to the boat. Nobody was in the cockpit and the engine was on, but I managed to swim to the kayak tied to the stern. That was the worst pain I have ever been in, much more painful that breaking a bone, and I have had plenty of that. That night, I finally slept after 5 melatonin and 10 vikodin in 8 hours. The next day we went into the tiny clinic on the island and later took the flight to Papeete, Tahiti. There I went to the emergency room. After a long wait I was finally seen, but the state of the hospital facility was not encouraging. I had a CT scan, which came back negative. The doctor was not satisfied so she performed a Lumbar puncture; she drew spinal fluid from between two lower back vertebrae. The fluid was clear, no sign of blood which ruled out hemorrhaging or meningitis. After that procedure I had to lie horizontal for twelve hours so I spent the night in the hospital. I had a MRI the next day that was a weird experience. It is this huge machine that basically makes all kinds of loud noises at you. That was also negative, so the neurologists were left with the diagnosis of a migraine. It was the first of my life and hopefully the last. It was reassuring however run down the building was, the hospital in Papeete was first rate care, because it is the only place in the middle of the Pacific for medical emergencies. The strangest part of my migrain was that it would get incredibly intense and then lessen but not go away. Even after leaving the hospital, I got the sharp pain a few more times. I saw a homeopath/acupuncturist in Papeete before we flew back, and he told me that I needed to drink more. At that point I had taken a beta-blocker because my mom wanted to see if my headache had anything to do with the fact that I had recently taken some for my fast heart. Since I didn't need it, my heart rate was down to 38 or 40 so it only made my headache worse, but the beta-blockers wore off.
When we got back to Makemo we found out that Lee Wood, my mom's friend and my former pre-school teacher had decided that life on a boat was not suited for her. Titou also went home so no it is only seven of us and my grandparents leave in early November.
We moved anchorage to the old village on the other end of the island and spent a few days there. We decided to do a drift dive in the pass one day because we had been told that it was spectacular. My parents, my grandfather and I went to go snorkel and we completed two drifts. Then my dad wanted to go check out the other side of the pass in the dinghy, so my grandfather went with him and my mom and I stayed to snorkel. We had seen some sharks in the pass but they were all they way on the bottom in forty-feet of water. We swam into the shallower areas into less that ten feet. We saw some black tip reef sharks, but we have become used to those. Then something caught my eye, I called to my mom to alert her; there was a 12 foot lemon shark swimming in about 4 feet of water. Lemons are known to be aggressive and our whole philosophy had been that we would be safe in shallow water. That shark turned over everything. There we were stuck without a dinghy, but the shark moved on and my dad ended up coming back soon thereafter.
After the storm set in, we decided to leave our relatively unprotected anchorage for Tahanea. It was a short six-hour sail because we were doing a consistent eight or nine knots. Now we have been stuck with rain for a while but we plan on continuing to Fakarava shortly.
Now we have a new way of updating the blog so I should be more reliable and consistent.
Best wishes,
Giovanni
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
A Long-Awaited Update - September 24, 2007
We spent a little more than a month in the Marquesas Islands. On the North side of Nuku Hiva we stayed in the spectacular place called Anaho Bay. In the next bay over, Hatiheu, we met really warm people and we got to visit some of the old archaeological sites of the island. We returned to Taiohae after Nico and Steve left from Hatiheu and re-provisioned. After a few days there, we left for the island of Ua Pou. It was only a day sail to the South with beautiful weather.
On Ua Pou we anchored in two different bays, Hakahetau and Hakamaii. The people in the second town were very nice. We were pressed for time because we have to be in Tahiti before hurricane season comes in mid-November, so we left for Tahuata, again heading farther South. On account of winds, we continued beating to the most Southern Marquesas Island, Fatu Hiva. There we stayed in the beautiful Hanavave Bay. It was originally called the Bay of Penises because of phallic rock spires that adorn the hillsides but the name was changed to bay of virgins by adding an e to the French name. We hiked to a waterfall there, which was about 120 feet tall and swam in its deep pool. We saw a whole bunch of waterfalls on Nuku Hiva but we didn't hike to any; this was our first. We then sailed over to the town of Omoa where we were able to buy some tapas, which are pounded tree bark that has been painted with traditional designs using natural ink. There we met a woman who my dad had taken a picture of on his last trip. He and his brother had been hiking over the hill from Hanavave to Omoa and crossed paths with a group of four women about their own age. The woman we met was the only one of the four still living on the island and she could hardly believe it. In Omoa we also met a dentist who lives on Hiva Oa and a schoolteacher from Papeete.
We left for Hiva Oa after a few days. We visited the main town of Atuona mainly for supplies. The dentist we had met, Alex, and his wife Linnea were welcoming and took us around the island. Linnea is part Finnish so it was great for her to meet my grandfather who is Estonian.
Our next stop was in Tahuata, which is a small island only about five miles from Hiva Oa. We had heard that it is exceptionally beautiful and furthermore we had the names of two bone carvers who live there. We anchored in three different bays and restocked on fruit before we set sail again. The last of the three bays was Hapatoni where we met the bone carver Cyril. He had stunning pieces, the best we had seen, and the neighboring bay was home to dolphins so we stayed for a few days. We saw the dolphins but never got a chance to swim with them. The one time we went over the water was filled with jellyfish so we got in and right back out quickly. We then left for the Tuamotu Archipelago.
The Tuamotu islands are South of the Marquesas and East of Tahiti. French Polynesia is essentially split up into five groups of islands: the Marquesas, the Tuamotus, the Society Islands, Gambier, and the Australs. We only plan on visiting the first three groups however. The Marquesas are steep and volcanic, much like Hawaii, while the Tuamotus are low atolls, only small, palm covered, sandy islands. Each atoll consists of many motus, or small islands, surrounding an inner lagoon, protected from the ocean by a reef. The Society Islands, which include Tahiti, are a mixture of the two, they are tall and mountainous, but have an inner lagoon that is protected by a large reef.
Our first stop was the island of Raroia. We arrived on September 17th and stayed for a few days. The snorkeling was beautiful but the multitude of sharks was a little off putting. The town there was small but we did get ice cream one day at the little store, but when we went back it was all gone, along with the wine on the shelf that we were going to buy. We left on the 21st for Makemo. It was an overnight sail, but the wind was completely dead so we motored the whole way; we had to be in Makemo by the 23rd because my grandmother was arriving. Coming in was the first time I was on the helm for a pass and it was not so easy. We always have someone stationed up at the first set of spreaders for a better vantage point. The town here is a bit bigger than Raroia and there is a dive shop so hopefully I can get scuba certified. My grandmother arrived along with Titou, a family friend who was on Rapture for part of the trip 30 years ago. My grandmother brought a lot of stuff from home, books, sheets, rope, a ham radio, just to name a few.
We have all read a ton of books, so if you're looking for a good book just ask. It is truly amazing how time gets eaten away on a boat, especially when you are cooking, cleaning, reading, going to buy groceries, and constantly fixing things on the boat. Small tasks become much larger ones. It's surprising that you never really get bored. I hope everyone back home is doing well, to those who have already started school, I wish you the best.
Giovanni
On Ua Pou we anchored in two different bays, Hakahetau and Hakamaii. The people in the second town were very nice. We were pressed for time because we have to be in Tahiti before hurricane season comes in mid-November, so we left for Tahuata, again heading farther South. On account of winds, we continued beating to the most Southern Marquesas Island, Fatu Hiva. There we stayed in the beautiful Hanavave Bay. It was originally called the Bay of Penises because of phallic rock spires that adorn the hillsides but the name was changed to bay of virgins by adding an e to the French name. We hiked to a waterfall there, which was about 120 feet tall and swam in its deep pool. We saw a whole bunch of waterfalls on Nuku Hiva but we didn't hike to any; this was our first. We then sailed over to the town of Omoa where we were able to buy some tapas, which are pounded tree bark that has been painted with traditional designs using natural ink. There we met a woman who my dad had taken a picture of on his last trip. He and his brother had been hiking over the hill from Hanavave to Omoa and crossed paths with a group of four women about their own age. The woman we met was the only one of the four still living on the island and she could hardly believe it. In Omoa we also met a dentist who lives on Hiva Oa and a schoolteacher from Papeete.
We left for Hiva Oa after a few days. We visited the main town of Atuona mainly for supplies. The dentist we had met, Alex, and his wife Linnea were welcoming and took us around the island. Linnea is part Finnish so it was great for her to meet my grandfather who is Estonian.
Our next stop was in Tahuata, which is a small island only about five miles from Hiva Oa. We had heard that it is exceptionally beautiful and furthermore we had the names of two bone carvers who live there. We anchored in three different bays and restocked on fruit before we set sail again. The last of the three bays was Hapatoni where we met the bone carver Cyril. He had stunning pieces, the best we had seen, and the neighboring bay was home to dolphins so we stayed for a few days. We saw the dolphins but never got a chance to swim with them. The one time we went over the water was filled with jellyfish so we got in and right back out quickly. We then left for the Tuamotu Archipelago.
The Tuamotu islands are South of the Marquesas and East of Tahiti. French Polynesia is essentially split up into five groups of islands: the Marquesas, the Tuamotus, the Society Islands, Gambier, and the Australs. We only plan on visiting the first three groups however. The Marquesas are steep and volcanic, much like Hawaii, while the Tuamotus are low atolls, only small, palm covered, sandy islands. Each atoll consists of many motus, or small islands, surrounding an inner lagoon, protected from the ocean by a reef. The Society Islands, which include Tahiti, are a mixture of the two, they are tall and mountainous, but have an inner lagoon that is protected by a large reef.
Our first stop was the island of Raroia. We arrived on September 17th and stayed for a few days. The snorkeling was beautiful but the multitude of sharks was a little off putting. The town there was small but we did get ice cream one day at the little store, but when we went back it was all gone, along with the wine on the shelf that we were going to buy. We left on the 21st for Makemo. It was an overnight sail, but the wind was completely dead so we motored the whole way; we had to be in Makemo by the 23rd because my grandmother was arriving. Coming in was the first time I was on the helm for a pass and it was not so easy. We always have someone stationed up at the first set of spreaders for a better vantage point. The town here is a bit bigger than Raroia and there is a dive shop so hopefully I can get scuba certified. My grandmother arrived along with Titou, a family friend who was on Rapture for part of the trip 30 years ago. My grandmother brought a lot of stuff from home, books, sheets, rope, a ham radio, just to name a few.
We have all read a ton of books, so if you're looking for a good book just ask. It is truly amazing how time gets eaten away on a boat, especially when you are cooking, cleaning, reading, going to buy groceries, and constantly fixing things on the boat. Small tasks become much larger ones. It's surprising that you never really get bored. I hope everyone back home is doing well, to those who have already started school, I wish you the best.
Giovanni
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