Bay of Virgins

After almost a week in Hiva Oa, having loaded up on fuel and had some good hours of wifi and telephone, found our land legs and got a bit of exercise, we're ready to see the other islands in the Marquesas.

We left on Tuesday and made a 45 mile sail to Fatu Hiva where we anchored at the Bay of Virgins (originally named the Bay of Penises until the Christians showed up and found the name to be offensive to their delicate sensibilities and quickly renamed it). It is a spectacular anchorage and the rock formations are outstanding whatever you want to call them. But certainly more akin to penises than virgins.

In the morning we walked up the hill to get a view of the bay. It is amazing how quickly we get out of shape so it was good to get a little cardio exercise. Then we hiked inland, passing through a coconut grove and a dense rainforest area to get to the waterfall. Such a beautiful island; a real tropical paradise.

As we walked through town we noticed the locals were preparing for a celebration of sorts. We found out it was to be a procession with the Virgin Mary starting around 5 PM so we decided to come back to the island that evening to participate. It was a Christian ceremony where almost the entire town gathered as they carried the statue of the Virgin Mary on a platform elaborately decorated with flowers and leaves and another platform also decorated, with the Baby Jesus and Joseph. We stopped at three different sights that had been decorated for the occasion with leaves and flowers. There were prayers and singing at each location before arriving to the church where they held a full Catholic service. This was all done in the local Polynesian language with a smattering of French and lots of singing which was absolutely wonderful even of we couldn't understand anything. We, as obvious strangers, were warmly welcomed into the group and on arrival to the church were led into the pews near the front. After the service we mingled with the locals and I had a chance to brush up on my French being what it is. They love to trade things here and we were asked for liquor, perfume, pencils, fishing line and whatever else we could spare. Unfortunately we don't carry much on board, really only what we need. But it was nice to chat with the locals and overall it was a really interesting experience. We then retired back to Segwun for a sundowner evening with Sue and Andy from SY Spruce. Tomorrow we set sail for Tahuata.