After a Parrotfish Dinner, Day 15 Nuku Hiva, the village of Taiohae. Lady Mary covered the first 25 miles after that fateful fried fish dinner under sail three days ago. Along the way, we towed our friends’ yacht, which was in distress, into the harbour, and once we had dropped anchor, all we could dream of was a shower and a bed. Since installing the watermaker, our shower has become positively high-end—not from a bottle on deck, but from the actual shower’s long hose, pulled through the starboard heads window. You can have cold water, or—after a passage under power—hot! Nastya was so eager to freshen up under running water that she decided to pull the hose out onto the deck herself, without waiting for someone above to take it. But the showerhead yearned for freedom and suddenly fell straight into the sea. To a depth of 17 metres. The water is murky. Almost no chance of finding it. So now it is back to showering from a bucket of rainwater, or inside the heads with our not-quite-a-hose, which we do only as a last resort, because the compartment never has time to dry out. We are waiting for the captain to gather enough strength for a trip to the hardware store. The list of our Marquesan losses to date is as follows: a tray, one of the young sailor’s sandals, my sports sandals, the tripod case, three highly effective lures, sunglasses, and something else besides. Plus three weeks to recover our health.
Islands of Adventure
Our friends from the yacht Good Run (you know, the ones we towed into the bay) told us about their adventures off the neighbouring island of Ua Pou. After dropping anchor, they went for a walk. They returned to the yacht towards dusk, and when they went inside, they discovered that their floating home was slowly sinking. Things from the lower shelves were floating around the saloon, foodstuffs were swelling up... The water was knee-deep, and the pumps could not cope. The crew grabbed large buckets and rushed to bail it out. Santiago did not immediately find the source of the leak. It turned out that the seawater intake pipe for cooling the refrigerator compressor had corroded. Now, like us, instead of a refrigerator the guys have a cupboard where food sits around. The captain removed the pipe and sealed the inlet opening in the hull. They spent another couple of days washing and drying their things. It was lucky that the crew had only gone ashore for the day, rather than on Fatu Hiva, where we all went on a three-day hike together. Otherwise they would have had to cross the Pacific by swimming. In return, we told them about our own fun, which began with a joyful fishing trip, and together we concluded that the Marquesas are islands of adventure.
On to New Lands
Supposedly today we were thinking of trying to set off for the Tuamotus. Supposedly we will stay here for another week. The Tuamotu Archipelago has two historical names—the Islands of the Russians and the Dangerous Archipelago. The first historical name comes from the fact that a great many of the archipelago’s atolls were discovered by the Russian expeditions of Krusenstern and Lisyansky, Kotzebue, and Lazarev. The second historical name is due to the abundance of shoals, islets invisible from a distance, and coral reefs. Entering the atolls also requires concentration and skill. And that is precisely what the captain and I now need to wait for :). I do not want to whine about ciguatera, but it is still making noticeable adjustments to our schedule. The acute phase has passed; the dull one may drag on for a couple of months. We are not giving up and are bravely reclining aboard the yacht. Our paws ache, our tails are falling off, our heads are splitting, and our skin is burning. “Good thing we didn’t kick the bucket,” says the captain. And he is right—it is a good thing :). Andryukha managed to set foot ashore a couple of times. I have not yet. The young sailor is patiently studying; just now she sat down to write a book called How My Friends and I Flew to the Moon. She intends to sell her masterpiece online. The deckhand is reading South Sea Tales and, in between, tirelessly cooking for the whole family. “Nastya,” we say, “how about cleaning the algae off the hull?” But the water in Taiohae is murky, and metre-and-a-half-long sharks dart about in schools. Nastya pulled a face and said: “No, I’m not cleaning the hull here.” And we thought, actually, she is right—we can hold out until the Tuamotus. After all, if the sharks eat the deckhand, who will look after all of us? The bananas all ripen at once. Rain and sunshine take turns. Cyclone season is approaching. The captain is learning languages. I am being much more productive—six seasons of Game of Thrones in two weeks. I do not like fantasy, so I had to talk myself into it. Winter is coming (that is from the show). I’ll go and do ten squats so my muscles do not forget what they are for. No, five would be better after all. ...Soon we need to put to sea.
— Andrey Klochkov ak3223@gmail.com https://travely-family.com +7 905 945 3223 +372 598 63120