The last days on Nuku Hiva. How the first mate torments the sailor, how attempts to go ashore turn out, and when we set off again
For the third day running, the sailor has been trying to wriggle out of it, while I torment her by drawing her into the following dialogue:
“Nastya, write a post for the website.”
“Oh, Mum, I don’t know what to write.”
“Sweetheart, I’m the one who doesn’t know what to write. What am I supposed to share—how I moan and groan here, and which bit hurts today?”
The daily grind of the sick bay )))
On the third day, Nastya makes a heroic effort and writes a whole half-page :).
For the second week, the first mate’s auto-suggestion routine has gone as follows:
Evening:
“Tomorrow I’ll go ashore too. I’ve got loads of work to do online.”
Morning:
“N-no, I just can’t. I’ll definitely go tomorrow.”
Today marks exactly three weeks of staying strictly at home. That’s a record. Usually, after two days stuck aboard without setting foot ashore, I start yearning for heroic exploits and freedom out on the open range.
The other day, our friends aboard “Manaya” returned from their voyage around Nuku Hiva. We decided to set off for the Tuamotus at roughly the same time, around Tuesday. Monday will be devoted to stocking up on food and going to the post office—to send postcards to our family and to those readers who actively write comments. Eleven in total :). My hand got tired from writing them.
The “Manaya” crew have arrived ))
To celebrate our near-recovery, a joint Swiss-Italian-Russian dinner took place aboard the yacht “Manaya.” In solidarity with our diet, Tommaso and Rosetta cooked a spread of delicious vegetarian dishes and decided to do without wine. Dinner in warm company showed that, at least, I can easily devour delicious food while sitting on a sofa. The next step is actually going ashore. For now, this undertaking seems like an act of heroism, but the main thing is to get into the fray, right? And so, friends, if there is more than one photograph in this post, it means I really did make it to the internet on the pier and managed to access the website itself—something I haven’t done for a whole month :).
For the beginning of the saga of how the captain and I came down with the tropical illness ciguatera, see
Here >>
For now, this is the only angle from which the first mate sees the island
And here are the revelations of our sailor Nastya, written this morning:
The post should be called “They Made Me Do It”
Hello, everyone!
Here’s our latest news: Mum and Dad are recovering veeeery slowly, and in the week we’ve been anchored here, Mum hasn’t been ashore even once. She just lies at home, watches films and reads books, so she has nothing to write in a post. Dad ate less fish (apparently he isn’t quite as greedy, ahahaha), so almost every day he goes ashore with us for groceries and internet access.
Yesterday, our friends from the yacht “Good Run” decided that Lada and I must be bored and took us ashore with them. First, we went for a walk with a Czech girl named Kristina, then we did exercises with her on the grass beside the road and sat in a café. Lada covered every sheet of paper Kristina had with drawings and got everyone around her talking, while I calmly, without rushing, made an Instagram post and replied to some messages (it’s hard to do that with Dad—he always needs to head straight back to the boat).
Nastya and the kids out for a walk
It seems not everyone on the island knows about our ciguatera adventures yet. For example, in the bay where we were anchored before, the whole village was keen to know whether everyone aboard our boat had survived. Yesterday, the owner of the café by the pier, who once treated Mum’s back with an ointment (she saw Mum trudging wearily back from the shop and said, “What’s wrong, does your back hurt?” “Yeah,” Mum replied. “Oh, no problem, I’ve got some fragrant oil here—let me rub it in.” And she did. People here in the Marquesas are very friendly and helpful), asked for the second time where our mum was. They told her our dreadful story.
We’ll probably become the latest tourist attraction in the village of Taiohae :).
Sailor Nastya.
Wishing everyone high spirits!
A little of Nuku Hiva in photographs
There probably won’t be any photos again for a long time—not until Tahiti.
Our friends aboard the catamaran “Azyu” in Taiohae Bay
The recovering captain
Taiohae at sunset
Anaho Bay, where magical little fish take the hook )
The children brought Mum a get-well bouquet
Taiohae from above, with a rare cruise ship in the bay