RISE UP is John's now favorite nickname for Ant. Every morning recently it's "RISE UP we
need to put the spinnaker out". I understand RISE UP comes from the Bills trip on Bella
Donna in the Caribbean Grenadines. The nickname is not the only way Ant is known. He is
also known for Enya's music. Ant worked all day in the Flamenco Marina in Panama cleaning
Bella Donna's exterior while listening to Enya sing on the ipod over the loud speakers so
that all of us had to listen. By the end of the day we were sick of Enya. We make sure we
play Enya for Ant every time he is getting ready to go out for the evening, just to poke
fun and put him in the right mood. We haven't played Enya lately as it's hard to go out
while on passage. Ant has been doing a lot of reading trying to find night life in the
Marquesas; I don't think he has found any yet.
We are less than 1000 miles from destination. Captain John has cleared the blue collar
crew - which excludes RISE UP, John and Deborah - to one drink in celebration, but the
blokes, Tom and Don, have turned down the offer. We will wait till we make land. It has
been quite a few days, we lost count (remember no measuring), since we saw land. Heck it
has been several days since we have seen another vessel. Deborah can't wait to get to
shore for a restaurant and store; we are running low on some perishables at this point.
The bananas we bought in Galapagos have all turned very black, but Deborah has frozen them
for green stuff shakes, our new found healthy life style. Hey wait a minute Deborah; I
thought there was no more room in the fridge. We shall start fishing again tomorrow; we
can't let a few bananas get in our way. There aren't many restaurants on Hiva Oa, there is
Snack Tahuaka that has cold beer and hamburgers, Restaurant Moehau that has good pizza and
Make Make that serves Chinese specialties. Hoa Nui is by reservation only and specializes
in Marquesan cuisine.
The Marquesas Islands are made up of about 14 "islands", some are so small they are really
a rock sticking up out of the sea. Only 6 are inhabited split into 2 groups the Northern
leeward (west) 3 and the Southern windward (east) 3. Paul Gauguin, Herman Melville, Robert
Louis Stevenson, Jack London, Thor Heyerdahl, Jacques Brel… For the last 170 years, the
Marquesas offered an escape for artists, writers, adventures and musicians. The islands
are volcanic like the Hawaiian Islands; there is no protective reef like so many other
Polynesian Islands, thus the Marquesas are not known for beaches. All the islands have
mountainous terrain with lush rain forest valleys. With few destructive insects to ruin
the fruit, trees loaded with mangoes, oranges, limes, tamarind, papayas and bananas fill
the valleys. Hiva Oa is the main island in the southern group and where we must stop first
to check in with French customs and immigration. The problem is the first island to
windward is Fatu Hiva, a must see island. We will have to motor a few hours into the wind
to go back, "up hill", and see this one. There is a bay there that is world famous at
sunset for photographers. The water gets a blue green color and the mountains surrounding
it are purple. The bay is called Bay of Virgins. There is a 2 mile hike to a waterfall and
swimming area. There are mountain trails and fruit tree rich valleys. The island is the
most primitive of the Marquesas.
God Bless Bella Donna.
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