***A fond farewell***
We bid a fond farewell to the island of Nuku Hiva, our last Marquesian island stopover on Thursday evening and decided to put to sea again for the Tuamotus islands.
Our stay in the Marquesian islands of paradise was short lived but packed full of great experiences and wonderful new friends. Some of us, myself included, even decided to take part in the ancient Marquesian ritual of Tattoo. I will be writing a post about my Marquesian tattoo soon. While tattoos may leave their mark, the real lasting impression of Marquesian culture that I sail away with is that of kindness and selflessness. As was their custom hundreds of years ago, Marquesians seldom let you pass their home without inviting you to come inside or to take some fruit from their tree. Almost everyone we met tried to send us away with as many mangos, bananas, lemons or grapefruit as we could carry especially when they heard we were to set sail soon for some new destination.
While cellphones, Internet, TV and other modern "conveniences" that most US families now take for granted make their way to the small islands, I hope their influence will never be so great as to change the simple island life that most Marquesians enjoy. Fishing, farming, song and dance, and kindness and generosity to ones neighbor.
***Life on board***
For now, I hope to be back here with more regular updates. Having had some success lately with our radio communication system. It is 2:20pm onboard the WTP and we are currently in route to the Tuamotus island chain the lies south and west of the Marqueses islands. We are about 220 miles north of the islands and are sailing mostly due south and a little bit east of our propper course partly due to the NE wind direction and partly due to the area of very light wind that we know to be south and west of us.
***Weather***
Light NE wind at about 5-8knots with 3-4 foot NE swell. Last night a rain shower passed over us but we saw only a light drizzle.
Position 00:00pm:
10 deg 28' S
138 deg 40' W
Alan and the Crew