Aranui is a working freighter home-ported in Papeete, Tahiti. It carries passengers- on this voyage about seventy of all nationaIities, mostly French, but with a good mix of Americans, English, Canadians, Italians and Germans. Aranui carries all kinds of trade goods, food and construction materials to the islands, and returns with various island produce. We had a very large and comfortable suite on the deck below the bridge, with its own balcony.
We left Papeete at sundown and headed north toward the Tuamotu Archipelago, a two-day sail. Our first stop was in Takapoto. The Tuamotus are flat coral atolls, with spectacular white beaches and clear blue seas. The villages are small, and normally situated on the seaward side of the atolls. It's about a ten-minute walk from the landing across to the lagoon. From the warm clear waters of the lagoons come most of the world's limited supply of black pearls.We spent the day in Takapoto, and then headed North again toward the dramatic mountains, green valleys and crashing surf of the Marquesas.
The voyage is planned so that the ship arrives at an island destination in the early morning. While the crew loads and unloads cargo from the forward main deck, passengers debark down a steep accommodation ladder into whaleboats and head ashore.
Usually the sea is calm, but if there is a heavy surf running, getting into the whaleboats from the ladder, and jumping ashore onto the stone quays that serve each small village is an adventure.
Sometimes we were docked, but mostly it was getting ashore by whaleboat. On one or two of the larger islands, where there might be some distance between the landing and main part of town, we went into town by "le truc" an open-sided vehicle with three lengthwise benches which provides free jitney service for the town. On longer trips, up to the mountains for example, the ship arranged for vans, with picnic supplies, to pick us up
Most of the villages are small, with no more than a few hundred inhabitants. In some of them there would be a palm thatched restaurant famous for some local specialty -- roast pig, roast goat, or some other Marquesan dish. We really enjoyed these feasts. Very little English is spoken, it's either the native Marquesan, or French. Because the islands are so hard to reach, and generally have no beaches worth mentioning, there are very few tourists. The people you meet are reserved, but they will always give you a smile and a "Bonjour".
Every once in awhile the ship would anchor out, off the beach, and we would go ashore by whaleboat right onto the beach. That was generally a pretty wet way to get on and off the island -- you'd need sand shoes, and clothes you didn't mind getting soaked.And every once in awhile, there was a decent beach for swimming.. When we were in port, one of the favorite activities of the village kids was swinging on the mooring ropes.
Wherever we were, the commercial activity of the ship took precedence. Whether tied up or anchored out, loading and offloading went on while the passengers were ashore. The major exports of the islands are copra (dried coconut) and noni juice, from the noni fruit picked and pressed by villagers and stored in blue 50 gal. drums which are waiting by the hundreds when the ship hits port. American health food stores sell noni juice for its supposed health-giving qualities, and although the Marquesans have never used it for this (or any other) purpose they are now beginning to do so because they hear the Americans think it's good for them.
Every village has a Catholic Church, some of them quite impressive. Paul Gauguin is buried in a graveyard on the island of Nuku Hiva, as is Jacques Brel, the Belgian singer. Jacques's longtime mistress erected a tombstone on his grave, which featured both of their carved likenesses. Jacques's wife and daughter came the next year and took it down, and put up one of their own. The next year, the mistress came back and put up her original tombstone. This back-and-forth went on for a few years until the Village Council met and declared that the mistress's tombstone was the only one allowed to be in place over his grave. A good South Pacific story
In most of the villages the local folks were set up to demonstrate their arts and crafts, which featured mostly a lot of wood carving, shell necklaces, and the making of tapa cloth. At the end of the day it was always nice to get back to the ship for a swim before cocktail time. We had a "one class" dining facility, cafeteria style at breakfast and with full three course meals served at dinner and lunch, with all the wine you could drink. The food was very good. The crew were unfailingly pleasant and helpful.
Aranui offers accommodations in a range from very sizable suites, to smaller rooms, to dormitory style. Everyone eats together. We had a good-sized bedroom, with an adjoining sitting room, a big forward- facing window, and a very comfortable balcony. The bathroom had a big tub, and shower.The ship was very modern and clean in every respect.
Dress is extremely casual. I could have managed the entire trip on one pair of shorts, sandals and a T-shirt (if I had been by myself, that is). As it was, there was a very efficient do-it-yourself laundry to which Heidi made her way every couple of days, and that suited us just fine. There was one dress-up night when we all met for cocktails around the pool, but otherwise no organized social activity aboard ship. We gave a small cocktail party for some new friends in our cabin for Heidi's 70th birthday.There is a bar, which we almost never went to, because it was very nice to have a sundowner on our balcony.
It seems too much of an afterthought to speak of the wild beauty of the Marquesas Islands. Deserted, green valleys, high mountains with clliffs plunging into the sea, dense green jungles.The hikers -- and there were many of them -- could almost always count on a fascinating eight or ten mile trek every day, and there were shorter walks for those who weren't quite so ambitious. Ancient tikis, sacrificial sites, remains of temples and meeting places for the people high up in the hills and buried in the jungle-- all were made accessible to those who wanted to see them.
Every night aboard ship, there was a lecture by a specialist in the Marquesas culture -- tattooing, the ancient sites, island navigation, etc.This was followed by a brief outline of the following day's activities -- the island we'd be calling on, departure times for the whaleboats, plans for lunch, etc..
On the way back, in the Tuamotus again, I spent a day diving the Fakarava Reef pass. At one point, I'll bet there were 30 sharks in the water around us.
Diving, walking, just hanging out in the village, being with nice people on a lovely ship in a very rare and beautiful and secluded part of the world. Seventeen ports of call,to places with names like Ua Pou, Nuku Hiva, Ua Huku, Hiva Oa, Fatu Hiva, Tahuata. It was a long journey to get there, but it was unforgettable..
A Journey to the Islands of French Polynesia...
From Baltimore to Tahiti, up through the Tuamotu Archipelago, on to the remote islands of the Marquesas, back to the Tuamotus, Tahiti and home
March 20- April 11, 2005
