It’s great having Han on board as she researches all the top things to do at our destinations. This started with an early start to walk up to the waterfall in the cooler morning temperature. We had to walk through the village again, slow progress with Han and Megan cooing over all the cats and dogs along the way. We climbed a little way along the road and then turned off onto a path which got steeper and steeper. There was a wild hibiscus that was dropping its flowers all over the path and they all seemed to land the right way up which was intriguing, they must be weighted to fall that way.
The water fall was very impressive with a very deep pool even though it was only a trickle of water pouring over. It was full of little freshwater shrimp and crayfish, plus Han spotted a large mudskipper thing looking like an eel. We heard later that one of the other boat’s crew had thought it was a snake. It was a very welcome swim after the hot walk up. Nevil and Megan climbed the cliff side and jumped in from a nerve wracking height.
Walking to the waterfall
Dramatic ridge lines and fruit everywhere!
Cattle tethered in amongst the coconut palms
Onto the path
Notches cut into the palm trees so that they can climb them
The path enters the undergrowth of huge leaves
The wild hibiscus littered along the path
The waterfall with not a lot of water coming over
The waterfall plunges into a deep pool cut into the rock in an oval shape
Megan jumping in
The oval shape of the pool better seen by looking up at the sky
On our walk down we met the the Arc crew with all their kids and Renegade, we were rather pleased to have had the place to ourselves, and not to have gone in the heat of the day. Along the way us girls got seriously diverted by offers of pamplemousse by some local men up a tree. Fascinating seeing their seemingly ideal way of life, and the abundance of fruit growing everywhere, mangoes, bananas, citrus and coconuts everywhere. We returned to PolePole for lunch and a rest.
Walking back through the lush coconuts
Harvesting pamplemousse, they kindly gave us loads
Fruit everywhere
Can you spot the hole right through the cliff, at the brown seam
Heading back to PolePole
In the afternoon Han had organised with a guy called Poi to drive us over the pass to the village Omoa, in the next bay along. It was a spectacular hair pin, switch back road with thankfully no traffic on it. It was a spectacular drive, with many stops for photographs. The vegetation and landscape was so different in the next bay. It was raining when we got there so we had a quick view of their Tiki sculptures, they are modern, but nevertheless still impressive. We also went to Poi’s grandmother who sells local made Tapa, their black ink patterned drawings on bread fruit tree bark. We bought a beautiful big turtle for PolePole, I had bought a lovely Manta ray one for Han in Hiva Oa from the craft market. From there we did a 10 minute drive up a very muddy road to see some Petroglyphs on a couple of big rocks. Completely unprotected and un-signposted, just on someone’s plot, these ancient pieces of rock art appear to be disappearing into the under undergrowth. There was an impressive big fish.
On the pass up the mountain to the next bay
Looking down at PolePole, we are the Cat behind the two Cats alongside each other
The crew
Further up looking down to our anchorage
Goats and cattle have destroyed the bush and woodland
Woodland full of mangoes which were introduced
Looking down into the next door bay
Nevil very happy to find an abandoned digger
Polynesian Hannah!
Acacia trees everywhere
Our switchback dirt road at the top
Tikis in the town of Omoa
Modern Tiki in front of the government buildings
Petroglyphs
Big fish
Looks more like a skull to me
Going back
The red leaves, new growth on the mango trees
Dramatic scenery
Late afternoon light on our village where we anchored, Vavane
The steep parts of the pass are well concreted – we only passed one other vehicle, the only vehicles here seem to be 4×4 pick ups
Vavane
We finally made our way back over the mountain, enjoying the late afternoon light on the scenery. We dashed back to PolePole for a quick freshen up and then back to Rosa’s house for our meal. Renegade joined us, and we had a good feast of raw fish, chicken, pork, cabbage and potato gratin. All washed down with fresh mango and orange segments. We had to take our own booze and we all had a very good evening after 3 bottles of wine, beers and G&T’s!
Dinner with Renegade crew at Rosa’s home
Raw tuna on cabbage and a fruit plate
Small moon
Han and Megan have befriended the two Canadian girls crewing on Swedish boat, Blue Sunshine. They had planned another get together with the Argentinian male crew on Pachamama and Mororo. We went to drop them off on our way back to PolePole and we got invited in too! They are both lovely, friendly families, they are really warm and engaging. Pachamama is a 62 foot luxury catamaran and makes us look positively spartan. They have become the designated party boat for the kids as they have so much space. Poor things we arrived as they were trying to eat, but were still very welcoming. Rowan and I left after a glass of wine, the young stayed on until the early hours, we figured if they couldn’t get a lift back they could swim back we were so close!
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