Surf and Turf

We left Baie Marquisienne headed back to Taiohae on Nuku Hiva. Once we turned the point headed east around the island, it was an upwind slog motoring into wind and swell. But, it was a relatively short trip. Despite the conditions and the length of the trip, Mike was determined to turn his luck around at fishing and trolled two lines off the back. His perseverance was rewarded when both lines zinged at the same time and pulled quite a bit of line. We had two good size fish on!

It took some time to get both fish aboard with the rolly conditions, but we pulled in two really nice yellowfin tuna!

We circled around the inner part of Taiohae bay so that Mike could filet both fish in a bit calmer conditions, and I could get the fish into the freezer pretty quickly. Once we anchored, we headed into shore to see if we could catch any store open (it was too late) and check our email. As we were pulling up to the dock, we ran into our friends on Desiderata (who made us that awesome curry dinner). We offered to bring them some of the tuna we had caught, and they offered to give us some goat in return.

They had negotiated with some locals to purchase a whole goat from them. I was wondering how the locals got meat other than fish on the island, as all the frozen meat in the magasins is imported and quite expensive. You can buy frozen meat from the US and lamb from New Zealand, but it will cost you. I was going to buy a chicken breast in the store until I realized it was $16.

So, the locals eat the chickens, goats and pigs on the island. We also saw cows, but I don’t know if they are beef or dairy. I’m sure that some of the goats and pigs are owned, but we’ve heard that hunting on the island is big too, so I assume a lot of them are wild. Anyway, Desi had bought a whole goat for $50.

The next day we waited with Desi for the goat to arrive. I wasn’t sure how a whole goat gets delivered. But, a pickup pulled up and a woman got out with a large plastic sack containing the goat. It had been skinned and gutted (no head, thank goodness), but otherwise it was in one whole piece and had not been butchered. I try not to get too squeamish about where food comes from, but it looked a lot more like a goat than a steak or pork chop in the store looks like the animal it came from.

The next day we headed over to Desi to swap our tuna for some goat. They were very generous and gave us some ziplock bags stuffed with goat meat, and we gave them some big filets of tuna. Stuart had butchered the goat and even rendered stock from the bones. He gave me a nice portion of goat stock to work with. And, as a bonus they gave us some homemade mango chutney. I tried to get a few tips on how to cook the goat, as I have never done it. Julia recommended the pressure cooker as goat needs to be cooked quite a bit to get tender. I’ll let you know how it goes…

Meanwhile, we decided to have our own surf and turf meal aboard Kini Popo. Dan had some lamb chops defrosted that he had picked up at the magasin and suggested the combination with the fresh tuna. We added rice, veggies and some tamarind daiquiris to the mix and made a feast. You know the dinner is good when no one is talking and everyone is just focused on their plates.

While in Taiohae, we got the carburetor on the dive compressor cleaned out and some tanks filled so we would be ready to go when we found a new dive spot. We also got some chores done like topping up our propane tanks. This is apparently the only place in the Marquesas that has the US fittings for propane tanks. Even though we hadn’t burned through a whole tank, it just made sense to fill up while we were there. We carry a lot of propane compared to most cruising boats, but we also like to cook a lot.

We started planning the next leg of our journey. We intended to stop at Ua Poa and then head down to Tahuata. Dan’s friends were arriving in Hiva Oa in about 5 days, and we needed to make our way down there. After looking at the weather forecasts and conditions, it didn’t make sense to stop at Ua Poa. If we did, we were going to get hit with some nasty weather on the second leg to Tahuata. So, we made the decision to go straight to Tahuata, which was an 80 mile sail. We know that we will be back in the Marquesas toward the end of the season, so we will try to hit Ua Poa then.

The sail to Tahuata was pretty straight forward. We knew we were going to be heading upwind. We had roughly 15 kts of wind at about a 35 deg apparent wind angle. It was a little bumpy heading into the swell, but tolerable. We left just as the sun was setting and arrived the next morning.

The anchorage was picturesque with white sand beaches and clear blue water. After dropping anchor in what we hoped was a bit of sand amidst the rocks, Mike dove on the anchor to make sure it set. As he was in the water, I looked at the two catamarans already anchored in the bay. I immediately recognized Ivadel, who we had met over a year ago in Chiapas, Mexico. If you’ve been reading the blog since then, you might recall that they are a French couple named Philippe and Caroline. Philippe was previously an award winning baker in Paris and taught me and Katie (from Kya) how to make French baguettes.

I hollered at Mike in the water that I spotted Ivadel, and he swam over to say hello. We’re invited to drinks aboard Ivadel this evening. It will be nice to catch up, even if there is a bit of a language barrier. They have a little English, which I’m sure is still better than my French. But, it will give me a chance to practice what French words I do know.

We’re looking forward to exploring Tahuata!

Katie