Southern Marquesas

We've been in Hiva Oa for a few days now and are getting ready to move on. We're hoping that the weather will cooperate to allow us to sail to Fatu Hiva, a spectacular island to the south. Then we'll likely visit Tahuata before heading north to Oa Pou and then Nuka Hiva. As Canadians, we get a month visa upon entry with an option to extend it to three months. To do the extension, however, we need to post a bond equivalent to two plane tickets back to Canada (nearly $3000) and no Visa credit cards have been able to processed at the one bank on the island due to some malfunction, so we're stuck in bureaucratic limbo at the moment (one month is not enough time to get through French Polynesia). Anyway, we're confident that it'll get sorted out one way or another.

It's been lots of fun in our anchorage, with cruising boats from around the world. We were the smallest boat in the anchorage until today, when an Italian single hander turned up in his bathtub of a boat. One couple was actually from Deep River (Ontario) and knew John Coleman's (our brother-in-law) family (a very small world considering the size of Deep River).

We are lucky to be able to communicate with the locals, who only speak French and Marquesian. While I frowned when Lo loaded a massive copy of 501 French Verbs on board in Vancouver, I have to admit that it has come in handy. While neither of us had used our French for years, we're surprised by how quickly and easily it came back. Granted, we probably speak like 5 year olds, but hey, it gets the job done.

Salut