A Voyage through the Marquesas Islands

Added: 2026-05-14

[00:00:00]After 32 days at sea, I arrived here.

[00:00:03]Just dropped anchor. Welcome to the mazes. That's nice. In a previous video, I visited Fatuhiva and was welcomed by locals.

[00:00:11]>> He was [music] like, "Come, come, come."

[00:00:12]And uh he took a stick. He took four papayas off his tree and he gave them to me.

[00:00:19]Went to visit a waterfall.

[00:00:22][music] It's hard to describe this place. It's incredibly tropical [music] and quiet. Had the most amazing local dinner I could imagine arriving after such a long time at sea. Walked up a hill to get a good viewpoint of this island. I came from that road and then I went up here. That's the town and there are those houses. [music] I went for dinner yesterday and then the beautiful view of the bay.

[00:00:50]Then continued sailing from Fathiva to Hiva.

[00:00:57]I fixed a part of my seal which broke on the Pacific crossing and then set off to explore Hiva. Took a tour and drove every single road there is. Visited the town of Hanayyappa and the town on the other far side of the island, Pua Mao, to have another amazing lunch. Red fruit and lime juice and a fish mix and then wild pig and goat.

[00:01:21]Lastly, visited an old ceremonial ground where they used to do celebrations for tattoos, weddings, and human sacrifices.

[00:01:27]I'm hooked from Holland, left my previous life behind to try to find a life of more freedom. I crewed across the Pacific Ocean, later bought my own boat, certainly had a lot to learn, visited almost every island in the Caribbean with many ups and downs.

[00:01:41]Hurricane happened and I could afford to buy a bigger boat. Now I'm crossing [music] the Pacific on my 38T catamaran.

[00:01:49]I'm going to visit the smallest inhabited island of the Mckesus Islands.

[00:01:54]It's about 10 miles from Hiva to Tawata.

[00:01:57]It lies [music] about 1,400 km 850 mi northeast of Tahiti and about 4,800 km 3,000 mi southwest of Mexico. According to quite a lot of Boers, the anchorage called Baya Hanamunoa, [music] where I'm going to, is the most beautiful anchorage in the Marches and is one of the few that has a white sand beach. [music] The first outbound part of this trip is definitely a bit rough. A fast ride for sure. [music] Like the rest of the mases, it is French territory and only around 500 people live on the island. The second downwind part of this trip I'm doing under main sill only. I prefer to do it on a jip, but then for the last 5 miles, I'd have to put the boat into the wind, get the main down. I don't think that's necessary. Still doing like five, six knots.

[00:02:50]>> [music] >> just anchor. It is absolutely beautiful here. I am making [music] lunch and for lunch I'm making fresh tuna filt with vegetables and fries from the air fryer.

[00:03:11][music] Bonapati.

[00:03:17]As dessert, I'm having Pamplamus, which is a sweet local grapefruit.

[00:03:23]Is it beautiful? Yes. This is the most beautiful anchorage in the McKay Islands. I'm going to say no. Up until now, for me, that's Fatuhiva.

[00:03:31][music] The waves can be quite big here to land a dinghy on the beach. So, I'm taking the kayak.

[00:03:50]That was pretty successful.

[00:03:56]Oh no, my kayak paddle broke. So, I'm going to have to go back with one paddle.

[00:04:09]This is becoming one of my favorite things to do. I think I read that this is a great spot for snorkeling. [music] And yesterday I talked to some of my boat neighbors who've been here longer than I've been and probably know the spots better than I do. And I'm going to join them today.

[00:04:24]The last papaya that the guy in Fativa gave to me got ripe today. That's going to be my breakfast.

[00:04:33]>> This right here. I never swam this close to mentor rays. The water is not very clear, but that makes sense because manta rays feed themselves on plankton.

[00:04:42][music] They have tails which act like a rudder. But unlike stingrays who use their tail as a defense mechanism, manta rays have no other way of defending themselves than swimming away from danger. They have very few natural predators though. The predators are large sharks like tiger sharks and bull sharks, orcas and humans.

[00:05:13]For lunch, I'm making chicken pizza. And I've made a couple pizzas on the Pacific Crossing. And I can say it's a lot easier to make him on anchor.

[00:05:22]Bonapi.

[00:05:25]Just pulled up anchor. Today I'm going to explore the main town of this island, Vahu.

[00:05:34]>> [music] >> The main town is about in the middle of the island over here.

[00:05:44][music] It's beautiful here. My only neighbors seem to be leaving. These mountains funnel a lot of wind through which is nice because in my case is full of this gigantic wasp. So hopefully I don't have to use my mosquito screen. Oh no, it's here too. I read that many people don't go to shore here because it's hard to land your dinghy. So, I'm going by kayak. Got a new pedal.

[00:06:16]It's a bit of a rocky entrance for an inflatable kayak, but it went well.

[00:06:22]Let's go explore the town.

[00:06:25][music] >> [music] >> I was recommended to go see the church cuz it's a really beautiful building.

[00:06:40]What I like about the stone masonry here is that these bottom stones, they're pushed in and then with a painters brush [music] or something, the edges are made smooth, but then on the pillars, they really made an edge around it. And this edge gives it a nice texture if you look at it from a distance.

[00:06:59]I also like the use of light wood instead of dark. This makes a space look lighter or brighter. It's really pretty.

[00:07:09]I built a cabin one day mostly with natural materials too. Still don't have a permit to finish [music] it. Maybe I'll finish it one day. Maybe I'll build something else. I don't know. Also pretty the mares signs carved out in wood.

[00:07:33]>> [music] >> Now I'm going to have lunch at Sha Jimmy. Sha Jimmy.

[00:07:43]That looks amazing. Sashimi and fried bread fruit.

[00:07:46]>> That was very good. Before going back to the boat, I'm going to walk up the hill, stretch my legs, and get a viewpoint of the bay. The reason why the other bays are more popular than this one is because you can get 60 70 knots gust here. Wow.

[00:08:00]Beautiful.

[00:08:06]Ma from here is one more anchorage. I'm going to dingy over check it out.

[00:08:16]>> [music] >> This is Bayana Tfala. Definitely a lot more popular as where I am with so many boats here. Very protected. [music] The big mountain on the back. Also a pretty place.

[00:08:35][music] Seems like I got back just in time before the rain starts.

[00:08:53]The whole night I've had like light winds, wind gust, light wind, wind gust.

[00:08:57]It's a real beautiful place. I do understand why people prefer the other anchorages.

[00:09:11]This is the island Tawata and that's Hiva. I'm going there around the corner.

[00:09:18]Ah, it's windy. I was in Hiva in the last video, but now I'm going all the way to the other side of Hiva to a town called Hana Manu where there's no road access. It's about 12 miles from here to here.

[00:09:38]I thought that after leaving the anchorage that it would go back to the normal prediction, 17 knots to 21 gusts, it's been uh it's been gusting up to 40 knots. I wasn't expecting that. It kept blowing 38 to 42 knots for at least an hour and a half. And this was a reminder to me that even if it's a short trip, I still have to be prepared.

[00:10:00]Just got to the wind protected side of the island. Got a dolphins welcoming me.

[00:10:17]Just went around the corner and now I have to motor a bit around the way um against the wind going over there.

[00:10:26]I'm so excited to go see this place.

[00:10:28]This is like in the Mesas Islands, which is in the middle of nowhere. And then in the middle of nowhere in the Mckaz Islands.

[00:10:39]I waited a little bit before going to shore because the swell is pushing me towards the land or towards the rocks.

[00:10:46]And I never had any issues with my anchor, but there's a first for everything. And I am the only boat here.

[00:10:56]I do feel like to enter this place and walking through someone's house.

[00:11:02]I do think somebody is living here.

[00:11:05]This seems pretty abandoned, too.

[00:11:08]Oh, a horse. Hello.

[00:11:13]It's very peaceful here. I hear bird sounds, ocean on the background, and horses nibbling on grass.

[00:11:21]There's another house which is locked closed up so there's nobody too. And another house over here which is also locked up. Oh, nice mango in Pamplumus.

[00:11:31]Whole tree full of limes. The town was a little less as exciting as I thought it would be, but I have coconuts and a sweet grapefruit and limes and mango.

[00:11:41]Made a barbecue chicken wrap for dinner.

[00:11:55]I left early today. I'm going from Hiva to Uhuka.

[00:12:02]Today the wind is as predicted. That's nice.

[00:12:26]These clouds are creating some wind. So, I reached the sail. I have a fishing lure out, but I've not been most successful in catching fish.

[00:12:34]The reason I'm going to uh hookah now is because the trade winds generally blow in this direction, and I'm trying to go with the wind. So, I'll go first Uhuka, then to UAU, and then to Nukuhiva. It's been a really nice day for sailing. For lunch, I made a double chicken burger with fries. I put half a pepper that I took from Heaoa in my vegetables, and it looks so small. How?

[00:13:00]I'm going to arrive at 2:30 p.m. I could have left after sunrise, but you never really know what the wind is going to do, so it's always good to arrive way before sunset.

[00:13:12]This is the island of Uhuka all the way until there. And I'm going here.

[00:13:24]I put out a bit more chain than I normally do. 126. Because I'm really anchored straight into the swell here.

[00:13:30]There's about 18 to 20 knots of wind towards me.

[00:13:38]I guess that's the reason why there's only one other boat here. And this is the main anchorage of this island.

[00:13:45]Yeah. I hope it's going to be okay.

[00:13:48]It is beautiful.

[00:14:05]We're going to do a hike to the three tikis. They should be somewhere over there.

[00:14:08]>> Uuahooka is the second smallest inhabited island of the Mesa's Islands.

[00:14:12]The smallest would be Tawata where it was a couple days ago. Only about 600 people live in Uhuka.

[00:14:19]I don't think this island sees a lot of tourism. There's the same fruit trees as on all the other islands, but it's a lot less dense. Like, yes, here in the center, but on a mountain, very little grows.

[00:14:34][music] >> [music] >> If you look at the landscape, the vegetation looks a lot drier than the previous Marches Islands we've seen, [music] which is because the mountains on this island are less high and thus attract less rainfall. Fun fact, more horses than people live on this island.

[00:14:59][music] It's such a pretty walk.

[00:15:06]I guess I'm almost there. It's kind of funny to first walk about a mile up a dirt road and then suddenly have concrete steps. I guess there used to be civilization here, [music] the three tikis and in front of it what seems to have been a ceremonial grounds just like Eva [music] with a beautiful view of the bay.

[00:15:30]After seeing this video, what do you think for you? Is this the dream place to live or not? For me to visit, yes, absolutely. Like, this really is one of my top places to visit. To live, I [snorts] don't know. I think if I had to live somewhere, I rather go live in Solidude in front of the ocean or on top of a mountain, but still on drivable distance from a city. So, at least I still have some amenities. In the next video, I'll be visiting two of the more popular islands of the McKay Islands, Ua and Nukoha. As always, thank you guys for watching and a special thanks to all of my patrons who really make the video making possible.