Catpain's Log #10: Land Fall

nder full moon last night we dropped anchor after 19 1/2 days at sea, covering some 2900 miles, in a large bay on the north side of Nuka Hiva in the Marquesas. The full moon allowed enough vantage to know we were in a special, even mystical place, but little could be seen of the mountainous shape to the south and the steep cliffs abutting the west and east sides of the bay, nor what looked like a large expanse of sand off our stern. Morning slowly uncloaked the mystery and not to disappoint my readers, but I should leave the beauty of this place to be envisioned through the works of Paul Gauguin (of which I saw in Sydney, in 1994 and wondered where on earth he could have seen such beauty), or by the words of writers such as Paul Theroux, whose travel writing's have inspired my own wanderings. We are all alone here to enjoy the oft pictured swaying coconut fronds on a wide expanse of pink hued sand that few souls have ever seen (no roads, no signs of humans at all). We rest, swim and make unnecessary comments about how incredible a reward it is to have traveled so far, and be rewarded so kindly.