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2016
17
Jan

Nonos

The Wikipedia only says the following about Nonos: Simulium buissoni, the black nono or no-no noir des rivières, is a midge species in the genus Simulium found on Nuku Hiva and Eiao, Marquesas archipelago in Polynesia.
This short sentence gives no idea how annoying these critters are. Their bites itch at first, but after two days they get infected, swell up and keep itching like hell for almost a week :-(

At the moment there’s some southerly swell coming up that makes the anchorage in Taiohae quite bouncy and rolly, so after doing some internet chores and some shopping, we motored into the neighbouring Baie de Controleur which is much calmer. We anchored in the middle bay of Hakahaa, sat down for lunch enjoying the blissfully still boat when the first nonos started biting…
We put up the mosquito nets, lit a smoke coil and were able to keep them out of the boat for a restful night. This morning we put on the nono protection gear (long sleeves, a thick layer of coconut oil and mosquito spray on top), hitched a ride up from Taipivai to the pass, got a beautiful view over the northern coast with the bay of Hatiheu and then walked back down over the steep serpentines. We made a detour to a waterfall (which we searched for but couldn’t find two years ago–it was dried out then) and then hitched another ride back to Taipivai (every car stops on friendly Nuku Hiva :-) ).

Back on the boat we quickly lifted the anchor, motored out of the nono bay, had a quick bath in the clear water outside before motoring into the murky water of the neighbouring bay Hooumi. Now we’re rolling a bit again (not as bad as in Taiohae though), but hopefully(!) the resident nonos won’t make it out to Pitufa.

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