Hiva Oa to Tahiti — Flying over the Tuamotus

June 3, 2000. 0800 local time. approximately 4º45'52.2' S 140º02'13.5" W. 30,000' elevation. Anchored in Tahauku Bay, Hiva Oa, Marquesas.

One week after we made landfall in the Marquesas (after 28 days at sea) we were on our way to Papeete by air. Our second day in Hiva Oa, Jim became very ill and went in to the Salle d'Urgence at Clinique Cardella in Atuona. The place was a pitiful excuse for a clinic-a scary accommodation where your health is in strange hands—a scene out of the movie Papillon. We decided to play it safe and have things checked out in the "big city" of Papeete. The medical care is free after all in French Polynesia.