April 5th - 15th, 2011 Nuka Hiva, Marquesas
April 6th 2011, Taihoae, Nuka Hiva
Arrived yesterday from Ua Pou. Another lovely island!! It is a big harbour with lots of room. The town is large for Marquesas and has internet, bank, store … basically everything we need.
We explored another ancient site above the town and watched some of the local carvers preparing poles for the big festival here this year. The celebration is held every 4 years and this year it is in the Marquesas. There is also a park on the shore filled with Tikis (modern) and carved by local craftsmen.
The colourful flowers and lush green hills are beautiful. It is hard to not take just one more photo. When I think of Marquesas I will always think of flowers.
April 7th, 2011 Taihoe – Tai Oa (Hakaui or Daniel’s Bay)
We motored around to hakaui, a truly stunning anchorage and the best protected yet!! You dogleg into a small cove, going immediately from large waves to flat calm. All around steep slopes rise up from the turquoise waters. We anchored in the middle of the bay and relaxed. We caught some octopus and enjoyed meals with our friends.
The hike to the waterfall was fantastic. We were lucky to have met some longtime sailors who invited us to join them. We started the hike on a small track which wound through some gardens are small plots. Everything is well maintained and tidy. We passed bread fruit trees, banana trees, grapefuit and lime trees plus gardens of lettuce, tomatoes, zuchinni, watermelon etc.
As we rose higher, we meandered through ancient village sites, stopped to drift down the invitingly cool waters of the stream and enjoyed a lunch of breadfruit cooked on an open fire – delicious! The waterfall was stunningly beautiful. We were able to wade and swim to the base and feel the water gently raining down. It was high but not flowing strongly. After playing in the pool for a short while it was time to head home. Rain fell intermittently throughout the day but you hardly noticed it in the dense forest. We finished off with a swim in the river before hopping in the dinghy and heading back to the boat.
Cooking breadfruit
We spent another day snorkelling and simply enjoying the peace of the anchorage.
April 10th, 2011 Hakaui – Taihoae
Sailing back to the main village we caught a beautiful Tuna – yummy!! We took some with us to a barbeque with some local marquesans. The food was fantastic and all new to us – BBQ fish, Chevre au lait coco, bread fruit, manioc, taro, and some really smelly prawns which is apparently a delicacy for them. What a feast! We contributed some Tuna which they immediately tossed on the BBQ. It was a family gathering and we were made welcome, it was nice to be able to just sit and relax and enjoy the food.
April 13th , 2011 Taihoae – Anaho
We left early with wind on the nose! Once we turned further north we had a nice beam reach up to Anaho. We caught a nice tuna but just as we were reeling it in WHAM a shark grabbed it and all we pulled in was the head. Impressive to say the least.
The bay is beautiful with white sand beaches and palm trees. We found it calm and well protected. Easy to row to shore and explore the vast beaches and coral reefs.
Adios at anchor in Anaho Bay, Nuka Hiva
The kids and steff hiked over to the next village and visited more ancient sites. We also found the new museum which is excellent. The sites are some of the largest on the islands. There are petroglyphs as well. It is always interesting to see these early messages left on the rocks – you could clearly see the Tiki faces, a mahi mahi, a whale shark and human forms. We learned from the local archeologists that the Marquesean culture is unique in the s. pacific. Their language resembles the Hawaiian and Maori but not the Tahitian or Fijiian. They were a vast and complex culture and suffered after Europen contact in the same way so many other indigenous people have – disease, religious taboos etc. Being more isolated than other islands the Marquesans were able to retain much of their culture and a recent revival of their heritage has given them back their language, tattoos, culture etc. In fact, our first impression was how proud they were and how uniquely Marquesan. They are part of France but not French.
April 15th 2011 Happy 14th Birthday to Christopher!!
We hiked back over the sites for Chris’s BD and so Charlie could see them too. We had a super lunch in a small restaurant and some other cruisers gathered round to sing for Chris. How lucky to be 14 in such a beautiful place.
Petroglyphs
We would have liked to have spent days here but we are getting short of time and the Tuamotus await!
April 15th, 2011 Anaho – Taihoae
Caught another nice Tuna 19 kilos on our way back to Taihoae. This time we reeled in faster to avoid the shark bite!! Nice beam reach and sailed into the harbour mid morning. We anchored and quickly headed to shore to grab a few supplies before heading to the Tuamotus. Tidied up the boat and got things ready for our 4 day trip. We leave early tomorrow.
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