Nuku Hiva, Our First Marquesan Explore

 

A beautiful, very hot hike to a lookout over Taiohae Bay.  Milly is one of those dots.  The scenery was stunning.  The tallest spires were in the clouds.

Milly in Daniel's Bay, our favourite of the three we anchored at in Niku Hiva.  A small bay with a spectacular backdrop in all directions.

Nuka Hiva, our first Marquesan island, and what a beauty.  We left the dock in Mexico on March 26 and arrived at anchor in Nuka Hiva on April 20th.  Our passage was 22 days long but we hadn't touched land in 26 days, almost beating our 33 days aboard during COVID lockdown.  We were greeted by two manta rays that coasted through the anchorage looking for tidbits to delicately whisk into their wide open maws.  First order of business was a stretch of the legs.

A good first hike to Collette's Bay up and over a ridge.  Our anchorage in the background.

From  the top of the ridge, Collette's Bay.  The terrain looks surprisingly gentle here, almost rolling hills.  Very deceiving.

Our reward after a very hot walk, the beach

And behind our resting place in the shade.  Two farms lined the lane, one with three of the very few cows on the island.  

We spent two and a half weeks in Nuka Hiva.  Hiking, an island tour, boat projects, a pig roast for sailors who had recently crossed the Pacific, exploring the main town of Taiohae, three anchorages, meeting fellow cruisers and resting up easily filled our days with the exhilaration of being in a new and unique place.  

The topography of Nuka Hiva is sensational.  Verdant and lush with very steep mountains, rocky cliffs and spires.  The people were gentle and friendly, most with big welcoming smiles.  

The beginning of the waterfall hike in Daniel's Bay was idyllic with an obvious lane to follow.  But not for long.  The lane narrowed to a well worn trail, leading us across streams and rivers.  And then it vanished.  True to form, Peter had a map to get us back on track, wading through grass marshes and underbrush.  We knew there were not venomous/aggressive animals to worry about so no problem with plunging through swamps.  If rooster could survive, so could we.

The falls were a torrent hidden behind a rock wall making it impossible to see more than about 10 meters up.  I have a feeling that the water that made the hike so well attended was dried up?  In any case, the hike itself was an adventure in incredibly majestic surrounds.

That is where we were headed.

By the time we left, we had installed a new rodkicker, new reefing lines and a new topping lift each of which had to be shipped, the lines from Tahiti and the rodkicker from the US taking about 3 weeks.  We refilled our gerry cans with diesel - an adventure in itself.  Our screecher was mended by an incredibly efficient and professional female sailmaker - so great!  We had the items we needed to reinstall the block at the masthead for the spinnaker.  Our toilet was still plugged but we had a plan to make it even better with a different plumbing plan.  We figured out the lack of pressure delivered by the fresh water pump.  And the freezer was actually freezing its contents.  Milly was feeling much better.

These flowers were given to us by two girls who were walking home from school.  A woman wears an open blossom and a man a closed blossom.  If you are "taken" romantically, you put it behind your left ear, over your heart.  If you are available, you wear it on the right.  

The cathedral in Taiohae. A mix of Catholicism and Polynesian traditions with tikis placed around the grounds.  There are also Mormon churches/meeting halls throughout FP, often right beside the Catholic Church.

The church in the village of Daniel's Bay.  Hard to see but again a mix of catholic and traditional Polynesian.  Seashell necklace and flower garland adorn the cross and figure.  The church was completely open and looked out on greenery and a huge rock wall.

Taiohea offered three decent grocery stores where we could purchase imported French preserved foods like caviar and pate, and the usual canned and frozen vegetables, baguettes, an aisle of sweets and chips, eggs on a good day - even though there are chickens running wild all over the place.  Domestic beer cost about $24US for six.  Luckily, we had stocked up with alc, dealc and sparkling water. (I plan a separate blog about the challenge of provisioning in FP.)

Post our rugged hike to the waterfall in Daniel's Bay, we had arranged to have lunch at a local woman's house in the village.  The chefs grilling our tuna steaks.  No dress code required.

Bananas and plantains ready to prepare.

Our meal: the most tender and moist tuna steak I've ever had, plantain chips, a cabbage? salad and banana custard pie.  

This guy enjoying his meal.  The ambiance was definitely homey.  The only problem was an actual swarm of houseflies - never seen so many looking for a snack.  

A few observations:  

I asked our tour guide about the wildlife on the island.  He noted, "Goats and chickens!"  "No wild mammals?", I asked.  "Goats and chickens", he reiterated.  In the next days, his assertion bore up to our observations.  Goats ran wild all over the rocky mountain ledges, so much so that we were awakened every morning by their maas sounding like mewing/wailing babies.  These are not wild mountain-type goats.  They are small, once domesticated goats gone rogue.  And the roosters were everywhere, miles from a domestic sanctuary, deep in the rainforest.  If we heard rustling in the undergrowth on our hikes, it was sure to be a rooster or even a hen with chicks.  No predators meant a carefree existence in the wild.  I'm sure if you knew where to look, you could probably find more eggs in the forest than in the supermarket. Our guide proudly added that there were no poisonous animals apart from scorpions.  Birdlife was oddly lacking or hiding well.  Dove and pigeons were abundant.  Found only in Nuka Hiva and once hunted for food , the giant 2lb imperial pigeon, is a claim to fame.  We did not see one but heard about it several times.

This guy was on the roadside, headed into the woods when we arrived.  Those in the jungle are more allusive but so many!  There are  

Another interesting revelation from our guide...upon application, the government will pay for, ship materials and even build a three bedroom, albeit modest, house for any citizen.  As well, they will give parcels of land to those who want.  Our guide owned a house in town, a cottage on the more arid coastline to get away from it all and fish and a parcel of land to farm when he wanted to.  The state pays for education and all healthcare.  Children on other less populated islands board at schools on Nuku Hiva or Pepeete, for example, for middle and high school as well as college.  Travelling costs for school holidays of two weeks or more are covered by the government.  All this is apparently done to encourage young adults to stay on the islands, something which, according to our guide, is a struggle, lack of employment being the main reason for reluctance to return home.

We're here!!!