Nuku-Hiva is the administrative center of the Marquesas, with air service to Tahiti. We had a nice 28 mile sail here from Ua-Pou with just the main and genoa and Ian doing most of the steering. We dropped anchor in Taiohae Bay–a large, fairly well-protected bay on the south side of Nuku-Hiva. A small cafe next to the dinghy pier had wifi and is where we spent a considerable amount of time uploading pictures from the 23-day crossing and our visits to 3 other islands. They had refreshing orange, pinapple, pamplemousse juice, french baked goods, chicken and fish, coffee, etc, so we sat and ate and drank and used wifi.
In the evening, we went to an outdoors children’s native dance/drum competition. Kids from several islands dressed in colorful outfits and performed haka dance which combines dancing and chanting. There was food cooked on outdoor BBQs so we ate dinner while watching the performance.
Nick caught a ride to the small airport on the north end of Nuku-Hiva, where he boarded a flight to Tahiti. He booked a room in Papeete for 1 night, then will fly to New Zealand for a week before heading back to England. Nick was with us for a week in Mexico, the 23-day crossing to French Polynesia, and 12 days in the Marquesas. He and Jacintha bonded well and he really lightened the load on Karen and I. We enjoyed having him aboard!
One evening we went to a native dance show that was inside a building near the anchorage. A dinner of Marquesan-style food was served prior to the dancing, which was a nice variety as shown in the pictures below.
We spent 2 days at a quiet bay called Taioa (also known as Daniels Bay) just 6 miles west of Taiohae, The highlight was a trek to a waterfall with the crew from Family Circus. The hike took 2-1/2 hrs each way with river crossings and rocky terrain, but was well worth the effort. The 250-meter high waterfall was at the end of a narrow, steep canyon. The deep pool of cold water was refreshing after the long hike. The top of the falls wasn’t visible since it cascaded down several rock faces and you had to swim around some large boulders to reach the area where the water fell. On the way back we stopped at one of the few houses and bought fruit (mangos, pamplemousse, coconuts) from the owners, who asked what we wanted and then picked them off their trees. The couple are relatives of a well-known man Daniel, who passed away a few years ago and to whom the bay was named after.
We up-anchored and motored back to Taiohae Bay to provision and re-fuel in preparation for our next venture—a 3-day passage to the Tuamotus, once called the Dangerous Archipelago. The atolls there have lagoons surrounded by fringe reefs and are only about as tall as coconut trees, so you don’t see them until you’re 5 miles away. There’s usually 1 or 2 passes to get inside the atolls and timing is very important because of the strong currents.
