Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands – February 7

Clear, 28 degrees

Waking up in paradise is how this morning could be described. We were scheduled to drop anchor in Nuku Hiva’s bay at 10 but were up long before that. Each night before we go to sleep we agree when we will ‘wake up’ -  not with an alarm (unless we are

not a place for a morning walk

going on an early tour) but by opening the curtains - somehow Chris is the one who always is the curtain opener.

We were certain the top deck would be open and we would be able to get our walk in up there…nope. We were told that security (who is responsible for opening and closing decks) would be by ‘soon’ to open the deck…we felt this was sufficient permission to step over the ‘deck closed’ sign – a handful of people were already up there. It was beautiful. Sailing into the Nuki Hiva harbour was like sailing into a rock horseshoe, the water dotted with

arriving at Nuku Hiva

anchored sailboats, waves crashing into submerged cliffs. Aside from the sailboats and a few buildings, there’s not much else for development. The entire island has 3000 people living here.

A breakfast of cappuccinos, cottage cheese, and fruit on the deck could not be better – well, I suppose bacon, croissants and champagne would be better, but then I’d have to be

glorious

rolled off this boat 2 months from now! Even if there is no bacon in sight, this is heaven. Our side of the boat is in shade, so the temperature is just right for chilling. I could have sat here all day; I love the solitude of our balcony – despite people on either side of us talking at the tops of their lungs!

We were pretty sure the shoreside pilot was in the room on one side of us. There hasn’t been anyone in that room and now someone is in there speaking French. At the beginning of

preparing the tenders and a lone canoe

this leg the rooms on either side of ours were empty, somewhere between San Francisco and Hawaii one of the rooms became occupied (must have had something wrong with their room.)

There is only one tour offered today. In all of our time on cruises, I can’t remember a port when there was only one tour offered – this tells you how much there is to see here. In fact, our next port of Fakarava has

6.00USD!!

NO tours at all – we are encouraged to ‘explore independently’. I’m sure it will be beautiful, but I can’t help but wonder why we will stop there.

Being anchored means we tender to shore. Today’s ride is only about 10 minutes, so not too long.

We decided to head into ‘town’ a bit early to see what there is to see, and worst case get a beer…we got a beer. 6.00USD for a 500 mL seemed like a bit much, but we paid it. The ‘facilities’ were EXACTLY as advertised. I was convinced that they would be better than we were

church

warned to expect, but…nope.

No large, air-conditioned coach for us today. Today’s one and only tour to the Taipivai Valley is in 4 wheel drive vehicles, each holding 4 passengers. These 4 wheel drive vehicles are more lux than I expected. What we traverse the island in are older trucks and

statue of the bishop

SUVs that I suppose are in fact 4x4s – they were just fine. I think I’d rather these than our usual coaches.


15 4x4s travelled convoy style for the 3-hour tour. First was a stop an open-air Catholic church – 80% of the island is Catholic. The most interesting part of this stop was the first station of the cross, depicting “Jesus Condemned” under the olive tree…this one has him depicted under a bread fruit (ubiquitous tree of these

convoy, and thick jungle!

islands). Apparently, the artist didn’t know what an olive tree looked like so he used a tree he knew. The drivers of the 4x4s spoke no English, we had one guide who would give info at each stop. It worked totally well.


Nuku Hiva is a very rural place. The road we used to get around the island was barley wide enough for 2 vehicles to pass each other. Apparently, they’ve only had phone service since 1987 – regular land

Survivor bay

lines. Driving around the island we saw more chickens and dogs than we could count, along with random horses, cows and pigs roaming freely. Although there was little tourist infrastructure here, I really enjoyed this island. It’s always good to be reminded that the world doesn’t live like we do.


One of our stops was for a fruit sampling. We tried breadfruit chips, (think vegetable chips…fried crisp and salty, what’s not to like) coconut ‘something’ that I can’t remember (very light and airy, like cake with a slight

fruit, fruit and more fruit

coconut taste, starfruit (like what I’ve had before) grapefruit (super sweet), yellow watermelon (tasted like pink watermelon), and regular coconut. All very interesting, it didn’t occur to me until writing this that we didn’t eat uncooked breadfruit…maybe that’s not how it’s eaten.


BTW…this is the island where Survivor

statues

Marquesas was filmed. The guide gave us some inside info on how it was to have the whole Survivor crew

recovering

on an island of 3000.