"Treasures of Cruising the World" with Bill & Mary Ann: Report #47 Taiohae, Nuku HIva, French Polynesia November 9, 2016 Wednesday Partly sunny & 86 degrees Part #1 Of 4 85 Pictures

We sailed into the Marquesas Archipelago today. It is a remote and isolated part of the world, where there are 12 islands, but only 6 of those being populated. Altogether, their population is around 9200.

Long known as the "Land of Men", the Marquesan island we visited today was Nuku Hiva. With 127 square miles, it is the second largest island in French Polynesia (Tahiti is the largest). It has the administrative capital of the area at the village of Taiohae, where 2664 people live. Rather small, the village houses many archaeological remains including rock carvings and tikis, a fabulous church, and free-roaming horses.

Sailing into the Taiohae Bay, we were treated to the sight of sharp peaks and cliffs. Deep valleys lie behind these peaks and are said to have petroglyphs, sculptures, and mossy tikis. The highest basalt peak is Mount Tekao at 4016 feet. In town, most of the natives are tattooed, even the young ladies. Handicrafts such as wood carvings are sold near the tender landing. They use sandalwood, rosewood, and purplewood for these carvings.

Tapa cloth is sold here. It is made from the flattened bark of the mulberry, young breadfruit, or banyan trees. It is also traditionally a woman's job.

In the nearby village of Taipivai, we learned that cannibal tribes lived there. When writer Herman Melville and his ship friend arrived here by jumping ship in the 1800's, they hid out for two weeks watching the natives. Surviving their experience, he eventually wrote the book "Typee" describing what they witnessed here and the miracle that they survived.

There was one tour offered from the ship for 3 hours and $130. It took folks in private vans to Taipiva Valley and up high for views of the bay at the Amsterdam below. We know for a fact that you can hook up with a local for far less ($50 per person) and see the same thing. The local people do not speak much English, so the tours are mostly site-seeing, regardless of who you book with.

Resources here are wood, vanilla, copra, and tourism. Underwater exploration is different in the fact that the water here is much colder than our previous ports. There is little coral, but you can see large electra dolphins, leopard rays, manta and sting rays, and white-tip and hammerhead sharks.

As for us, we had breakfast before going over to avoid the crowds. By 9:30am, there were no more tickets required to go ashore. Not that we needed them, we prefer to wait for the open tendering. Several years ago while boating to shore, we were surrounded by sharks on the way over. Today we went to the pier where a crowd had gathered. What we first thought were kids jumping off the pier, were actually white-tip sharks being lured by a huge fish head on a rope by one of the locals. He got them to break the surface and dive for the shredded fish head. What a thrill to see these 5 foot long powerful sharks just feet away from us. They tugged so hard at the bait, we were afraid the fellow was going to be pulled into the water with them. But we knew the locals do this when a cruise ship comes in. Many guests were handing him dollar bills for the pictures they took.

Eventually, the sharks dove deep and disappeared for awhile.

The greeters were called "pahu" drummers. We listened as we headed for the craft tables nearby. Did manage to find a new t-shirt there, and another up the hill. The second one was of a concert that was to take place this coming weekend. Locals were in the process of putting up tents and the concert stage. This was located at the same place we had a luau many years ago. However, back then, it was December, and it got rained out. The locals had cooked a pig in the ground, made poisson cru (raw fish in coconut milk), and had every type of fruit known to the tropics. It was not wasted, as after we left, the entire village had a feast.

Many of the shell jewelry contained seeds that we had been cautioned about buying. They are called jequirity seeds, which are orange, red, or red with black on the tips. These have been recalled in many countries because they can have toxic side effects. Doing some research on these seeds, we found that they are toxic if eaten. Not planning on doing that.

Our walk brought us to the Monument of the Dead, built to recognize the death of the French colonial sailors in the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Across the road and up the hill apiece, we found the Notre Dame Cathedral, a very unique Catholic church built with colored stones from all six of the populated Marquesan islands. Inside, we found wood-carved statues, stations of the cross, and a massive pulpit, all in sandalwood. The only better thing was if this was a Sunday, and all the locals come dressed in white and sing gloriously.

The crowd thinned out as we walked to the far end of the bay, and started uphill to the Keikahanui Pearl Lodge, considered a jewel in the crown of the Marquesas. It was not too crowded by 1pm, and we got a nice table for two right under a fan and by the opened glass doors. What a view from up here.

We ordered a lunch of Italian paninis with crispy French fries. With the hot walk, we easily downed two Hinano beers each. Relaxing for an hour was priceless. However, when we went to pay our bill, several people were in line at the desk. Seems that they were having problems running credit cards. People were not happy when they had to try many times to get it to work. The difficulties were probably with the spotty internet, and not the cards. When our turn came, it only took twice to get the card to work. Think we remember the same thing happening last year. Of course, cash works just fine, but few people pay with it anymore. Truthfully, some of the customers admitted they did not have enough cash to cover their bills, so it is advisable to be sure you can cover either way. The saying "You're not in Kansas anymore" applies here in much of the South Pacific.

The hike back took less time, with no stops. Although the Pearl Lodge was listed as being 1 ½ miles from the dock, we think it was further. Taking 1 ¼ hours to walk back, we know we can do 3 miles an hour. Even taking our time. By the way, you can get a ride back from the hotel's shuttle service, which may have cost $2 or $3 a person. Most all of the guests that were there demanded a ride back from what we overheard. Some were staff from the ship, and had precious little time ashore.

Only a handful of passengers were on the island at this point, around 3pm. Sail away had been restored back to the aft deck 8, and for the final one, it was well-attended. We always look forward to seeing Denise and Howard, who can share their day with us. She had taken an independent tour with some Cruise Critic folks, and got to see the valleys and other bays on this island. As a joke, Gene, the cruise director, had announced earlier on that some people on an independent tour were missing. But when he began with the names of Mr. Hamburger, Mrs. Hot Dog, Ms. Delicioso, etc, we knew it was a joke, referring to the fact that cannibals were once on this island and may still be. Thankfully, Denise was not among the missing.

Trays of skewered spam and pineapple were served along with other appetizers. Actually, they were good. The drink of the day was a Melon Delight, a refreshing beverage served in a cored-out cantelope. Bet they were good….sweet, sticky, but good. There were some huge stray hornets floating around the deck, so we did not take a chance of getting stung.

The diehard group that stays for the sunset included the four of us. The sun went down by 5:48pm, and was quite nice. Some admitted to seeing a green flash, but we all doubted it. Maybe a small green dot, but it must have been our eyes playing tricks. <editorial note: green flash example> Henk M, our hotel director and friend, worked his way among the passengers. We questioned him about the deck cleaning, which obviously had continued this afternoon back here. It was 2/3 done. Henk admitted that it took a straight solution of organically approved detergent to cut through the stains. Yes, that and a lot of elbow grease. Hopefully, during the 2018 retrofit, the same decking that has been installed on deck 9 will be put back here. Sure hope he is right.

Dinner for us was in the Pinnacle at 8pm. We ordered the small filet mignon and an entrée of the lamb chops. Both were excellent. Once again, we had the almost baked Alaska without the meringue, leaving only the ice cream, which was perfect. The service was consistently perfect.

We have a notice that tomorrow, we needed to pick up our passports. So as long as we were already passing by the front desk, we asked if we could get them now. No problem……we had both passports without having to wait in line.

The entertainer this evening was a familiar name, Buzz Sutherland, a frequent guest on both the world cruise, as well as this one. He has been on TV and Las Vegas and does a funny comedy act.

Back at the room, we found two little gifts of commemorative Poppy Lapel Pins in honor of Veteran's Day coming up on the 11^th of the month. That's a very nice touch we think for supporting armed services worldwide.

The clocks went ahead for another ½ hour, so now we only have one more hour to go for Pacific Standard Time.

Bill & Mary Ann

Amsterdam anchored in Taiohae Bay, Nuku Hiva