Well our final port of the Tales of the South Pacific was today with Taiohae, Nuku Hiva, Marquesas, French Polynesia. There are 12 islands in this archipelago, but only 6 of them are inhabited and are spread over a distance of 350 kilometers. There are limited exchanges between the islands, so each one has its own personality, customs, and even language. Nuku Hiva is the largest island with 330 square kilometers. Arriving by ship like us, the scenery coming into Taiohae, the administrative capital, is described as stunning. We agree since we have been lucky enough to have visited here many times over the years. In fact, the Marquesas Archipelago was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site as recently as July 2024.
The Zaandam approached the island, but it was shrouded with a sea haze at about 6:30am. As we got closer to the Taiohae Bay, the haze lifted enough to get some pictures of white terns and the ever-elusive white-tailed tropic birds, which we never seen here before. They were quite a distance away, but we knew what they were by the length of the tails. There were some frigates overhead and a few noddies as well. The ship dropped the anchor at 7:30am, and proceeded to lower tenders to be ready at 8am.
In a nutshell, Polynesia was populated with successive waves of Southeast Asian migrants beginning 30,000 years ago. Incredible knowing that they found their way by navigating the stars. These islands here were the first to be settled. For 300 years they remained cut off from the rest of the world until the Europeans arrived. Wallis was the first to set foot in Tahiti, followed by Captains Cook, Bligh, and Bougainville. Then the missionaries came to evangelize the population. Eventually France imposed her protectorate in 1842, annexing the kingdom to the French State in 1880. Nuclear testing by the French took place during the 1960's and later was banned. The government changed hands several times over, leaving the independence party in charge since 2023. There was a significant slump in their economy after Covid but has since recovered nicely.
There was one excursion here with 2 different times. It was a scenic drive of Taipivai Valley for 3 hours and $140 with a refreshment but also advised to bring your own water. Sometimes the locals will offer a similar drive, but we seem to remember it costing $50 per person back then.
The tender ticket folks were being called off the ship when we were still at breakfast. We are not sure that a lot of things would be opened that early, but this would be the last place for the guests to get free wifi. It has come to our attention that a whole lot of people did not purchase the ship's internet plans. They are expensive, but that is one thing we do not mind buying with our shipboard credit. Now that Starlink is involved, the internet is so much better than it used to be in this part of the world.
We waited like we always do until around 10am before heading down to deck A and the tender boat platform. It just so happened that leaving when we did, we ran into the most exciting event of the day. Once off of the boat, we headed for the pier where we saw some guests looking in the water and using their cell phones to take pictures. That could only mean one thing……. they were seeing sharks. We bypassed the island singers, drummers, and "haka" dancers to find a fisherman was feeding these large black-tip reef sharks scraps of fish. We counted at least five or six of them as they surfaced quickly to snatch the food and go back into the murky waters. A few years ago when we were with friends Denise and Howie, we watched as another local fellow attached a huge fish head to a rope, then threw it in the deep water off this pier. It took a couple of them to hold onto that rope when the sharks hit the head, trying to get away with it. Now we know why no one swims here. Yikes.
As we walked towards the road, we saw even more sharks swimming around the tender boat and near the shallow sandy beach close by. As long as there was bait in the waters, these sharks will not leave, which tells us that the fishermen feed them scraps every day. It was purely the luck of the draw we came over when we did.
The usual tropical produce was set up on tables under a roof as well as some island seashell jewelry. The entrance to their info center had been closed off due to work being done on the building's roof. However, we were still able to pick up one of their excellent maps with lots of helpful information in it. I will be saving these maps as in the future who knows if they will still be printed?
As always we walked the road on our way to the church. The temperature today was 79 degrees with 75% humidity. The winds were 16.6 mph and there were some sprinkles when the ship was anchoring at 7am. For the rest of the day, there were broken clouds, sun, and humid heat. The Notre Dame Cathedral was located about 1 mile from the tender landing and up a side street. It was very Marquesan and partly European in its design. Two tall steeples flank the arched opening, both leaning now with the ravages of time. Inside the church are stained glass windows, beautifully crafted wooden carvings, and local stone. It is said that the wood from all of the Marquesan Islands has been used inside this iconic cathedral. It is surrounded by tropical scenery, an elementary school and a small outdoor chapel, making it the pride and joy of the islanders. And it is a great place to cool off in the shade of the mature mango and breadfruit trees reminding us how much we like it here.
We came upon Tohua Temehea, an ancient ceremonial site with more stone tikis and statues with a covered shelter and restrooms. This area has been restored over the last couple of years where it appears some activities and events take place. There is a nice building where we saw some locals coming outside with covered containers of food. We reached the old Paahatea cemetery which we found in terrible condition. The fencing of concrete pillars were cracking apart and fallen over in a heap. The monument in tribute to Herman Melville is no longer there, also having deteriorated over the years. Hopefully the locals will find the money and time to restore this area and the monument. Anyone who has taken the time to read Melville's Typee will have a better understanding of what life was like centuries ago.
Eventually the road ended along the shoreline. There is a stretch of beach where the locals come on weekends to have BBQ's and swim. More eating than swimming we recall. It is not unusual to see a few Marquesan horses tethered nearby and around this area because there are more shade trees here. Today there was little activity because it was a weekday. By taking the last right-hand turn, we hiked up the steep dirt road to the Nuku Hiva Pearl Resort perched on the side of the hill. We were happy to see some of our buddies up there and not the crazy scene we saw in Fakarava. The difference today may have been this venue was not printed on the ship's map, and most of the passengers would not care to walk this far. With few, if any, taxis, access was not easy. That was fine with us because we had no problem getting a good table for two on the patio under the trees. Paradise does not come cheap in this part of the world, as we well remembered. We enjoyed a very expensive French Polynesian lunch. Even with sharing the food, not sharing the five Hinano beers, was over $84 USD. We had the ham and cheese bagel with a fried egg and a basket of French fries. Two delicious hot fresh rolls with butter from France were served with our beers . Then we added a dessert of chocolate volcano cake with one scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream. It came decorated with a tiny deep blue flower as it always has. And we could have used their infinity pool , as some guests did, but the view with the pleasant breeze was good enough for us. One thing for sure is that they never rush you here and we appreciated that.
We left the resort after 2pm and walked the deserted beach half of the way back. A few more couples were headed to the resort, but they would only have time for drinks if they wanted to make it back to the ship on time. All aboard was 4:30pm. We passed by the Monument of the Dead, a tribute to fallen soldiers with more stone sculptures some of which reminded us of Easter Island moais. The Tiki Tuhiva, a newer statue celebrating Marquesan culture came into view as we hiked back along the beach.
Checking out the souvenir tables, we saw nothing that caught our eye, so we came home without any treasures. This time we left just our footprints in the sand. Then as we neared the ship's drink tents, we saw three more sharks right along and under the tender boat. Gosh, this was our lucky day for shark-sightings. The security guys had to remind everyone that the show was over and we needed to board the boat. We did stay long enough to drink some ice-cold water and lemonade before heading back for the short ride.
The Captain came on with his update talk after 4:30pm saying the boats would be loaded back and the anchor lifted. We had a long way to go to San Diego, which we could not catch the distance since he talked very fast as he always does. He said we would be doing between 18 to 20 knots for the first three days at sea, then taper off the last three. He did not mention that the ship would be rocking and rolling due to some high swells and winds. The temperature should remain around 80 degrees and the clocks would go forward that ½ hour this evening.
Sailing around the east coast of this island made us realize how big it is. We got to see the cliffs of Belvedere lookout and the bay that went into the Taipvai Valley where Melville's story was about. Then we swung north east for the long haul back to San Diego, which will take six sea days.
Dinner was more Mexican tonight. We both ordered the tostada, which was very good, although only one of the plates was warm. Go figure? One shrimp cocktail flooded with a spicy dressing and one mixed salad were also starters. One of us ordered the enchilada which was filled with pulled lamb for a change. Extra salsa was needed since the enchilada was on the dry side along with the rice. Could have asked for more shredded cheese, sour cream and guacamole, which we will remember if they serve it again. The other entrée was the pork belly from the Club Orange menu. It looked a lot better than the enchilada. Desserts were one scoop of vanilla ice cream and the always pleasant pineapple chunks.
We slept really good last night with the ship's motion and all the walking we did. Only one thing woke one of us up and that was dreaming of those sharks. Riveting to say the least. Looking forward to relaxing days at sea to catch up on our escapades.
Bill & Mary Ann
