Friday, May 13, 2011

Nuku Hiva

It is hard to believe, we have been here almost two weeks. Time is going way too fast! But we are really enjoying the island, the people, plus catching up with all of our cruiser buddies. Tiki Land for sure! Besides working on projects and being social, we have been playing tourist.

Tiki Land
Pae Pae is on the water front and has sculptures and tiki's (sacred statues) made by local artists and artists from Easter Island.

Just wish we had some one to explain the history and the symbolism!

Notre-Dame Cathedral
The Notre-Dame Cathedral of the Marquess Islands was beautiful - just wish we could have seen the inside - next time.

The Cathedral was built using the stones from the other islands in the archipelago, plus amazing wood carvings.

What a place to attend church!

Beautiful Pearl Lodge
We have checking out the 2 restaurants in town - the Pearl Lodge is beautiful and has an amazing view of the bay.

There are also some diners around the dock, plus the roulotte's (roach coaches) serve great food. We are trying to eat like the locals!

tohua Koueva archaeological site
We had a good hike up to the tohua Koueva archaelogical site. A sacred place where the ancient Marquesans lived.

Amazing site surrounded by tikis, banyan trees, and lots of fruit trees.

Star fruit tree

Loved the Star fruit tree, plus the mangos, lime, pamplemousse (like grapefruit), and banana trees.

We are having a great time foraging for our fruit!

Fresh fish!
The local fisherman at work - now that is fresh! We bought ahi tuna fillets for less than $3 a pound. We think that is a pretty good deal.

Scary part - the fisherman throw the leftovers to the sharks. Oh my! They were thrashing around less than 5 feet from the dinghy. I was petrified!

Doug trekking
We have definitely enjoyed the wonderful town of Taiohae, but it is time to get moving. Projects and provisioning are almost done - yeah.

Next stop - Daniel's Bay and a hike up to the see the waterfall - if I make it!

PS:  Our crew member, Brian, flew back to La Paz.  We enjoyed the time we spent with him and appreciated all of his help during the cross.  Miss you Brian!

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