Atuona - Hiva Oa, Marquesas Island
The largest of the southern islands, Hiva Oa, the master pillar or finial post of the ‘Great House’ - which represents the Marquesan archipelago in the local mythology - has always been the rival of Nuku Hiva. The island is shaped like a seahorse and has a mountain range running southwest to northeast whose main peaks, Mt. Temetiu and Mt. Feani form a real wall around Atuona. Atuona, a peaceful little port at the head of the Taaoa Bay, also known as Traitors Bay, has emerged from obscurity due to having had the privilege of being the last resting place of Paul Gauguin and of the singer Jacques Brel. The tombs of these famous personalities are on the side of the Calvary cemetery looking out across the bay and are places of great pilgrimage. In the village, the Gauguin Museum displays items related to the painter's stay there at the beginning of the century and has copies of his works.
April 8th.
Had a confrontation with the butler and the senior butler just before bed on the lack of an apology for the previous night´s TV debacle
The ship anchored at Hiva Oa early and went ashore at Atuona around 08.00. The supply ship the Aranui 5 was moored there . The Aranui 5 is a dual-purpose passenger/freighter ship that sails from Tahiti to the Marquesas, Tuamotu and Society Islands in French Polynesia . It takes 230 passengers, so they completely swamped the island that morning
Had to wait for transport- meant to be 8 cars or but turned out to be 4 cars - to take us to the cemetery. Luckily no welcome dance. Having seen Gauguin and Brel's graves , we walked down to the Gauguin museum where there was absolute chaos as the admission lady would not believe that the ship was paying . Dmitri was the responsible crew member, and seemed quite baffled by what was happening, and he was not able to solve it. Many guests paid themselves, rather than wait for a solution - we waited ! And we were eventually allowed in and enjoyed looking at reproductions of all Gauguin's paintings.
We also entered the Jacques Brel hangar containing the singer's private plane in which he brought goods to the island
After this we walked on, More stalls selling souvenirs, ate some fruit and then walked back to the museum to find the cars taking us back to the jetty: We shared a car with Marieka and she said not a single word to us in the 6-8 minute drive - she does not seem to like guests
click on a thumbnail to get a bigger photo
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Tahuata, Marquesas Islands
The ship then repositioned a few miles to the neighbouring island of Tahuata and we transferred there by zodiac in the afternoon . A different type of welcome with a warrior up to the right of the pier blowing a trumpet
Part of the Marquesas, this is the tiniest inhabited island of the archipelago, with only 700 inhabitants. This croissant-shaped piece of land was discovered in 1595 by Spanish navigator Alvaro de Mendana de Neira and has been a dreamy destination for many travellers since. Indeed, its spectacular and idyllic scenery, made of contrasts between impressive mountains and sandy beaches, would inspire every poet. The island is also nicknamed ‘Monoi Island’ thanks to the great quality of its tiaré oil, heritage of traditions and secrets orally transmitted generation to generation. Tahuata has a huge reputation across French Polynesia for another savoir-faire, its rich craftsmanship. The craftsmen excel at carving beautiful pieces, spears, puzzles, dishes they produce on bone or rosewood. These unique creations are exhibited in the craft centre of the pretty village of Hapatoni and in the Vaitahu Town Hall Museum.
Hapatoni curves around a wide bay and is accessible by boat in less than 15 minutes from Vaitahu, or by a track. We took the track by jeep. The royal road is the village’s main attraction. Built on a dyke on the orders of Queen Vaekehu II in the 19th century, this paved road, lined with 100-year-old tamanu trees, extends along the shore.
There are few vehicles on Tahuata since its only road (linking Vaitahu to Motopu in the north and Hapatoni to the south) is barely more than a dirt track. Most folks get around here by boat. We were doomed to go by jeep, and it was a rough road read very rough road. And we had to do it both ways
Then into jeeps for the 40 minute rough road trip across to Vaitahu: Chris sat in the front up until a photo stop and then David asked the Swiss Irishman in the jeep if he would like to swap. He was a man of few words, but his wife was more civilised!. He took the front seat all the way back too!
The views were not quite as scenic as the previous day, but the island was much more authentic with few tourists. A gorgeous church in Yaitahu, populalation 150. We visited the small museum and had a walk along the shore, the music being enjoyable at one pace removed from it.
Back aboard - again a millpond- we scrubbed up and went to the sail away party up on deck: here we got chatting to Elsa and Vic from Portland, Oregon and then had dinner with them. They were 85 and 83 , incredibly well travelled , and had no ideas of stopping travelling!. Later we joined Ian and Christine in the bar for coffee. Ian had seen some incredible manta rays whilst snorkelling in the morning
click on a thumbnail to get a bigger photo
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