Daniel's Bay

Wednesday 5/17 coordinates 08 56.663S,140 09.863W Baie Taioa - Hakaui and
Hakatea Coves

We took the few mile jaunt around the corner from Taiohae to Taioa, aka Daniels Bay named after a local gentleman named Kremont Teiketohe de Daniel. He lives in the Hakaui cove to the west and the original survivor show he will tell you was filmed in the Hakatea cove to the east. We anchored a ways off shore in hopes to escape the bugs known to inhabit the area, covered ourselves in long sleeve shirts and pants for the first time in who knows how long, dipped each other in vats of bug juice and set to shore to find the 3rd tallest waterfall in the world. We had heard many people talking on the radio regarding the difficult time they had landing their dinghy's on the beach, some even overturned. Not our masterful captain. He slid that baby right up onto that black sand where we hastily did the dinghy shuffle since the beach is where the dreaded no-no's live. Do you see a pattern here? AVOID THE BUGS!

We started up the trail following the river as instructed to do and what a treasure to find. First it follows through yet again, beautifully manicured properties, each dotted with all the breadfruit, mangos, coconuts, papayas, bananas, limes, and our favorite pamplemousse. As though the gorgeous backdrop of these steep peaks and green canyon walls wasn't beautiful enough, they each take the time to landscape with more colorful plants around their yards. Our new favorite sight is the jalapeno plants nearly as tall as me and completely covered with red, yellow and orange peppers. They all own weed whackers and let me tell you it looks like a never ending job
keeping things manicured the way they want. Their houses themselves are meager, almost always open air with four walls and a cement slab floor. Most people sleep on mats or futons of sorts, will little more than a few pictures taped to the wall, and bare bones necessities.

From here you follow the river which then looks like any trail right out of the Pacific Northwest. We were surprised to find the enormous excavator there actually moving the location and direction of the river. They have done a marvelous job of building and shoring up the edges. We got to know the river well as you have to cross it quite a few times in the duration of the hike. It never came higher than just above my knees that day but I imagine if there had been rain recently that would have been another story.

It was peacefully refreshing on this hot day with us in full gear. We continued to travel through a variety of scenes, some looking like jungle trails surrounded by ferns and coconuts trees, other times it looked like muddy, rocky river beds underneath groves of banyan trees. Then when you least expect it you are surrounded by high sheer rock canyon walls dripping with moisture and your feet are padded by a field of a special spring green ground cover that was actually almost hip high in spots. At the end of the meadow is a pool that is the base of the water fall. Though the fall itself sits much higher and around a corner so you only see the small base, the
canyon itself was breathtaking. We didn't swim in the pond as it was a bit murky and we heard is host to some rather large eels, no fish.

We snapped a few photos, added our trailblazers to the mix and headed back down the trail Martin style. We are becoming known as quite the fast walkers and trail blazers. Back in town we met up with Daniel and he invited us to sit with him awhile. Speaking very good English he is host to many a cruiser who passes by and has them all sign his book. He offered us some bananas and we gathered a few more pieces to his story. Though he never had children of his own, he did adopt a few boys. Most of them are have relocated to other islands or anchorages but some family still lives there. We signed his book, took a few photos and he declared himself two more grandsons with Tristan and Matthew. We watched a few coconut crabs run across the ground and hid in their holes, made our way back to the beach, quickly slipped Bob the dinghy back into the river ended a perfectly wonderful adventure.
Until next time
Lisa and the boys

The Martins on Ohana Kai
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