Nuku Hiva, Taiohoe Bay, Anaho Bay

Kaoha from Nuku Hiva,
Last week we quickly zipped through the town of Taiohoe as we thought we would. Nice enough town itself including customs, decent magasins (stores) with bread, pastries and any other sundry you might desire but the anchorage was a wee bit rolly for our tastes. There were some fascinating tiki structures in a garden in the middle of town. So much history there with all the explorers that thought they found the islands first over the years. It is extra fun exploring the islands as well with the knowledge and ideas gained from our reading. In addition to our guide books, Bruce has just finished reading the Bounty, I am currently trying to read Ahab's Wife and Tristan has read his share of books on Captain Cook this trip.

The island of Nuku Hiva is famous for a visit from Herman Melville back in 1842, age 20 or so, when he and a buddy Tobias Greene abandoned their whaling ship the Acushnet here. His first and second novels Typee and Omoo (meaning wanderer) were about their misadventures on this and the island of Tahiti.

Wed. 5/10 we walked the length of the town and bay to find the lovely Keikehanui Inn which is run by a French fellow who used to cruise and charter boats. He recognizes boaters as they enter and tells you straight out, "I have what you need". In our case it meant a lovely tall glass of ice cubes ready for our choice of beverage. Simple pleasures, I tell you. A beautiful view overlooking the entire bay, great food and sweet bed & breakfast style bungalows for rent at $130/day if you are in the mood for some sleep on land. He said we could even run the showers for an hour if we wanted. He does know what we need. Maybe next time we are in the area.

Thursday 5/11 09 49.367N,140 03.870S Baie d'Anaho
One of the most completely protected anchorages and we've seen. On our journey there we enjoyed the display of a new species of dolphin to us. Known as Electra dolphins, officially melon-head dolphins, they played off our bow for a good portion of the drive. Always a great distraction. They seem to choose to hold their breath longer than other dolphins and though they jump a lot, are more playful just zigzagging around in front of us as though they were playing tag. Their eyes were more wrinkled looking like you would expect on a whale and didn't hesitate to roll over and peek at us. They are not to be confused with a very similar looking creature called the False Killer Whale.
In the anchorage itself we found another cruiser driving boat to boat to hand out bags full of freshly caught tuna. They had more than they could handle with this beast and we gladly took it off their hands. Capaz and we each took a bag full to marinate and cook up for a potluck dinner the next night. Lucky for us since we still continue to scare all the fish on to our neighbors hooks for them.

Friday 5/12 We dinghied, with the Capaz crew, over to a nearby beach in the anchorage that enjoyed the play of huge swell waves rolling up its banks. We had to anchor out and swim to shore they were so big. Due to the steepness of the beach the same waves would refract and roll back out again, often meeting in the middle with the incoming ones making for some fun play
in the peaks. You had your choice to roll over them, dive through them or Bruce's favorite style, sit in the shallows and let them throw you where they will. He still has the road rash tattoo on his side as proof. We spent hours floating there. When we thought we were wrinkled and pickled enough we set out on the beach to the delight of those pesky no-no bugs again. We made a quick departure back to our respective boats.

Saturday 5/13 Arrival of a few more boats, Lawur, New Dawn, Nereid and Serenity to this beautiful anchorage and we all enjoyed a down day of relaxing. With the swim set up on the side of the boat again, the 6 boys all enjoyed the water.

Sunday 5/14 Happy Mother's Day. Traditionally for us we would have our annual camping kick off weekend for Mother's day. But seeing as how we were already camping, sort of, we opted for a Mother's Day hike, now affectionately referred to as the Mother's Day Death March. Anaho bay itself is inaccessible by car, there are no roads that lead to here. There is only a trail to hike in from the neighboring anchorage of Hatiheu Bay approximately 1 1/2 hours to the East. After my own delightful breakfast in bed and home made cards gifted to me, we took off with the crews from Capaz, Laura from New Dawn and Lawur.

The dinghy landing is a narrow channel marked by buoys as the anchorage is host to the only coral reef in the Marquesas. You find the church on the beach and follow the muddy path up behind. It was a good hike over the peak of the mountains and it provided us an amazing panoramic view of the anchorage, neighboring bays and all our boats below. Laura kept us entertained with word games the entire way and
though it was hot and long, these boys stamina wins out every time.

Once in the next town of Hakatea we enjoyed a quick snack and water break while Niki found us a jeep ride up to the ancient ruins. The ruins were surrounded with ceremonial tikis, platforms and pits. A mystically large banyan tree claims to be the location where they placed their dead king in the base because they believed it bad luck to cover the head with anything after you die. Our money was well spent at $5 dollars an adult for the jeep ride as he shuttled us from site to site, back down to the market that they graciously opened on a Sunday for us and fed us pampelmousse and bananas, and then gave us a ride up the end of the paved road and the beginning of our trek back home. Though a relatively narrow path, we were passed more than once by locals and even an occasional one on horseback. We were impressed because this was no easy trail due to its steepness and rocky undertows.

Monday 5/15 Time to head back to the busy anchorage of Taiohoe for a night while we regrouped before heading around to Daniels Bay. We provisioned a bit, gathered some money and more fuel. We greatly looked forward to the next stop the next day. With out the ability to swim here, murky waters and we hear the sharks are prevalent due to the dumping of fishermen's left over fish parts, there is not much desire to linger here long. And we are not
ones to tempt that fate.

Until next time,
Lisa and the boys

The Martins on Ohana Kai
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