After a relaxing day at sea, we arrived in Nuku Hiva on April 10th. Nuku Hiva is spectacularly scenic island that rivals any South Pacific Island. It’s uniquely shaped mountain peaks all around the island give it a unique character. The island is lush with greenery from the rain it gets throughout the year. Discovered by the Spanish in 1595 and then frequented by whaling ships back in the 1700’s, it has been home to several famous authors such has Herman Melville back in the early 1800’s. After French Missionaries came in the 1800’s they outlawed the speaking of any language other than French and practicing any native religions. This almost caused the loss of a tribal culture that had survived for 1500 years. Due to disease brought by the Europeans the tribal population dwindled from more than 100,000 people down to only 2,000.
Originally, we had nothing planned for this stop but one of the other passengers on the ship had found a local tour and they offered us to join them with a few other members of our group. We arrived at the island at 8AM and took the first tender to the island where we were greeted by many pretty Polynesian girls doing their local dance. They were all very excited to perform for us and it looked like many of them were probably in high school. After our enthusiastic introduction to the island, we went out looking for our boat taxi that was to take us to this tour. We eventually found our boat captain and there was some confusion in that the captain only expected two people and we were a group of 7. We eventually found out the place we were going to has no phone or internet connection. They only get messages when they come to the main city where we were docked. The captain, who spoke almost no English, eventually agree to take us. When someone in our group stepped into the boat he twisted his ankle badly and decided not to go on this hike. This left our group at 6 and we headed out to meet our guides. As we headed out of the bay in our 16-foot skiff (without life vests) the clouds started darkening and a light drizzle started to come down. When we were totally out of the bay and heading along the coastline, the rain came down harder and the seas were extremely rough. Suddenly it did not seem like such a great idea to go on this excursion. We eventually made it to our destination after a half hour of bouncing up and down in the 7-foot waves and we were extremely happy to get ashore. The captain really did a great job, but we probably should not have been out on those seas in a boat that size with that many people. We had to jump out of the boat into the water to get to shore. Unfortunately, Greg tripped going out of the boat and fell into the water and on beach. Regardless of how we got there, it just felt good to be on steady ground!
After 5 to 10 minutes, one of our guides arrived and was surprised to see us. She had thought that the rain was so bad we would have probably cancelled on this trip. She was even more surprised to see there were 6 of us as she had only expected 2 people and maybe 4. She was happy to see we had made it and it made no difference on the size of our group. She took us to her home to get settled before heading out on the hike to see the tallest waterfall in French Polynesia. We met her husband Tangi who was the great grandson of the last chief of their tribe before the missionaries arrived and disrupted their culture. Tangi had half of his body tattooed including his face. He was extremely nice, but he would have been very intimidating with his appearance if he had not been constantly smiling. Anna, his soon to be wife, was a Croatian that had taken 5 years to hitchhike to the French Polynesian Islands where she fell in love with the islands, culture, and Tangi. She wrote a book on the French Polynesian Islands which is available on Amazon. Two of our group bought the book directly from her after our tour. Hearing their story was extremely interesting along with understanding their challenges in a cross-cultural marriage. Tangi’s tribal family has not fully accepted Anna yet although things have greatly improved since they first met. Anna’s family and close friends have accepted Tangi but she and he feel uncomfortable when traveling to Croatia with the stares he gets from his tattooed appearance. All that doesn’t seem to make any difference as they are in love and plan to marry next year. It was extremely interesting though in talking to them during this tour.
As we were getting ready to head out on our hike, Tangi told Anna to come in the house because it was about to rain. Since we were all pretty wet, we really weren’t too concerned about the rain anymore. After his second warning to come inside the house we started to feel a few raindrops and then it started raining cats and dogs as we all hurried back into the house. Anna told us that Tangi always could feel when it was about to rain. After 15 minutes of torrential rainfall, we were ready to venture outside again. When we had first arrived at their house, Anna had mentioned that they sometimes had a waterfall on the mountains just beyond their house. It wasn’t there when we arrived but sure enough, when we walked outside after this rainfall, you could see this 300-foot waterfall coming off the mountain behind their house. What a great view to have!
The hike itself was rather interesting. There was not too much elevation in the hike through the valley but there were many loose rocks to walk over and water streaming down the path to avoid. After we came to the first river that was rushing across our path with a very strong current, we were told we were wading through it. It was not difficult to wade through the river with a little caution since it mainly had a sandy bottom but it certainly put a little water and sand in your hiking shoes. After wading through the river, it didn’t seem as important to avoid rushing water running down the path in areas. It was a very scenic hike going through the rain forest. Sometimes we walked in a pathway of Banyan tree roots that hovered above us like an archway. Along the trail there were rock alters where people paid homage to the gods or were placed in front of their homes to mark their property. We saw a few rock walls built hundreds of years ago and we even came across a chopping block used to make human sacrifices. These tribal people were cannibals but not in the sense that we think of cannibals today. In the old days they would capture warriors from other tribes and sacrifice them at these alters were the chief and medicine men would eat their eyes and entrails to gain their “mana” (their life force). They didn’t eat or cook their flesh like we think of cannibals today. We also came across a pit that was once used for making some of their delicacies that required the food to ferment. Today these pits are used to trap wild pigs. They throw fresh coconuts into the pit sliced open so the meat can be easily smelled. The pigs fall into the pits and are there when the hunters come around to check. Another interesting fact about Anna and Tangi that we were told, is that Anna is a vegetarian while Tangi is a hunter. Tangi hunts wild pigs and wild goats, and Anna won’t eat meat. Sometimes opposites attract!
Our whole purpose of the hike was to see Vaipo, the largest (1148 foot) waterfall in all French Polynesia. After we saw the Hidden Valley, we came around the corner and saw the waterfall. Although it was amazing to see, we were a long way away from the falls and could not get to the foot of the falls due to falling rocks. Throughout the day we had heard occasional crashes and bangs in the distance. During rain storms they have many rockslides down the cliffs and people are warned to not get to close to these cliffs during these days. As it turned out the last river, we would have had to cross was flowing so strongly we probably could not have gotten to the foot of the falls anyway. The Hidden Valley that we had seen was extremely important to the local tribe. When warring tribes came to the island and they needed to hide, they would go inside this hidden valley which had an extremely small entrance and could not be easily found. Inside the valley were plenty of fruit trees that the tribe could survive on until the warring tribe left. It was a worthwhile hike to see the waterfall and learn about the tribal history of the island.
After the hike we went back to Anna and Tangi’s house, where Tangi had prepared a vegetarian lunch for us. The lunch was excellent with a delicious salad seasoned with coconut milk and mangos along with a main dish of curry over rice. He had made enough found for 15 people, and we were told the food would not even be good by dinner since they didn’t have a refrigerator to keep the food after lunch. Everyone had second and third helpings but still we didn’t get through half the food. For dessert he had made caramelized bananas that were good. Once again, we tried our best eat as much as possible but fell far short of what have been made. Fresh lemonade was provided from the many lemon trees throughout their yard. Almost all of the food they grow but Tangi also hunts and fishes for some meat for him. Since their house has no electricity, they only make enough food to eat each meal. It is a different style of life that certainly most Americans could not handle (including us!). They have no air conditioning or fans either. They do have some solar power for lighting that doesn’t work too well, and they have a generator for emergencies and special occasions. Their bed had a large mosquito net around because the bugs on the island are bad. It is hard to imagine that Anna has gotten used to this life and seems to love it.
On our trip back to the cruise ship the boat stopped by the neighboring beach where the 2002 Survivor: Marquesas was filmed. You could just imagine the contestants on the beach battling it out and you could see the lodge on the hilltop where the votes were taken to see who would be kicked off each week. Our son had a friend who competed in this Survivor series and had wanted to see where it had taken place. Unfortunately, he wasn’t feeling well this day and we took pictures for him to see where it had been held. The show had hired Tangi and some of his relatives to act as guards to keep the contestants from coming over to their small village which was only a couple of miles away. It was just another interesting part of this very fun tour.
When we got back to the cruise port we looked around and took a few pictures of a recent sculpture built on a small hilltop depicting a warrior gaining his strength from one of the gods. There wasn’t too much else open and we went back to the ship. We will be coming back to this port in a little over a week as part of the second segment of this cruise. Not sure what are plans will be here the second time, but we didn’t know what our plans would be this time and we really enjoyed our visit on Nuku Hiva!
Regards,
Sharon and Greg
Originally, we had nothing planned for this stop but one of the other passengers on the ship had found a local tour and they offered us to join them with a few other members of our group. We arrived at the island at 8AM and took the first tender to the island where we were greeted by many pretty Polynesian girls doing their local dance. They were all very excited to perform for us and it looked like many of them were probably in high school. After our enthusiastic introduction to the island, we went out looking for our boat taxi that was to take us to this tour. We eventually found our boat captain and there was some confusion in that the captain only expected two people and we were a group of 7. We eventually found out the place we were going to has no phone or internet connection. They only get messages when they come to the main city where we were docked. The captain, who spoke almost no English, eventually agree to take us. When someone in our group stepped into the boat he twisted his ankle badly and decided not to go on this hike. This left our group at 6 and we headed out to meet our guides. As we headed out of the bay in our 16-foot skiff (without life vests) the clouds started darkening and a light drizzle started to come down. When we were totally out of the bay and heading along the coastline, the rain came down harder and the seas were extremely rough. Suddenly it did not seem like such a great idea to go on this excursion. We eventually made it to our destination after a half hour of bouncing up and down in the 7-foot waves and we were extremely happy to get ashore. The captain really did a great job, but we probably should not have been out on those seas in a boat that size with that many people. We had to jump out of the boat into the water to get to shore. Unfortunately, Greg tripped going out of the boat and fell into the water and on beach. Regardless of how we got there, it just felt good to be on steady ground!
After 5 to 10 minutes, one of our guides arrived and was surprised to see us. She had thought that the rain was so bad we would have probably cancelled on this trip. She was even more surprised to see there were 6 of us as she had only expected 2 people and maybe 4. She was happy to see we had made it and it made no difference on the size of our group. She took us to her home to get settled before heading out on the hike to see the tallest waterfall in French Polynesia. We met her husband Tangi who was the great grandson of the last chief of their tribe before the missionaries arrived and disrupted their culture. Tangi had half of his body tattooed including his face. He was extremely nice, but he would have been very intimidating with his appearance if he had not been constantly smiling. Anna, his soon to be wife, was a Croatian that had taken 5 years to hitchhike to the French Polynesian Islands where she fell in love with the islands, culture, and Tangi. She wrote a book on the French Polynesian Islands which is available on Amazon. Two of our group bought the book directly from her after our tour. Hearing their story was extremely interesting along with understanding their challenges in a cross-cultural marriage. Tangi’s tribal family has not fully accepted Anna yet although things have greatly improved since they first met. Anna’s family and close friends have accepted Tangi but she and he feel uncomfortable when traveling to Croatia with the stares he gets from his tattooed appearance. All that doesn’t seem to make any difference as they are in love and plan to marry next year. It was extremely interesting though in talking to them during this tour.
As we were getting ready to head out on our hike, Tangi told Anna to come in the house because it was about to rain. Since we were all pretty wet, we really weren’t too concerned about the rain anymore. After his second warning to come inside the house we started to feel a few raindrops and then it started raining cats and dogs as we all hurried back into the house. Anna told us that Tangi always could feel when it was about to rain. After 15 minutes of torrential rainfall, we were ready to venture outside again. When we had first arrived at their house, Anna had mentioned that they sometimes had a waterfall on the mountains just beyond their house. It wasn’t there when we arrived but sure enough, when we walked outside after this rainfall, you could see this 300-foot waterfall coming off the mountain behind their house. What a great view to have!
The hike itself was rather interesting. There was not too much elevation in the hike through the valley but there were many loose rocks to walk over and water streaming down the path to avoid. After we came to the first river that was rushing across our path with a very strong current, we were told we were wading through it. It was not difficult to wade through the river with a little caution since it mainly had a sandy bottom but it certainly put a little water and sand in your hiking shoes. After wading through the river, it didn’t seem as important to avoid rushing water running down the path in areas. It was a very scenic hike going through the rain forest. Sometimes we walked in a pathway of Banyan tree roots that hovered above us like an archway. Along the trail there were rock alters where people paid homage to the gods or were placed in front of their homes to mark their property. We saw a few rock walls built hundreds of years ago and we even came across a chopping block used to make human sacrifices. These tribal people were cannibals but not in the sense that we think of cannibals today. In the old days they would capture warriors from other tribes and sacrifice them at these alters were the chief and medicine men would eat their eyes and entrails to gain their “mana” (their life force). They didn’t eat or cook their flesh like we think of cannibals today. We also came across a pit that was once used for making some of their delicacies that required the food to ferment. Today these pits are used to trap wild pigs. They throw fresh coconuts into the pit sliced open so the meat can be easily smelled. The pigs fall into the pits and are there when the hunters come around to check. Another interesting fact about Anna and Tangi that we were told, is that Anna is a vegetarian while Tangi is a hunter. Tangi hunts wild pigs and wild goats, and Anna won’t eat meat. Sometimes opposites attract!
Our whole purpose of the hike was to see Vaipo, the largest (1148 foot) waterfall in all French Polynesia. After we saw the Hidden Valley, we came around the corner and saw the waterfall. Although it was amazing to see, we were a long way away from the falls and could not get to the foot of the falls due to falling rocks. Throughout the day we had heard occasional crashes and bangs in the distance. During rain storms they have many rockslides down the cliffs and people are warned to not get to close to these cliffs during these days. As it turned out the last river, we would have had to cross was flowing so strongly we probably could not have gotten to the foot of the falls anyway. The Hidden Valley that we had seen was extremely important to the local tribe. When warring tribes came to the island and they needed to hide, they would go inside this hidden valley which had an extremely small entrance and could not be easily found. Inside the valley were plenty of fruit trees that the tribe could survive on until the warring tribe left. It was a worthwhile hike to see the waterfall and learn about the tribal history of the island.
After the hike we went back to Anna and Tangi’s house, where Tangi had prepared a vegetarian lunch for us. The lunch was excellent with a delicious salad seasoned with coconut milk and mangos along with a main dish of curry over rice. He had made enough found for 15 people, and we were told the food would not even be good by dinner since they didn’t have a refrigerator to keep the food after lunch. Everyone had second and third helpings but still we didn’t get through half the food. For dessert he had made caramelized bananas that were good. Once again, we tried our best eat as much as possible but fell far short of what have been made. Fresh lemonade was provided from the many lemon trees throughout their yard. Almost all of the food they grow but Tangi also hunts and fishes for some meat for him. Since their house has no electricity, they only make enough food to eat each meal. It is a different style of life that certainly most Americans could not handle (including us!). They have no air conditioning or fans either. They do have some solar power for lighting that doesn’t work too well, and they have a generator for emergencies and special occasions. Their bed had a large mosquito net around because the bugs on the island are bad. It is hard to imagine that Anna has gotten used to this life and seems to love it.
On our trip back to the cruise ship the boat stopped by the neighboring beach where the 2002 Survivor: Marquesas was filmed. You could just imagine the contestants on the beach battling it out and you could see the lodge on the hilltop where the votes were taken to see who would be kicked off each week. Our son had a friend who competed in this Survivor series and had wanted to see where it had taken place. Unfortunately, he wasn’t feeling well this day and we took pictures for him to see where it had been held. The show had hired Tangi and some of his relatives to act as guards to keep the contestants from coming over to their small village which was only a couple of miles away. It was just another interesting part of this very fun tour.
When we got back to the cruise port we looked around and took a few pictures of a recent sculpture built on a small hilltop depicting a warrior gaining his strength from one of the gods. There wasn’t too much else open and we went back to the ship. We will be coming back to this port in a little over a week as part of the second segment of this cruise. Not sure what are plans will be here the second time, but we didn’t know what our plans would be this time and we really enjoyed our visit on Nuku Hiva!
Regards,
Sharon and Greg
RSS Feed
