November 1, 2008 - Nuka Hiva, Marquesas
Today we explored Nuka Hiva. In the morning, we went to Taiohae, which is the capital of the Marquesas. Most of the town was shut down because of All Saints Day. I walked by the Catholic cathedral and listened to the beautiful choral singing and drumming inside. I had a nice time walking around with the passengers and going to a small museum/boutique owned by an American woman named Rose who has lived on the island for 30 years and opened one of the first tourist hotels on the island.
In the afternoon, we repositioned to the other side of the island to Hatiheu. The scenery is just amazing and it was really hard to get a good photo of the surroundings because of the combination of blue sky, clouds, green forest and black stone cliffs. Here is one, but it does not even come close to doing it justice. I feel like my photos are not good – it is so hard to capture the expanse of the scene. I have trouble doing it in Antarctica too.
Nuka Hiva Island
For those Survivor fans out there, this is the bay next to the one where they filmed Survivor Marquesas. I got to drive the zodiacs into shore which was nice, because I love getting out and having my own time spinning around before the passenger shuttle. Anyway, when we got there, we went to a tahoua called Kamuihei, which means “the gathering of the chiefly headdresses”. At this site we saw banyan trees that were over 400 years old. Here is a photo of Michelle next to one of the trees for scale.
Banyan tree
A group of local dancers performed a welcoming dance. I really liked the traditional Marquesan pig-hunting dance, where the men made grunting sounds designed to attract the feral pigs during a hunt.
Dance group at the tahoua
Afterwards, we went to a local restaurant for some food tasting and craft demonstration. I ended up purchasing one of the woodcarvings.
It is beautiful and I met the man who made it. The Marquesan Islands are famous for their rosewood woodcarvings so I was hoping I’d find one that jumped out at me and wanted to come home.
So at this stage since we are a little more than halfway through, please do email me if you want me to write about something in particular or if you’d like to see some photos of something that I have not yet attached, or has not yet been on the A&K log (Jess put a link to that at the top of the blog on the right hand side). Thanks!
In the afternoon, we repositioned to the other side of the island to Hatiheu. The scenery is just amazing and it was really hard to get a good photo of the surroundings because of the combination of blue sky, clouds, green forest and black stone cliffs. Here is one, but it does not even come close to doing it justice. I feel like my photos are not good – it is so hard to capture the expanse of the scene. I have trouble doing it in Antarctica too.
Nuka Hiva Island
For those Survivor fans out there, this is the bay next to the one where they filmed Survivor Marquesas. I got to drive the zodiacs into shore which was nice, because I love getting out and having my own time spinning around before the passenger shuttle. Anyway, when we got there, we went to a tahoua called Kamuihei, which means “the gathering of the chiefly headdresses”. At this site we saw banyan trees that were over 400 years old. Here is a photo of Michelle next to one of the trees for scale.
Banyan tree
A group of local dancers performed a welcoming dance. I really liked the traditional Marquesan pig-hunting dance, where the men made grunting sounds designed to attract the feral pigs during a hunt.
Dance group at the tahoua
Afterwards, we went to a local restaurant for some food tasting and craft demonstration. I ended up purchasing one of the woodcarvings.
It is beautiful and I met the man who made it. The Marquesan Islands are famous for their rosewood woodcarvings so I was hoping I’d find one that jumped out at me and wanted to come home.
So at this stage since we are a little more than halfway through, please do email me if you want me to write about something in particular or if you’d like to see some photos of something that I have not yet attached, or has not yet been on the A&K log (Jess put a link to that at the top of the blog on the right hand side). Thanks!
posted by Lori @ 10:31 PM
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