Pictures from Hakaui and Hakatea - Daniels Bay

Some pictures to accompany an earlier post on our visit to Daniel's Bay.

Crossing the stream on the way to Vaipo falls (near Hakaui).

Rani tries her hand at being a fearsome Marquesan with Marquesans, Kua, Teiki, and Teiki whom we met on the road to the Vaipo falls. They were selling fruit and vegetables to cruisers.

Teiki  showing us how his ancestors would prepare for a boar hunt - note the tusks. 

A Marquesan larakeet in a papaya tree. These birds are very hard to see in the woods because their colour perfectly matches the background.

Vaipo Falls - a 900+ foot cascade. 

Crossing the stream - note the hard hat - necessary due to rock falls.

Teiki asked us for a picture and, having no printer, Rani drew this sketch from  the above photo.

We met a carver named Augustin who had practiced his art on the dining room table (part of the table top).

Preparing breadfruit to make `breadfruit chips`

Inside of breadfruit

Pictures from Taiohae, Nuku Hiva

A few pictures from our stay at Taiohae Bay. More description can be found in earlier blog posts.

These wasps visited us often on the boat. They were quite pleasant compared to wasps we had visit us in Mexico and rarely stayed for more than a few minutes.

No-see-um bites - Rani suffered strong reactions to these and suffered for weeks.

Carvings at a waterfront sculpture park.

Polynesian voyaging canoe model in a local museum run by an ex-cruiser.

Church gate

Freshly caught tuna is sold each day in the afternoon at the pier - cost about $5 a kilo.

An odd location for a phone booth. It appeared to be functional!

This cross was supposedly grafted onto an earlier sculpture of an explicit phallic nature. Note the large number of yachts that are anchored in the bay.

Hike To Haatuatua

A few pictures from a hike we made from Anaho Bay in the Marquesas.

Little critter we met on the beach.

Karim's beachfront house - a Swiss Family Robinson place

Dennis from 'Knotty Lady' leads the way to the beach at Haatuatua Bay

Tossing the caber

Another attractive resident of Haatuatua Bay

Hatiheu Pictures

These photos refer to text published earlier on this blog about a hike we made with our friends from 'Knotty Lady' from Anaho Bay to Hatiheu, a town with extensive archeological sites.

Seed pod containing a sort of cotton.

Horses frequently use the trail to Hatiheu

View from the trail at top of the ridge over Anaho Bay

Climbing to a lookoff over Anaho Bay

Look off at Anaho Bay

Pack horses with a load of melons for the market in Taiohae

Tiki of chief with casse-tete (head breaker) and child at Tohua Hikoku'a

Creation myth carving - a turtle on top of two intertwined bodies at Tohua Hikoku'a   

Recently carved tiki at Tohua Hikoku'a 

Mortar for grinding or pounding fruits, seeds, or nuts

Baking pit at Tohua Kamuihei

Paepae with reconstructed building at Tohua Kamuihei

Huge banyan tree at Tohua Kamuihei - note Rani for scale

Nicky opening a Marquesan almond

Opened Marquesan almond - small but sweet

Horse and rider on trail from Anaho to Hatiheu

Anaho Bay Pictures

These pictures belong with text that was posted earlier on this blog. Anaho Bay was our favorite anchorage on Nuku Hiva -  tranquil and the locals were very welcoming.

Approach to Anaho Bay

Anaho Bay beach

Yachts anchored off the coral reef at Anaho Bay

Catholic children's camp building

Pomegranate growing on a bush at the children's camp

Unusual garden ornaments

Cooking breadfruit over coconut husk fire

Karim prepares a baked breadfruit with Rani and Nicky (from Knotty Lady) looking on.

Tuaki shows how to de-skin a breadfruit

Large land crab - they come out at night and we saw this one on the way home from a shore-side pot-luck

Taipivai Pictures

Text related to these pictures can be found earlier in this blog. The paepae pictured may be one that Herman Melville would have visited when it was still used as a ceremonial site in the 1830s.

Rani at the paepae near Taipivai

Paepae near Taipivai

Tiki -  doesn't this look a little like a South Park character?

River near Hooumi village - a nice hike from Taipivai

Landfall in Tahiti

We arrived at anchor off Point Venus, Tahiti at midnight after a 1.5 day passage. The tall islands were visible more than 40 miles away, the mountains rising out of the clouds arond sunset. We had no problems entering the bay, with our little computer displaying an accurate chart and a GPS providing real time positions.

This morning we awoke to outrigger canoes passing us on the way to a big race for which we appear to have front row seats. The steep green mountains behind the anchorage remind us of the Marquesas, while the larger built up areas are more like what I saw in Hawaii. We will rest here a day before heading in to find an anchorage nearer town.

Our position is 17 30 S 149 22 W