West end of Nuku Hiva to Daniel's Bay

Hakaehu Bay was grey and full of clouds one morning, so we decided to sail on around the West end.

The boobie birds were circling us to see if we stirred up any fish.

The NW corner of Nuku Hiva is the only place on the island, flat enough to put the airport.

We decided to sail past the bay of Haahopu where this canyon comes in, just South of the airport.

As we sail past it opens up and we can see up into the canyon.

Then the sun shines on the green valley floor.

The grey clouds were bringing us some wind, so we sailed South with the jib along the coast.

This squall was off the SW corner and looked a bit ominous.

The clouds were getting lower as we neared that corner of the island by these cliffs.

Not any roads on this side of the island either.

The boobie birds were having a day. Their outline shows the close proximity of the overhead clouds.

They entertained us for quite a while.

As we round the corner to the South side, we see this incredible rock formation.

The hills are aglow with the greenery.

Down there is the big opening to Taiohae Bay, and the capital of the Marquesas island group.

This cliff we were sailing past had the most incredible colors and a grey seam runs right through the red part.

We were seeing many sea caves and a few big blow holes.

The crevasses of the rocks as they drop into the ocean are quite amazing.

This is the next point we will round before turning into Daniel's bay. Called Point Temokomoko, it had a very contrasting white area of rock.

Sea caves.

There are two fingers of Daniel's bay (also called Taioa or Hakatea) and our view is just opening up.

The dramatic cliffs at the head of the bay where you can just see the Vaipo waterfall that descends from a 2000 foot plateau.

The next morning the light was perfect for seeing the waterfall. We made the 2.5 hour walk up there when we first arrived here in 2016. Probably not going to do that again! But wow so beautiful!!

We wanted to go check out some of those sea caves with the dinghy, so we went quite close to the cliffs at the entrance. Here you see a big rock pile at the end of a slide area.

From close up the cliffs are even more impressive. Do you see the lone big pine clinging to the cliff edge?

The anchorage is over in the Hakatea arm of the bay where Daniel and his wife Antoinette were a very cruiser friendly Marquesan couple that lived by that beach. They have both passed on now, but it is still referred to as Daniel's bay, one of the most protected anchorages in the Marquesas.

The sea was too rough to get out to the sea caves so we went back to the boat.  This is the view from the boat of the 1,600 foot tall cliffs by the entrance.

Another shot of the sun gleaming off the cascade of the huge waterfall. Also one of the most beautiful places on earth. (see blog post from April of 2016 for waterfall hike)

The sun lights up a big tree clinging to life from the water in the crevasse. We feel blessed to be able to retrace our steps and come back to this spectacular bay.