Taiohae, Nuku Hiva, Marquesas

We spent about a month on Nuku Hiva, mostly in the Baie Taiohae.  This is the capital of the Marquesas and the town has about 1200 people living there, which is about half of the population of the entire island.  The bay is spectacular from the view up the hill, and well protected from the ocean.  This is where Herman Melville escaped from the whaling ship and climbed the steep mountains to live with the cannibal nativities in the next valley over.  Be sure to read Typee if you have not.  I read it while we were there and it was quite interesting comparing those times with current ones.  When Melville arrived the French had just taken over.  The French have done quite a good job of bringing the islands into modern times and providing them with services you would expect to find anywhere in modern society (hospitals, police, garbage, cell phones and internet, etc.)
There are drawings in many places of what the nativities used to look like back in the early days.  I took a couple of these in one of the restaurants.  The men had long hair which they tied up into a bun, and were tattooed all over their bodies.  They carried heavy war clubs or paddles they used to propel their proas (outrigger canoes).  In the original turtle tattoo you can see the Tiki gods (awake and asleep) on all 4 legs and in his body.  They believed that if God did not answer your prayers it was because he was sleeping, so keep asking until he wakes up!
There are a few pensions (small hostels) and one fancy hotel in Taiohae.  There were as many as 75 boats there at one point, but averaged about 50. On the day we came back from hiking to the big waterfall in Dainiel's bay, there was one huge yacht whos mast towered above all the rest of us. It rained a lot when we were there, but not all the time.  Typical tropics, gets cloudy, rains, then the sun comes back out.  The good part about the rain is all the waterfalls that show up.
At the quay (big cement) wall, we tied up our dinghies next to the fishing boats.  Often when they brought in their catch they would throw the guts and heads into the water.  That is when we noticed all the sharks!  When the rain comes, it washes a lot of dirt into the water and it becomes very murky.  No time to go swimming with sharks in murky water!!  The second day we were there a cruise ship showed up!  That kind of blew our minds, but the locals put on the dog and we got to see native drumming and ladies in costume for the cruise ship guests.  It was quite entertaining.
There is no bus service around town, but they do have a bus that takes all the school kids to events.  And the big event the first weekend we were there was the Northern Marquesas Proa Regatta.  They had both kids and adults racing in anything from a single seater to a 12 seat double canoe.  It went on all day Saturday and people came from the other two islands, Ua Pou and Ua Huka and it was a huge all day party on the waterfront where the whole town showed up!
On Saturday mornings, the fishermen brought in their catch and the farmers came in with fresh veggies.  The only catch for us was that it starts at 5am!  By 6 o'clock tomatoes and lettuce are gone.  It took us a couple of weeks to get our acts together that early in the morning, but the day we did, wow!  Beautiful veggies!  The fish brought in were quite impressive with lots of tuna, wahoo, parrot fish, and red snapper.  One thing to be careful of is Ciguatera which is a microorganism that fish eat off dead coral.  When you eat a fish infected with it, you become poisoned.  It is mostly in smaller reef fish, so we opted not to eat any of the parrot fish, besides they were so pretty!  Mike has caught 2 tunas on passages so far, which is always good being a deep ocean fish. 
There is a memorial to Melville where he escaped from the ship which is carved into a big tree trunk.  There are also French Navy memorials and left over canons from days of old.
The Catholic Church is another amazing place to visit with many beautiful wood carvings, including the doors.  Bischop Le Cleach is buried in the back with a lovely memorial to him. He and Toti Teikiehuupoko started the Matava'a which is a big festival held every 4 years in December to celebrate the Marquesan Culture.  This is where they have drum and dance contests, singing groups, tattooing demonstrations, carving competitions, Tapa making demonstrations and many other fascinating things that were born from the Marquesan Culture.  In the mid 1990's the Tahitian culture tried to take over the islands as a back up to the French.  It was then that these two men decided to make this a revival of the Marqusas before their own identity was lost forever.  Today many of the locals speak Marquesan and it is taught as a second language in schools.  Of course French is the official language, but it was fun to learn some of their words.  Kaoha=Hello, Kon Tou Nui=thank you very much, Nana=bye.
The Tiki stone carvings along the waterfront, were made specifically for the 2003 Matava'a which was held in Nuku Hiva.  They are still quite interesting, but some of the ones around town are still ancient ones. You will notice all the wood carved statues holding up the ceremonial buildings. The sad part for us, was when we learned the last Matava'a was held just last December 2015.  If you want to see a great story about that, please read my friend Linda, from s/v Jacaranda's blog about it. http://www.jacarandajourney.com/84-matavaa  So wish we could have experienced it.  
After living in the desert of the Baja, we have been enchanted with all the greenery.  Huge different types of trees and intricate root structures. The flowering trees were my favorite, but the bright red color of the dates on the Date Palms and the weird shape of the bread fruit with its huge leaves were also fascinating.
Our new friends from other boats who also just crossed the ocean to get there were many.  There was Jeanie, who had been to the RRYC in VA, Nana and Elisa who crewed aboard Jade, and of course everyone's new friend Kevin, who owns Yacht Services and helped us all get thru the check in process with the Gendarme. He put on a happy hour every Friday night, which we went to several times ;-) 
Along with a few other boats we put together a pot luck dinner at the local internet cafe right on the quay.  The restaurant provided a barbecue to cook on and asked the local Ukulele maker and instructor to come and play for us. The music was excellent, some got up and danced (me included!) and then Erick jumped in and played with them.  He went the next day to the shop and did end up buying one too.
Overall we very much enjoyed our stay in Nuku Hiva.  It is a lovely small town with such friendly people.
Nana, Taiohae,Nuku Hiva.............We will never forget you, our first Polynesian Island! 

View of Taiohae Bay

restaurant mural 

Tattooed Marquesan man with war club

Tiki God Turtle Tattoo

View of West side of bay from boat

View of East side of bay from beach

Looking up the center of the bay from the boat

close up of after rain waterfalls

One of these boats is much bigger than the rest of us!

Isn't she lovely?

View of Quay wall from beach

Paul Gauguin cruise ship line

School bus

People on the beach watching Proa regatta

Friend filming with his GoPro

Launching a Proa for the next race

Proa Launching

Proa waiting to be launched (upside down to drain water)

Kids waiting their turn to race

Paddles at the ready

Lots of onlookers (note how muddy from rain)

Polynesian Barbecue 

Paddle harder! (12 person Proa)

Close up of paddlers (note big wave crashing on beach behind)

Fish Market on Quay wall

Tunas with no heads ready to sell

Small Tuna and Wahoo

Parrot Fish

Red Snapper

Prizes from the Market

Typee memorial

Memorial to Herman Melville

French Navy Memorial

Old Canon aimed at the fleet

Entrance to the Catholic Church

Courtyard at Catholic Church

Entry way to Church

Doors into Church

Carving of Marquesan Man holding a Marquesan Cross

Carving of High Priest 

Carving of Man playing Ukulele 

Grave of Bishop Le Cleach

Memorial to the Bishop

Statue of the Bishop

View from Bishop's Memorial

Real ancient Tiki

Commemorating Matava'a from 2003

Site of 2003 Matava'a

Tiki carving from 2003 with moss growing on it

Red stone carving from 2003

Carving of Marquesan man

2003 Tiki

Very interesting Stone carving View 1

View 2 looks like a lady

View 3

Stone Carving 

Close up of Tiki Skulls

Ceremonial Building

Pillar at Ceremonial Building (female)

Pillar from same building (male)(yikes!)

Interesting trees by hill (banana trees in front)

Large roadside tree

Tree by bank with long bean pods hanging down

Tree roots holding on to the rocks

Flowering trees

Hot pink flower

Giant Aloe type plant looks like from Baja!

Dates ripe in the Date Palm

Breadfruit Tree

Breadfruit

Birds of paradise decorating Snack bar

My new friend Jeannie with her RRYC hat on

Kevin from Yacht Services

Happy Hour for the cruisers

Pot luck at the Snack Bar with Vivian from s/v MaryAnn

Pedro talking to folks from another boat

Nana and Elisa crew on Jade

Nana's fish dinner for potluck

Custom made Ukulele

Ukulele maistro and his wife

More Ukulele players and dancer

Erick plays the Uke

Erick  & Oliver from s/v MaryAnn following the Maistro