AdventuresAboardAvatar: Hakaehu Bay and Pua Village

We finally pried ourselves out of Anaho Bay and continued to the West along the North Coast. A lot of Uncharted territory is along this part of the coast. You would think with today's technology no where should be uncharted, but I suppose Nuku Hiva is about as remote as it gets. We however learned about how to make Google satellite photos into charts. So we had downloaded some photos of this area and decided to attempt to sail into Hakaehu Bay near the village of Pua.

We sailed past several bays and headlands along the way and another steep mountainous ridge is ahead of us.

You know you are in the tropics when you see Tropic birds flying by. They have the long skinny white (sometimes red) tail.

This is seriously rugged coast line!

Finally we arrive in Hakaehu bay and it is spectacular! Nice anchorage!

We see a house in there. We were told by some other cruisers that the people who lived there were very friendly.

We notice there is no boat to be seen, but there are horses on the beach! This place is going to be special!!

When we go ashore we realize the horses are drinking the fresh water from a river dumping into the bay.

It is practically a swamp, just behind the beach.

We see a fresh water eel swimming by a coconut. This made me laugh because of the legend of the eel in Polynesia. What? You don't know it? OK quick side trip here: In Ancient days, the Chief's daughter married a commoner and was kicked out of the clan. It turned out the commoner was actually an eel. They lived in poverty all their lives. As the eel was about to die, he told his wife to after he dies, cut off his head and plant it in the ground. He told her he would come back as a plant and provide everything she needed. And so grew up a coconut tree where she planted her husband's head. The tree provides, wood for building and carving, leaves for roofs, coconuts are food, but also the husks can be burned to keep away the mosquitos and the shell can be used as a cup or bowl. And when you remove the husk and look at the nut, it has the face of an eel made by the three holes. And in order to open the nut you have to determine which two are the eyes and hit him square on the top of the head with a hard object and the nut will crack wide open. Then you have juice and coconut meat to drink and eat. And that is the story of how the Coconut Tree came to be the Tree of Life.

Avatar anchored out in the bay from in front of the house.

An ancient road leads inland, right past the house.

Sherman is a Very Big Marquesan man, who lives up to his name. (Sherman Tank).... His wife and daughter were not there because the daughter was having a baby and had to fly to Papeete, so the mom, Maria, went with her. Every few days he rides to the next village where there is a phone and talks to them. She was due any day now. He was a very gracious host and offered us papaya right from his tree.

He also gave us a Custard Apple. We had never seen or heard of one before. But after several days of ripening, we opened it and it was delicious!

He had several dogs and one cat who were keeping him company. They were adorable!

When I mentioned he rides, it is not a bike, but one of his many horses.

And we could not believe the horns on this guy!

He suggested we follow the ancient road and look at the ruins and pick up our fruit on the way back to the boat......hmm more cows. They are staring like they have never seen tourists before.

Mike poses by this absolutely huge tree.

Had to get back so you could see how huge it is.

The ruins are everywhere. Big rocks stacked in several ways.

And smaller rocks to fill in the gaps. But incredibly level on the top.

This we believe is a ground oven or a ground storage area where food is wrapped and kept. Or it could be an old well filled in, or just a fire place. Who knows really.