The largest and most populous island of the Marquesas islands is Nuku Hiva. However, there are not many people living on the island, only 3,000 inhabitants. Before European settlers arrived in 1595, it is believed that the island had somewhere between 50 – 100,000 inhabitants.
As has happened “everywhere”, the indigenous population got infected by our Western diseases. This resulted in nine out of every tenth Polynesian dying. This is a tragedy that we have been reminded of frequently as we have toured these islands, as one can easily see archeological sites where there are signs that there once were populous villages and communities.
Nuku Hiva’s main town, Taiohae, is where we arrived to officially check in to the country after our transpacific passage. We had already made a pit stop on the neighboring island, Ua Huka, so Nuku Hiva is in fact the second Marquesan island we visit. There is a total of six inhabited islands here, and our goal is to visit them all.
The bay of Taiohae is big, and has room for 100 boats. When we were there in May and June 2024, there were at least 40-50 boats anchored by this small town. Meeting fellow sailors was definitely not a problem, as they were easy to spot on the busy dinghy dock. We were happy to be reunited with several sailors we have met before in the Caribbean, Panama City and Galapagos.
We have spent several days walking around the town to do some sightseeing and provisioning. We have loved the many tikis we have seen around town, and can’t wait to find some more as we tour more of the islands.
We spent one day diving in the outer Eastern part of Taiohae bay, in the shelter of an island. Just at the outer corner of this island, is where we found the first manta rays any of us have ever dived with, as well as several curious hammerhead sharks.
As the water here is so nutritious, the visibility is so-so, which made especially the sharks seem to appear out of nowhere. We’re glad we recently had much experience from diving with sharks in the Galapagos. However, the sharks here seem much more curious, so we were both feeling the heart beat a little bit faster when they approached us.
After spending a few days checking out the town, and getting some fresh provisioning done, we rented a car together with our friends Tom and Karen from SV Sauvage.
The island is beautiful, with lush green hills against dramatic cliffs and lots of waterfalls. We drove from Taiohae to the Northern and Eastern part of the island, we’re the nature is the most scenic. There are several viewpoints to stop along the way, and we truly enjoyed just looking at the beautiful landscape.
We made it to the Northern town of Hatiheu for lunch, and had an awesome meal of curry goat at Chez Yvonne, the only restaurant in town. After lunch, we stopped at Hikokua, a historic site that was used for dance performances at community festivals up until the 18th century. Next to the site is The Sacred Banyan Tree, estimated to be 600 years old.
Tom and Karmen whipped up a surprise portable espresso maker, and we enjoyed a lovely break of espresso and biscuits. What great company we had for our tour of the island!
We have fallen in love with all of the tikis we see everywhere. The tikis are half man and half God, and they symbolize power, knowledge, wisdom and wealth. They represent the force of Polynesian art and the richness of the Ma’ohi culture.
While we were in Taiohae, there was a local Mother’s Day celebration. We were a bunch of sailors who joined the party, and got great insight into the local community as well as the culture.
We are looking to stay here in French Polynesia for almost two years, and Nuku Hiva is the best place for us to provision for quite some time. The diet is mainly fish and fruits here. Most Polynesians eat little vegetables, which was somewhat worrisome to us, in terms of perhaps not having veggies available for two years. We were pleasantly surprised when we found tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and avocados to supplement the basic items, potatoes and onions.
Our local favorite fresh product is for sure the pamplemousse! It is a large sweet grapefruit, and is found here in abundance!
We are now looking forward too sail around the island of Nuku Hiva and explore it from the seaside as well!