We left Anaho Bay and continued our circumnavigation of Nuku Hiva island. The Northern coast is lush and mountainous, and even though we have seen parts of it from land already, it is a totally different experience seeing it from the ocean.
On the Northwestern corner of Nuku Hiva, is a small bay with an impressive mountain range that acts as a backdrop. The valley is called Pua Valley, and the bay where we anchored is called Hakaehu Bay.
One family resides here, divided into eight different properties. This used to be a village with several thousand inhabitants, and we could still see many of the foundations from where the buildings used to be. In Norway, this would probably have been an archeological site, and perhaps even a museum. Here, it is a live, working farm landscape in between historic ruins.
It is quite overwhelming to visit places like this, and meet with the descendants of the few, lucky survivors. It is a special experience to see for ourselves what us Europeans did to the indigenous population in our quest to explore and conquer land on the other side of the world. They were living their lives peacefully, and in we crashed with our viruses and deceases that nearly wiped out the entire population.
We certainly try our best to move around this country with as much respect for the local life and people as we can muster.
In the valley, we met Germaine, who is the head of the family. We asked him for directions to hike to one of the viewpoints of the valley. He seemed genuinely surprised that we would want to walk in the heat of the middle of the day. So much so, that he ensured we brought a pamplemousse each for the trip, so we would stay hydrated.
Again, we are in awe of the friendliness and hospitality of the people here! ❤️❤️❤️
Before we knew it, we had one of the puppies from one of the houses in the valley join us for the hike. Even with our best efforts to try to get him to turn back and go home, he wanted to come with us.
Halfway up the hill, it became clear that the little puppy had underestimated his own hiking capabilities. A panting dog with begging eyes looked up on us, and we each took turns carrying him.
When we returned from our hike, Germaine was even more generous and gave us more fruit; mangos, oranges, lemons and bananas. When we asked what we should pay, he wanted us to make something of the fruit instead.
Karmen from SV Sauvage made a lovely banana bread, and the admiral made lemonade. We went back ashore and went to have our newly made treats at Germaine’s little brother’s house.
We had a lovely time with the two brothers and their niece. The admiral’s school French made the conversation somewhat clear, but it helped even better when it turned out that Germaine’s brother knew some English. Need to practice some more, to turn from speaking Spanish this last year to French is not done in a heartbeat…
We have learned the local Marquesan language for the basics, such as ‘hi’ (kahoa) and ‘bye’ (metai), and try to use this as much as we can. If you are really enthusiastic, you can add ‘nui’ at the end of the each word, which would mean ‘big hello’ and ‘big goodbye’. It was definitely a BIG goodbye after this awesome day we spent in the family’s valley, farm and garden. Thank you!!!
We spent a few extra days at this anchorage, the guys went for a dive, while the ladies used the SUPs for the first time since we arrived in the Marquesas. The anchorages here are known to be rather rolly, but we got lucky with the weather.
One of the nights, we were invited to dinner at SV Sauvage, and Karmen taught us to make dumplings. She had prepared filling from the wahoo Bruse had fished earlier, and added lots of veggies and Chinese sauce and spices. Our first dumpling making session. We loved it! Such a fun and social activity that ended with a yummy meal.
We leave this bay stuffed, well explored and looking forward to visiting what supposedly is the most beautiful bay in Nuku Hiva, Hakatea Bay, aka Daniel’s Bay. It will be our last stop in Nuku Hiva before heading off to the next and last inhabited island of the northern part of Marquesa, Ua Pou.