Day 39 - Thu 10/18/18 Nuku Hiva, Marquesa Islands

Arlene & Marny with the Maasdam in the Background

Today was another special day in Paradise. The ship anchored in Taiohae Bay, and we got an early tender off and met our guide, Lolo. It was an hour ride in a Toyota 4x4 pickup on a twisty concrete paved road over several mountain ranges (with a scenic viewpoint of the ship at anchor) before driving another mile on a dirt road to an ancient pier. There a small outrigger boat was being loaded with concrete stair posts and other building materials that we later saw were being used at Anaho Bay.  

After the concrete filled boat departed, our little open runabout bobs up to the dock and 10 of us pile in including one fellow who can't swim and has a look of sheer terror at about what is about to happen. I also looked around and counted up the PFD's (personal flotation devices): zero! This could be interesting. And off we go ploughing through the water and its 6-8 foot swells. The 'captain' steered us close to dramatically rough black lava cliffs with pounding surf trying to take down the lava rocks. After crossing about 3 bays were turned into what would be Anaho Bay which is quite protected.

At the end of the Bay is a little settlement with a pension and a restaurant. We all (but one) immediately got in the warm and waist deep waters of the bay and tried to find fish while the little runabout went back for the other two groups. There were a few fish and after an hour and a half most of us left the water and tried spotting small (under 2 foot) black tipped reef sharks and sting rays. They were quite visible in the shallow water. It was pretty nifty to have this whole Bay to pretty much ourselves.

We were served a BBQ fish and chicken lunch and I demonstrated how to break a coconut open which I had learned a few days earlier on our excursion in Moorea. After lunch, some went back in the water while others strolled the beach or just relaxed.

Since our group was first to arrive, we were first to depart. So we ploughed our way back to the ancient pier in heavy swells. At the pier we unloaded and a family with a mattress and two dogs got on the boat fir the trip back. The skipper was going to earn francs today! We retraced our way back on the dirt road and the paved road making stops at a scenic lookout, an archeological site with lots of tikis and wooden crafts for sale and an overlook for the site of the TV series, Survivor, Season 4 from 2001. We've now seen two of the Survivor sites with Samoa being the other site.

We got back at the little villlage of Taiohae (tender port) around 5:15 and our guide showed us the memorial to Herman Melville who lived here during the early 1800's. As it was getting dark, all of the little vendors were closed and we caught a tender back to the ship as we had a Caneletto dinner reservation for 7pm. It was a nice quiet dinner, and we caught most of the 8pm showing of BBC Planet Earth II before listening to the Cook Island couple, Rose and Tani, perform beautiful Polynesian love songs in the Crow's Nest after which we caught the whole 10pm performance of BBC Planet Earth II. We did notice movement in the ship around 9pm, so it appears that everyone got on board early so we left early.

Thanks go to Kathy (Jokelady) for setting up today's excursion. The scenery was stunning, it was great to get away from the crowds, and now I can say I've snorkeled at Anaho Bay. It's truly another part of Paradise.

Tomorrow we have a sea day with a packed schedule. Stay tuned.