Monday, May 28, 2007 – Anaho Bay is truly amazing. It is a glimpse at what all the Marquesas were probably like 30 years ago. It’s probably what all the islands were like 100 years ago. It may be the last genuinely unspoiled town left on earth. We wish we could send a photo because words cannot even begin to describe it, but we’ll try to paint the picture with words.

Anaho resembles Taiohae in that high mountains thick with foliage plunge straight into the water with little shoreline. The bay itself looks like it is out of a picture book, with it’s beautiful horseshoe curve and blue water. In some small spots near the shoreline the water is a spectacular blue-green. The land along the water is odd there are a few small isolated spots of white sandy beach, but it is mostly a narrow beach that immediately becomes thick, dense foliage.

There are only two ways to get to the town of Anaho with a boat or on foot. The town has no roads to accommodate a car. The “main road” through town is a small, one person wide foot path that runs along the water. The foot path eventually takes you to the next bay over, where we are told there is a real road. Like Taiohae, there are animals everywhere dogs, chickens, horses that are all just hanging out.

The town consists of a small pension (motel), a church, what looked like it could have been a town center (clearing with grass and volleyball net, roof over a slab with no walls), several small homes, and what looked like a couple sheds for animals.

This bay has the only coral reef in all the Marquesan Islands. Since the Marquesas are “young” islands, the reefs have not really grown yet. This reef is quite small, and honestly, not all that interesting. The water is also not very clear. The land is what is interesting at this destination.

When we brought the dinghy to shore, we had to be careful about going around the coral reef. We landed at the edge of town, next to the pension. As soon as we got off the boat we felt like we were on the set of the TV show “Lost”. Inches from the sand is thick jungle with all kinds of plants growing. Around all the buildings the land was cleared and circled by a small patch of grass, but there weren’t many buildings and most of them are spread out, so that left lots of jungle.

We walked along the path for a while, enjoying the spectacular view of the bay from behind the foliage. We didn’t go as far as the next bay, though. Then we went snorkeling. The water here is warm and inviting. While the coral was disappointing, the swim was wonderful and refreshing.

After sunset we sat outside for a while. It was a warm night. The moon was only about three quarters full, yet it was still so bright that it cast shadows. Everything was lit up so we could clearly see each of the other boats in the bay and all the land around us. As always, there were scattered clouds and we watched the clouds move in front of the moon and glow in the moonlight. The stars near the moon were invisible in the bright light, but the stars farther away from the moon twinkled brightly in the sky.

The perfect end to a perfect day in paradise. We are so glad we came here. It probably won’t be too much longer before this little village is introduced to “civilization”.