Category Archives: South Pacific

Swimming with Marquesian Dolphins — Or Were They Whales?

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Tuesday, May 29, 2007 – We were up at 6:30 preparing the boat for sea. Our next destination is an island about 24 hours away. We had a stop to make first, and we needed to make that stop as early as possible.

There is a particular spot on the southeast side of Nuka Hiva, just north of Tikapo Point, where melon headed dolphins (we’ve heard them called pygmy orcas, also. We’re not sure which is correct) congregate in the mornings by the hundreds. It is the only place where it happens and no one knows why. You can actually jump in the water and swim with them. They aren’t always there, but we had our fingers crossed. We cruised over to the spot and sure enough, right when we got there a half dozen dolphins came and played in the wake of our bow, and were soon joined by more. As we cruised around, there were always between half a dozen and two dozen dolphins at the bow. We could see tons more in the water. The water was teeming with them. Whether whale or dolphin, they look like dolphins but do not have the long nose. They are a light brown and a little smaller than dolphins we are used to seeing at home. Continue reading →

Anaho Bay

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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. Continue reading →

A Peek at Marquesan Culture

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May 27, 2007 On Sunday morning we decided to go to church. The tourist guides all said that Polynesians are deeply religious people and everyone goes to church. Dean Richard, our guide, said that was true in his grandparent’s day, but nowadays it was socially acceptable to not attend church. The tourist guides all said the singing was amazing and worth a visit on a Sunday morning.

The Catholic Cathedral we had visited the night before had very high wooden ceilings, rock walls, and lots of statues and crucifixes. The church could have held at least a couple hundred people and there were maybe 40 at the Saturday night service. Everyone sat attentively. The service was in Marquesan. The singing was really beautiful, as promised. The priest and alter boy were dressed in white robes. Since we wandered in out and while the service was going on, we had no contact with the church goers. Continue reading →

Traditional Marquesan Feast

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Saturday, May 26, 2007 – Today is the last time we will be able to send pictures for a few weeks. Currently, we are in “civilization” where there is an internet café’ (it is a slow and somewhat inconsistent connection, but it is something). Tomorrow we will be heading out to go island hopping. It is extremely unlikely that we will find an internet café on any island between here and Tahiti. So, back to text only updates. Continue reading →

Nuka Hiva Guided Excursion

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May 25, 2007 We want to begin with a correction to a previous blog post. The statues in the park along the water were carved in 1989 for a festival celebrating the Marquesan culture. We guess the park already existed and they permanently put the statues at the park location. The 2000 year old statues are mentioned below.

On Friday, we got up early and went into shore. We went back to the gas station to take care of the fuel tax exemption paperwork and pay. Then we took a guided tour of Nuka Hiva in a 4×4 with a local tour guide, Dean Richard that speaks excellent English.

They only began putting roads on the islands in 1981. Parts of the island are still only accessible by boat. The roads that exist are mostly dirt. They are actively working on making new roads and paving the existing ones. We have seen work crews doing both. We were glad to be chauffeured because we would have not been too comfortable driving those steep, muddy mountain roads. Continue reading →