29/6/09 - 8.55S 140.06.3W at 18.00 UTC

Flying Cloud
Julian Nichols
Mon 29 Jun 2009 08:40
We hit shore today only to discover it was of course a public holiday - autonomy day no less (when the Marquesas obtained autonomy from France). Other than the shops (there are only 3, even though this is the main town of the Islands) being closed, this also meant that there was a day of celebration underway. In the middle of a town a full on Fete was taking place, with everything from roasting pig to candyfloss (green at that). Matt and i did our best to join in, but the dancing was a bit intimidating!

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So in the afternoon we decided to go horse riding - the islands are famous for there horses, as i discovered on Ua Huka!
Nuka Hiva rises up to about 1,200 meters, and there are some fantastic views such as of Baie de Taiohae where we were anchored.

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There is infact an entire "inner island" area at 800-1000m. This is where we went riding and the scenery was incredible...

Julian

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Captain's corner:
Great day today, Julian tried his best to fall off another horse, as his mount decided the best time to break into a run was every time we went up or down a steep rise! We got back to the village, feeling quite peckish, having not had a substantial lunch before the ride, and so went in search of a restaurant... They were closed until half six so we had a quick burger at the island's new (and first) burger van.
While eating our burgers, I got tempted into joining the local volleyball game... These guys were seriously good, and for some reason really cracked up on the fact that I wanted to play... They continued laughing at me for the six games I played, I'm still not sure why! Amazingly, just as the light started to fade, everybody took off home... Suddenly the entire village was a ghost town. It was hard to believe that we'd found ourselves on an island that was vibrant by 7 am, with festive dancing going on by 8 am, and then completely dead before dinner time!
Mattman