Nuku Hiva "8:54.98S 140:05.80W"
VulcanSpirit
Richard & Alison Brunstrom
Fri 8 Jun 2012 06:52
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We've moved to Nuku Hiva which is the
administrative centre of the islands. It's much like the others, volcanic and
spectacular. Here is the main anchorage, Taiohae
Bay, seen from above:
 We'd hired a car, and ended up on a beach at the
other side of the island. Spying a shack we tried to buy four bananas. We
couldn't - it turned out to be the Fete des Meres, Mothers' Day, and the owner
who was cooking up a feast, insisted on presenting us with a bunch (the lady on
the left trying to ensure that she doesn't get left out of the photo is our
friend Sue Dall from Mawari):
 In the same tiny seaside hamlet Alison found this
couple just leaving church:
 The large lady on the right had shared the hospital
waiting room with Ali a few days previously and was now a friend. Amazingly the
thin lady on the left is her mother. The grandaughter is well on the way to
being the biggest of the family. Polynesians were famed for being big
people (breadfruit is their staple diet) but the latest generation, particularly
the women, are gross. I think it's not just diet and genetics; they get no
exercise at all. Everybody drives everywhere. You never see people walking - and
there is nowhere to walk except along a road anyway. And they don't play sports
but they do have satellite TV. Sad, and the healthcare costs must be enormous
(largely paid for by the EU I guess - ie. German taxpayers.
Back to the scenery. This spire is
typical.
 And here is a panorama with a north coast bay and
the caldera ridge at 1200m - the rock climbing here must be just spectacular,
and entirely unexplored. Someone should show my nephew Jonnie what he's
missing:
 That's enough from here. We're off to the Tuomotos
tomorrow, 500nm to the west. There are low-lying coral atolls, entirely
different to the Marquesas.
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