Nuku Hiva 30 3 - position 8°54.9S 140°06.2W
Canopus 3 on the Blue Water Rally
Jean Michel Coulon
Mon 31 Mar 2008 06:52
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Yesterday we drove a rental four-door pickup truck
across Nuku Hiva to Hatiheu Bay,
 whose left side when facing the water is flanked by
a series of jagged spires, remnants of yet another volcano that make the bay
unusually scenic even by Marquesan standards. On the way there and back we
passed through the valley where Herman Melville briefly lived after jumping
ship, wondering when he would be eaten by his sometime-cannibal hosts, and wound
our way through countryside choked with tropical vegetation, including lots of
flowering trees and, for once, an impressive waterfall we could actually see
without a long hike. In Hatiheu the church grounds facing the bay had
several tikis of above-average interest, an amusing ecumenical
gesture. After a nice but maddeningly slow lunch in Hatiheu at the only
restaurant, Chez Yvonne, which Michel and JM preceded with a swim in the
bay while I admired the view of the bay from the restaurant, we stopped to visit
some impressive ruins (Te l'ipoka Me'ae) amid huge banyan trees that were
considered sacred back in the days of human sacrifices to the goddess Te
Vana'uau'a. We saw the stone-lined pit where the victims were kept until
it was their turn to be eaten. Much of what we saw during the day was very
appealing and yet much the same as in Fatu Hiva--in other words, we no
longer feel there is much we have to see here before heading for the
Tuamotus.
Vue de la baie de Tahioae, où Canopus est ancré
depuis notre arrivée le 27/3.
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