January 8: A change of plans.
Our tour was designed so that we would spend most daylight hours ashore while the ship moved us at night. In this spirit we arrived at Huahini the next morning. Unfortunately the wind was now at 55 knots and the skipper cancelled our visit for safety reasons. Instead we are going directly to the Marqueses Islands where the weather supposedly is better. The down side of this is that we get to spend two hole days at see before our next landing. Fortunately I have a skin patch that dispenses sea sickness medicine. The patch seems to work well.
January 10: Another change of plans.
As we woke up this morning, the sky was clear, and we were all set to visit the small island of Fatu Hiva. This where Gaugin lived and painted, we were lookinfo rward to visit the Gaugin museum. Unfortunately the wind and currents were so strong that our captain was unable to find a safe spot to moor. So, we moved on to the bay of Taioahe on the tiny island of Nuku Hiva a few miles away.
Our landing was at the south side of the island, far away from the "capital" on the north side.
We were welcomed by a group of native singers. It is impressive what the local tourist board could arrange on such a short notice.
The island had no paves roads, however some of us took a ride on a truck up swichback roads to a viewpoint high up on the hillside. We chose to walk along the beach. The scenery was spectacular. The guide was a Duch lady that came here three years ago while circumnavicating the world. Maybe on day she will continue her journey.
We found the ruins of an old catholic church at the end of the beach promenade. All that was left was the front of the building. It was quite impressive. On one side of the ruin was a catholic school, and on the otherside was a brand new cathedral.