Marquesas, Nuku Hiva - May 2007
We sailed from Ua Pou to Nuku Hiva, our final stop in the Marquesas, one afternoon. As the wind was less than we had expected, we finally arrived after dark, but the seas were slight and the scenery of the islands outstanding, so we didn’t mind at all! Taiohae bay entrance is simple enough although the main leading light was missing, however with our C-Map chart, and radar confirmation of position and layout of other boats, we were able to anchor a safe distance from everything.
Nuku Hiva is the administrative capital of the Marquesas, having the largest population. There is a yacht services shop on the quay which provides a fax, telephone and wireless internet service, as well as laundry, gas tank filling and delivery, etc.
The wireless internet works very well even from the middle of the anchorage, and we subscribed for a few hours access. The service, Iaoranet, is available only at this one place in the Marquesas, not at all in the Tuamotus, but is available in many spots in the Society Islands.
We spent a few days here to get gas, laundry and final provisions for our time to come in the Tuamotus, where provisions are difficult or impossible to come by.
We saw some huge manta rays in the bay, when we took the dinghy to look, the rays were as big as the dinghy! Quite scary.
There were quite a lot of fish in the bay too, Nigel caught a small tuna one evening.
We left Nuku Hiva without further exploration to get underway to the Tuamotus, 4-5 days away.