We even passed a marae with a tiki, bult around a banyan tree, which were considered sacred. On both sides were lots of pae pae or stone foundations where huts used to stand giving us some idea of the thousands of Built of stone, 8 feet wide and raised above the ground it went straight up the valley, at times carved out of the hillside. The entire trail followed the ancient Marquesan roadway that is still mostly intact. It was pretty dry and the falls were more of a trickle, but the mountains were stunning with ridges, fins and spires covered in green velvet rising straight up from the valley floor with tropic birds circling in the canyon. We beached the dinghy and, after feeding the no see-ums for what seemed a reasonable amount of time and watching blacktip sharks cruising the surfline, we hiked a couple of miles up the valley to an overlook where we could see Vaipo waterfall, at 1150 feet high the tallest in Polynesia. Our next stop was Anse Hakatea on the southwest end of the island where 1600 foot mountains created the backdrop on the west side of the anchorage. It was a beautiful morning and the singing was a treat and I was not struck by lightning, which is always a particular concern of mine whenever I am near a place of worship, so a win win all around. It was standing room only so we spent the service outside on a stone bench with some locals but there was no rear wall so we were able to see and hear the service that was in Marquesan with lots of hymn singing. Along with stocking up on provisions as best we could we stopped in at the Notre Dame catholic church on Sunday to hear the singing. We then moved to Taiohae bay where the main town is. We stopped at a small market on the way back to pick up some eggs and they loaded us down with avocados on our way out. We did find a couple of Maraes, the ceremonial platforms, with several tikis in attendance and a stone in the middle that looked to our eyes just like a chopping block. ![]() It is all but forgotten now, mostly reclaimed by the forest, giving it an Indiana Jones vibe. ![]() There we asked around until we found the trail to Tiki Paeke, a holy site in the mountains where thousands would gather for rituals. In the morning we took the dinghy up the river a bit and walked to the village of Taipivai, the Typee that Herman Melville wrote about. After a sporty sail averaging 8 knots and dipping into double digits we arrived at Controller Bay on the southeast side of the island in time for happy hour. We fell off a bit for comfort and headed for Nuku Hiva instead. After a couple of morning squalls where we saw 35 knots the winds settled into a steady 25 to 30 knots. The next morning we left for Ua Huka with a forecast of 20 knots just behind the beam. Dry, volcanic rock with a few scattered dry bushes. While the water was a bit muddy, the surrounding hills made us feel like we were back in Baja. ![]() We stopped at Hanamenu Bay on the north side of Hiva Oa to shorten the trip a bit. Last week we left Tahuata, headed for Ua Huka, 55 miles away.
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