October 7 - Nuka Hiva

Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands, October 7

The Marqueses Islands form a relatively little visited South Pacific island grouping. Comprised of three distinct island chains spread out northeast of the Society Islands, the central group consists of Ua Pou, Ua Huka, and Nuku Hiva. The grouping is officially part or the lager group known as French Polynesia.

Nuku Hiva is the largest island in the Marquesas group, and is the administrative and economic capital. The island is formed from two volcanoes stacked one on top of the other. The main town is Taiohae, which has a vast harbor area and is at the foot of Mt. Muake. Herman Melville spent some time here.

The weather prediction for the day was partly cloudy with showers. As we approached the island the sky was overcast with dark clouds and didn’t look good. We had 20 Cruise Critic members that signed up for a 4x4 tour. We met in the Explorers Lounge area, and got on the first tender going to the island.

As we approached the dock area the sun was trying to break through the clouds so things were beginning to look up. We met up with our tour guide, boarded the vehicles and we were off!

Did I mention that the island was formed from volcanoes? Which means mountains. Sometimes very steep mountains. With winding roads. Most of which are not paved and have lot’s of pot holes.

Definitely not a tour you want to consider if you have back problems. That said, the views from the top of the mountains were fabulous. While we did have an occasional shower, they didn’t last long and really didn’t affect our enjoyment. We have a fantastic lunch with shrimp, wahoo, tuna, chicken, and various vegetables.

The ship did not offer any tours here, and there really isn’t much here. The “town” can be walked easily from one end to the other in about half an hour if you take your time. From there, it’s an uphill climb to get anywhere else. There are only a couple of people that offer tours and they are not the cheapest tours around, but if you want to really see the interior of the island that’s the best way to go.

We enjoyed the area and were quite tired after returning to the ship. After dinner we went up to the thermal spa for a bit to help relax. For those interested, the thermal spa for the entire cruise of 60 + days was $899 for two people. For us that works out to $14.26 per day. As a day pass is $20 per person that made it quite reasonable. And we usually don’t miss very many days. In fact, on this cruise the spa is open until 10pm on port days which is a first for us. What a way to end a day in port!!

Next up, Papeete.