Written by Mia many months ago. This all happened back in June in the Marquesas. We are slowly catching up. Sorry for the confusion for out of sync posts. Such is life with 3rd world internet!

As much as we enjoyed Taiohae, the “big city” of Nuku Hiva with a financial district (two banks) and a educational sector (an adorable school with child made wind chimes made of shells and a public library that offers free Tahitian dance lessons) we had to move on and motored around to our second anchorage. As we entered Hakatea aka Daniels Bay, we were surrounded by tall, dramatic cliffs. As we anchored it seemed like we were surrounded on all sides.

We were anchored right next to Nicko on Urchin. One of our favorite things about this lifestyle is the variety of neighborhoods and being able to choose neighbors. Nicko is lovely and we shared some wonderful evenings. He was teaching Teo some chords on his ukulele and one evening we even organized a concert but it was just us so we were performing and spectating. In the bay we enjoyed lots of swimming and had a cruisers meetup on the beach with a bonfire and the sunsets made incredible shadows on the cliffs.

While we were there Nicko took us on an adventure. He had befriended some locals and had been hunting wild boar with them. That was an incredible story! We visited them in their hut and admired the detailed perfection of the place. It feels like even the best film set designers could not have dreamt up a cooler hunting hut. It was adorned with barrels as tables, skins, conch shells and all the skulls with names and dates on them. As we arrived they were “picking” pamplemousse with a tool that resembled a very long lacrosse stick. They had a few horses tethered outside and dogs that help them on the hunts.

We walked a path through a dozen homes with perfectly manicured gardens. These people clearly care deeply for their homes and they all are so beautiful. This valley is a special place. At one point, before the French arrived, 20,000 people lived here, now it is less than twenty homes. The path went on and on and we saw the ruins of the civilization that had been there. The people living there today are their descendants and very proud. We met many of them on our way, and the most memorable were two young guys with knife holsters (Teo was very impressed) and lots of tattoos, even on their faces. The Marquesan tattoo tradition is truly amazing and beautiful to behold. I smell another blog post.

We followed the path for about two hours using the trail and stones as steps and even crossing the river a few times. We were rewarded with an amazing waterfall. We shared the baguette the guys shared with us and some fresh fruit and then jumped in! Living on a boat, we do lots and lots of swimming, but there is something very special about lots and lots of fresh water! We loved our swim, even if we had to share the water with a good sized eel. He didn’t seem interested in us but the shrimp came over to see if we were food. We swam into the cave on the side of the waterfall. What an enchanting place!

On our way back we were invited to have some refreshments made by a little old lady who Nicko helped by transporting a stove in his dinghy the day before. We demolished a whole pile of fritters and two bottles of fresh lime presse. Oh, how wonderful it is to have a taste of France with all the goodness of fresh fruit. On our way back to our dinghies we bought some fruit from a couple who have a little orchard and offer meals for tourists who visit the waterfall. As we were picking out our fruit, I wish we had gotten video of the woman hacking down the stalk of bananas, because she took down the whole tree! Another video worthy moment we missed was a guy shredding coconut for his cats. I have never seen someone move as fast as he did as he threw the bowl down and dashed up the street. Only then did we register that the phone in the phone box was ringing! I think we have succeeded in showing Teo there are lots of ways in this world to live.