From Taiohae to Anse Hakatea - A Slice of Paradise with Insect Icing

Nuku Hiva's main anchorage of Taiohae was a terrific place to make landfall and check into the Marquesas. There is an American man (from CA) who owns and runs the Yacht Services company. Kevin and his lovely Marquesan wife Annabella assist the cruisers with checking into a new country, getting parts, re-filling propane tanks, tours, laundry, tattoos, and too many other things to list here. Their services are most welcome and are extraordinarily helpful to the many weary sailors who stumble onto the quay after their long passages.

The endlessly patient and helpful Kevin. What a guy!

However, Taiohae is a big, open anchorage and it tends to be rolly when swells come in from the South. It's very difficult to get boat chores and work done when the boat is pitching and rolling around on anchor. Last week some big swells were predicted (and they came, driving us crazy!) so we tried to conclude our business and escape to nearby Anse Hakatea (aka Daniel's Bay) for a few calm nights.

Anse Hakatea (Hakatea Cove) is only an hour's sail or motor from Taiohae, so it's a convenient trip. A couple of boat friends (Scoots and Impulsive) preceded us and we were happy to see them anchored in the blessedly calm bay when we arrived last Thursday. Mere moments after we dropped the anchor a couple zoomed up in their dinghy, introduced themselves (Moonshadow), and invited us to a happy hour on a luxurious, large multihull called Speakeasy. Our old friends were there and it was fun to meet new friends too. John and Deb from Moonshadow took some great drone shots and video of Cinnabar the next morning which they gave to us.

Drone shot of Cinnabar in Anse Hakatea

But there is always a price, and the price for this beautiful, tropical, calm anchorage was having to deal with thousands of gnats. At about 07:00 each morning we were besieged by clouds of annoying gnats that found their way into and onto the boat, and then proceeded to die at around 10:00 all over Cinnabar. 

A tiny "gnat drift" of dead bodies. These were all over the boat, yuck.

It was disgusting, but they were easily vacuumed up which became our morning ritual: Gnats arrive at 07:00; gnats get in no matter how many hatches we close, etc; gnats die 10:00; vacuum entire boat inside and out; discover various areas where more gnat bodies have lodged and vaccum those too; find gnats stuck to body parts including inside jog bras (???); get grossed out and jump into the water.

From this bay there is a popular hike up the lush Hakaui Valley to Vaipo waterfall which is the third highest in the world. (Tom and Bruce attempted this hike earlier, but never made the falls as they had started too late.) One day a group of us got together, dinghied up the river as far as we could, and set out up the trail which began at some houses and beautiful gardens and banana orchards. It was here that we met Paul, a resident of the area, and he decided to be our guide which was very helpful. We also made arrangements to have one of the families prepare lunch for us on our way out.

Group of hikers from Impulsive, Scoots, Cinnabar and Confidence.

Paul, wielding his large machete which he used to perform trail maintenance along the way, was well-versed in the history of the area which was once an ancient, bustling town of 30,000 people!. They lived a rich, thriving lifestyle until they were introduced to western diseases, sigh.

Paul's uncle's house; old foundation with new structure built on top.

There are still numerous stone walls, parts of the old stone road, stone foundations, old storage pits for breadfruit, and tikis sitting on pae pae (stone platforms and foundations) along the way. 

Ancient tiki on pae pae (pronounced pie-pie)

We walked through the old town, into the tropical forest, and crossed the river numerous times which was very refreshing.

We could see the waterfall from the trail, and it would be our only view of the entire falls since one you arrive you can only see the bottom of the falls. We 
could hear the thundering water and feel a cooling mist as we walked through a final meadow dwarfed on all sides by towering basalt cliffs that dripped water onto us.

View of the falls from the trail.

After about 2.5 hours of sweaty hiking we arrived at the falls and immediately jumped into the cool water. It was delightfully refreshing to swim up close to the falls in the fresh, cold mountain water.

Tom and Syl enjoying the refreshing water.

Tom's selfie with pamplemousse eaters in the background.

After our swim we gorged ourselves on huge slices of juicy pamplemousse (gigantic, sweet grapefruits). Again, a price would be paid. We were attached by nonos (no-seeums) and a day later would sport the intensely itchy, bubbling bites which these insects gave us for souvenirs.

Our lunch (cost $10 ea.), prepared by the lively Moette and her family, was a delicious feast of local food that included pit-roasted breadfruit, fried bananas, green papaya salad, breadfruit dumplings stewed in coconut milk, poisson cru (Polynesian ceviche), roasted chicken with potatoes, and a big plate of huge chestnuts from a tree on the property.

Chowing down on local cuisine and LOTS of citronade.

We also guzzled bottles of citronade (limeade) made with their limes and fresh springwater which was a godsend after our hot hike.

Our hostess Monette and guide Paul

The families support themselves by selling/trading fruit and making copra from dried coconut that they export to Tahiti.

This starfruit bush was loaded with fruit. 

What a fun day, and it was great to stretch our legs with a long hike after being on the boat for so long. The next day I was extremely sore but a morning snorkel with some manta rays helped ease the aches. Unfortunately, the visibility in the bay was not good, so I couldn't fully appreciate the lovely coral reef and numerous fish around me. I wish I had a picture of all the rays that were swimming around our boat.

The gardens in Hakatea were lush and full of flowers.

Our stay in Hakatea/Daniel's Bay was a good time to complete some boat projects and stock up on fresh springwater in between vacuuming gnats, but we had to head back to Taiohae yesterday (Monday) to take care of some business. Hopefully that will get concluded soon so we can head back to another remote anchorage soon. There are several good ones on the island. In the meantime we are enjoying meeting up with all the other boats that are arriving in Nuku Hiva after their long journey across the Pacific.

More pics of our first 2.5 weeks in Nuku Hiva are here: ALBUM Nuku Hiva