Nuku-Hiva is the final stop before getting off the boat and flying back to Seattle via Tahiti. Total distance sailed from Panama City to here was 4,200 miles. Total time spent on the boat was 42 days. We visited 6 islands, and caught just 2 fish. Highlights for me were transiting the Panama Canal, seeing the wildlife in the Galapagos, and revisiting some favorite places in the Marquesas Islands. The sailing was fast, the stargazing on night-watches magical, the food aboard fantastic, and the old adage ‘fair winds and following seas’ was upheld.

We spent 1-1/2 days at anchorage in Hakatea Bay, also known as Daniel’s Bay. A few families live along the stream that flows through the valley. Vertical cliffs of hundreds of feet run along both sides. The valley floor narrows until reaching a dead-end with a waterfall. We hiked the 3 miles to the end and cooled off in an 8′ deep pool of refreshing clear water. After the 3 mile hike back to the bay, we ate a delicious meal of fish, breadfruit, mango/guava salad, and fried bananas prepared by a family that has lived there for over 15 years. We first met Teiki and Kua 9 years ago during our last trip to Nuku-Hiva and they enjoyed seeing the photo on my phone from back then. They are very friendly and Teiki is especially animated with his expressions and the way he talks very loudly. Mike gifted them with some mosquito netting and they sent us off with a dozen pamplemousse, plucked freshly from their many trees.

The final port, just 4 miles east of Hakatea Bay, was TaioHa’E, the main village on Nuku-Hiva. A huge Tiki guards the port from a hillside on the north-east side. It was built recently in 2016 to commemorate the village recovering its original and ancestral name of Tuhiva. The woman tiki is 40 feet high and represents ancestral strength. The warrior Tuhiva tiki is 26 feet tall and is depicted stepping forward to master his future. The iron rebar structure is covered with shotcrete and coated with a reddish volcanic tuff used by the Marquesan stone carvers.