What a day ! Two islands in the same day topped by a run and swim and long uphill walk. I need it. We all need it. All those sumptuous lunches and dinners !!! We anchored at Vaitahu Bay at 6am just as I woke. After a few pics and a sip of coffee I was on the barge to Vaitahu village (Pop 613) nestled in the arms of two huge jagged lush volcanic ridges licked in cloud. I was planning to swim here but the wind was up and waves beating against mainly volcanic rocks. No Go ! I would try my luck at Hiva Oa this arvo. So I got to work filming and photographing this cute little place full of smiling friendly locals. The highlight was the main Cathedral – once again made of stone and wood. Despite the wind, the drone took terrific shots and landed all in one peace even though it spent most of its time over the ocean. The centre of town featured a large open-air building with stalls and live music inside. Two hours is all we need here and at 9am I headed back to the ship on the first barge. We set sail at 10am for neighbouring Hiva Oa only 1.5hrs away arriving at 1130am. While everyone lunched I hit the treadmill since we would not disembark until 130pm and the temperature was 28C with 80% humidity and roads zig-zagging their way into the huge surrounding mountain ridges. Just before my treadmill I visited the top deck to take snaps of the surrounding ridges. I had my iPhone and Samsung. When I got back to my cabin I had only my Samsung. I almost fainted. My Mac died and now my iPhone was missing. I was blind and dead in the water !!! I looked everywhere and even retraced all my steps on deck but nothing. So I reported it missing at reception and took out my frustration on the treadmill. When it was all over I decided to swing by reception and there it was !!! It was the greatest feeling of relief ever !!! Turns out it dropped out my pocket next to the bridge and lucky for me it hit the deck and not the water… A young trainee crewmember had found it. I would find him and thank him. Reception also informed me that the ships electrical engineer had managed to power up my Mac and would copy all files to SSD and hopefully have it to me at the end of this day. Music to my ears. I would have all my film and photos on one SSD that I could later post on Werner’s machine. I was so thrilled that I left immediately for my swim across the beach and around the coastline nearest to the boat. It was tough since the tide was coming in with plenty of waves and there was so much churn, I could see anything below me. I decided to stick to 1.5km instead of my usual 2km but was pleased I did it. The ship was docked and we could come and go from 130-6pm. This gave me time to send up the drone and walk to the cemetery to visit two famous men. The drone was not blocked from flying but limited to 60m instead of the usual 500m !!! The view was still good. At 345pm I was on my way to the cemetery 3km away. I had great views of the bay and because the cemetery was uphill and high above the town it afforded excellent views of the whole town below with their wild wave beach and background peaks crowned with cloud. I visited the grave of famous French Artist Paul Gaughan (1849-1903) and lived the last 14 of his life here in Atuona. Gauguin pioneered the Symbolist art movement in France and set the stage for Fauvism and Expressionism. Gauguin came late to art but was much maligned by the Paris art critics, so this may have driven him here. As you will see below his grave is very plain and adorned by signed stones from fans and even sports a fan reproduction of his most famous work – “Two Polynesian Women”. Nearby is the grave of a famous Belgian singer called Jacques Brel who died here in 1978. My return to the ship was faster given the downhill and I arrived 45min before the gang plank when up. After a huge shower given all the physical activity today, I resigned to the deck 9 “internet café” to write this post using Werner’s machine. Dinner was not dinner but a wedding-style dining experience outside on the pool deck under the stars. It looked and felt like a wedding. It was cool, breezy with low humidity. Perfect for dancing to 1980’s music after a sumptuous meal of soufflé, steak and pistachio crème caramel, which was out of this ocean and out of this world. It was a bit sad watching 70 something and 80 something couples dancing to a rocking boat but you know what – at least they are here and having a go when most people their age just sit at home watching TV. This was a memorial evening with lots of jokes around the dinner table – I always sit with my cabin mates and Steve’s sister and mum along with the mum’s two lifelong friends: Jill and Ron. Sadly the evening was cut short by rain and we all retired to our cabins to prepare for the 14km walk the next day.
TAHUATA STATS:
Distance from Papeete: 1,421 km
Size compared to Sydney: 0.5% (12km by 5km)
Coastline: 70km
Population: 836
Highest Peak: 1,050m
HIVA OA STATS:
Distance from Papeete: 1,429 km
Size compared to Sydney: 2.6% (37km by 16km)
Coastline: 172km
Population: 2,371
Highest Peak: 1,213m
Double the photos and double the enjoyment…
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