Greetings from Nuku Hiva

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Greetings from Nuku Hiva

Jan. 19 and we finally saw land! What a glorious sight! We arrived about 7 AM
at Nuku Hiva, French Polynesia, the largest of the 10 Marquesas Islands of which only 6 are inhabited. Herman Melville signed aboard the whaling ship Acushnet in 1841 but, after 18 months, he deserted here at Nuku Hiva where he lived for four months among the Typee people. He wrote Typee and Omoo as accounts of this period.
Captain Cook was not the first foreign visitor to sight these islands, although he was probably the most famous. The Spaniards, in 1595 discovered these islands and named them Las Marquesas de Mendoza and brought with them diseases such as malaria, TB, and leprosy which were disaster for the natives, leaving only handfuls of natives to carry on.
The island doesn’t have much to offer in the way of sights of historical importance, but it is beautiful to see. We walked around and found a little bar/restaurant with a charming bit of ambiance, so we all had a local beer and some pommes frite on the patio with the south sea breezes gently blowing to cool us somewhat. The natives were selling shell jewelry, colorful cloth, wooden objects, and tee shirts (they were made in Thailand!) but everything was very expensive. I saw a table cloth and six napkins of cotton for $80. I didn’t see anyone buying much at all. Talked to a couple who went to the resort on the island for lunch. They had a margarita for $17 each. They skipped lunch!
We left the island around 6 and sailed onward to Tahiti, one of the Society Islands we will visit the day after tomorrow.

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