Just Dense Jungles - No Boats Here.

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Geo: -8.88507, -140.133

Today we reach our last stop on our South Pacific Adventure, Nuku Hiva. Both Herman Melville of "Moby Dick" fame and Robert Louis Stevenson, author of "Treasure Island", spent time on this island in the late 1800s. Although warm, it's partly cloudy today as seen through our stateroom window at 6am. It's another tender port, demanding that we're up much earlier than we'd like. As with the rest of our full day tours, they all start as soon as possible once we are cleared by the port authority which means we need to disembark ASAP. We dress and get to the tender ticket location where a line has already formed at 7am. Mom visits with"MountainMomma" who joins us in line while I go upstairs to retrieve coffee and small sweet roll for myself, a plain sugar free muffin for Mom. The numbers aren't distributed until 7:45 and we get #7.

We hurry to the Lido for some cereal, fruit and oatmeal and barely get it down when they call our number. We finish and report to the tender dock where we sit and wait, having just missed the first tender out. We board the second and sit in the tender for 20 minutes with nothing but the two way radio blaring. There are problems at the pier. An ocean surge is making it difficult to secure the tender while passengers disembark. Some of the people are disabled in one way or another and one is in a wheelchair. We move from the ship into Taiohae harbor where we sit another 15 minutes. Now it's our turn to dock and we do so without issue, prior problems having been remedied. It's a late start and Laurie directs us to one of three vehicles.

Today's trip is a land tour through the heart of Nuku Hiva, from one side of the island to the other. It's very mountainous and its roads are very narrow, barely allowing two vehicles to pass and with switchbacks so tight that many take two attempts to navigate the turn. Of the three vehicles offered, two are Toyota 4-door pickups and ours is a van, all 4-wheel drive. We are in the only vehicle with air conditioning and it works great. Good for us since its in the 80s and very humid. We climb to a vantage point where we can see the ship in the harbor below us. Jocelyne, our guide, is French and, while she speaks English, her accent is very heavy and often difficult to understand. Still, she makes a number of stops for photo ops and is very accommodating.

After a few breaks at pullouts along the way we reach Taipivai. We check out statues and buildings recreated based on techniques used hundreds of years ago. It also provides a bathroom stop, albeit somewhat primitive for the women. Now we wind our way up another mountain, the sunlight attempting to melt the clouds at times while we travel to the ancient gathering places of d'Hikokua and Kamuihei, once home to 14,000 inhabitants. Food became of prime importance. Breadfruit was the staple, but taro, plaintain and manioc also played a big part. As for meat, fish was the main source, but even so was limited because of the quantity needed to feed so many mouths. Pigs, chickens and dogs were also cultivated, and hunted when they took to the wild.

We have the opportunity to walk around the site while Jocelyne talks of the past. It is still debated why many Polynesian tribes or nations practiced cannibalism. Indeed, a large number of Pacific Islands residents did so. One theory is that cannibalism was more for food than ritual, although ritual played a big part. An offering to the gods was called Ika, which means fish, and a sacrifice was caught and, just like a fish, was hung by a fishhook in the sacred place.Those to be eaten were tied and hung up in trees until needed, then had their brains bashed out on execution blocks with a club. Women and children seem to have been cannibalized just for food, whereas warriors killed in battle were offerings to the gods and were eaten by their conquerors to absorb their power; their skulls were kept by their slayers for the same reason.

She points out the location of these sacrifices and the hole at the base of a huge banyan tree where the instruments used during the sacrifices were thrown. Apparently, they could only be used once. Mom navigated all the boulders and log bridge with the help of one of the drivers. Although I tried to assist myself, my primary responsibility is to record the day's events via photographic equipment and so I did.

Now we rolled on down the road, the pavement changing to rock and gravel for awhile. Within a half hour we reach the coastal village of Hatiheu where we are stopping for lunch at Chez Yvonne. Normally, they're closed on Sundays but arranged to be open today for ship guests. Like most others and to the disappointment of the restaurant, Karen and I shared a fish platter and for good reason. The two of us couldn't even finish that one plate. We also had a beer and Coke Zero while it rains pretty hard outside. Being good entrepreneurs, the restaurant sold shirts and some crafts. Mom bought me a button shirt and herself a beaded belt, saying we saved money on the second lunch not purchased. It's our last port and she's actually under budget for our trip purchases. We take a few pictures outside at the black sand beach. At the top of one of the green peaks bordering Hatiheu Bay on the northern coast, Jocelyne points out a statue of the Virgin Mary above the sea.

It's 1:45pm and time to head back to the other side of the island where our ship is anchored in the bay. All aboard is 4:30pm. I take a photo overlooking Taipivai Bay where one season of "Survivor" was shot. Jocelyne says the crew took over every room, every cab, every restaurant and almost all available people for two months while filming. We stop to check out some of the native plants and an old Catholic Church in Taiohae before Jocelyne drops us at the pier. It's too late for Mom to exam the local wares as the vendors have packed up much of the usual trinkets. Boarding the tender is a breeze and we're back on the ship in no time.

Tonight we are seated with two other couples for dinner, one of which we've dined with before and an Australian couple. It's a pleasant evening and we converse over all sorts of subjects, ending in agreement over one topic, "Obama has to go!" We Americans are quick to point out to the Australians that we didn't vote for or support our President which always brings up the next question, "Who did?" It appears no one. We make it to the 8:00pm Huber Marionettes show. It's very entertaining although I must admit, I'm not a marionette fan.

Tonight we set our clocks forward another half hour, bringing us to within one hour of PST. With Nuku Hiva in our rear view mirror, our next stop will be San Diego a week from now. I am trying to catch up on the transmission of a number of blog days that are complete or just need pictures. Unfortunately, I'm at the mercy of the ship's Internet service but I am blessed with 7 sea days.

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Photos

Helping Mom Traverse Pathway to Death
Hey, someone had to take the pictures. You should see the movies.