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Nuku
Hiva is the largest island in the Marquesas archipelago (Marquesas
map : click here)
with 330 sq. km. (127 sq. miles) of surface area. Its beauty
from the sea or in the air high above the island is truly breathtaking.
The 2,100 inhabitants live in Taiohae, Taipivai, Hatiheu,
Aakapa, Pua, Haumi, Anaho and Hakaui, where they work for the government,
the community, the Catholic church or school system or for themselves
chopping copra high in the mountains, fishing, raising cattle and
other livestock or sculpting bowls, platters, Marquesan ceremonial
clubs, "tikis" and ukuleles.
Taiohae
is a pleasant village bordering the sea. It is the administrative,
economic, educational and health center of the Marquesas Islands.
The French and territorial administrators, the government buildings,
police, post office, hospital, town hall, Air Tahiti office, banks,
schools, stores and shops are located in Taiohae.
Sundays
and holidays are just as busy as any work day, when the villagers
drive back and forth along the seafront road in their 4-wheel drive
vehicles, calling out to their friends, and stopping to join the
on going game of petanque or French bowls, played under a flowering
flamboyant tree in front of the town hall. Nearby the women sit
under a shelter and win money playing bingo.
Points of interest
MUAKE
HILL , (864 m.) 2,834 ft. high, offers a nice view of the whole
bay of Taiohae. The Cathedral of Notre Dame contains sculptures,
magnificently carved by artisans from each of the Marquises Islands.
Socredo Bank also has carvings on display. Most of the Taiohae sculptors
have their workshops behind the village.
HAKAUI
Valley is 15 km. (9 miles) from Taiohae on the southern coast. Hike
inland to bathe in the refreshing pool of the 350 m. (1,148 ft.)
high AHUII waterfall, one of the world's highest cascades.
TAIPIVAI
, made famous in Herman Melville's book "Typee" is 16km. (10 miles)
from Taiohae, reached by boat or over the high plateau of TOOVII.
The Taipivai Valley is one of the largest and most fertile valleys
in Nuku Hiva, and has numerous waterfalls, a long river, and one
of the best preserved archaeological sites, in the Marquises, including
several tiki.
HATIHEU
Bay on the northern coast was a favorite of the Scottish writer
Robert Louis Stevenson. At the top of one of the green peaks, bordering
the bay is a statue of the Virgin Mary, 300 m. (984 ft.) above the
sea. In the valley is the Naniuhi tohua a meeting place for the
pre- Christian Marquesans, including a dance platform, ceremonial
stones and petroglyphs carved in boulders.
ANAHO
Bay is one of the loveliest spots in the Marquises Islands,
with only half a dozen families living in the valley. Perhaps the
smallest Catholic church in the Marquises Islands is built in Anaho
constructed of a thatch roof and coconut log stools, with a white
sand floor There is a golden sand beach and good swimming.
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