French Polynesia - Part 3: the rest of the Marquesas plus Rangiroa
The next island we called at was Ua Pou. There were a few options there. I chose to do a four-wheel drive tour. This cost extra, but was worth it in my opinion. The scenery was spectacular.
We stopped at a typical site with a marae (temple enclosure) complete with tiki.
Then we drove down to a beach to look for what are called “flower stones.” These are garnet phonolites and are apparently found only on Ua Pou and in Brazil. You can look for yourself in this photo. (Hint: I didn’t find any, but our driver gave me one. If you like this sort of thing, you can buy jewelry made out of polished ones. I’m a sapphire gal myself.)
Then we went to the cultural center where we saw a show of ukulele music and drumming, with school children dancing.
We had lunch at a local restaurant, followed by free time to explore the village. (Or take another optional tour, which I skipped.)
I thought the beach there was one of the more attractive ones during the trip.
There was also a good opportunity to watch some of the freight operations, which are always interesting.
Our next stop was Hiva Oa, where we went to the village of Atuona. This was of particular interest to many of the passengers because of two European men who spent their final years there and are buried in the cemetery, which we took a bus to. Jacques Brel was a Belgian cabaret singer and actor, whose songs were translated into several languages. The one that is probably most familiar to Americans is, alas, “Seasons in the Sun” (based on “Le Moribund”) which infested the pop music charts in 1974. Anyway, his grave proves that Jacques Brel is NOT alive and Well and Living in Paris.
The more famous person, buried right by Brel, is Paul Gauguin.
I heard someone comment that the two men never knew each other. Since Gauguin died in 1903 and Brel was born in 1929, that’s hardly profound.
Anyway, it was an easy walk from the cemetery down to the village, passing by a house that Gauguin rented.
In the village, there are a few shops, as well as museums to both men. The main attraction of the Jacques Brel museum was his airplane, which he used to fly back and forth to Tahiti and to transport food and supplies from Hiva Oa to neighboring islands.
The Gauguin Museum doesn’t have any original works, just reproductions. They are honest about that, identifying where each of the actual paintings hangs. If you want to see the real thing, I suggest the Musee d’Orsay in Paris, though there are also several of his paintings at the Glypoteket in Copenhagen, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the National Gallery of Art in D.C., the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
You can also walk through pleasant gardens. And a reproduction of Gauguin’s “pleasure house.”
Overall, Atuona (including the museum) made for a pleasant couple of hours.
The next day, the Aranui called on two islands - Puamau and Vaitahu. However, there was a cold spreading throughout the passengers and, feeling a bit sniffly, I opted to take it easy, so I have nothing to say about those stops. I did go to Keao Nesmith’s second lecture, which was focused mostly on Polynesian gods and was, again, interesting.
Having a rest day proved to have been a good decision and I was feeling fine for our call on Fatu Hiva, which was probably my favorite stop of the cruise. Aside from being particularly scenic, we were at higher elevations much of the day, making for cooler temperatures. But first we went from the pier to a gathering place in Omoa.
We had time to shop for handicrafts before watching a demonstration of pounding trees into tapa (bark cloth) and another having to do with umuhei (aromatic flowers wreaths). Then those of us who were doing an optional 4WD tour got sorted out rather chaotically into vehicles. (There were other, crazier people, who had set off earlier on a hike across part of the island.)
The actual tour was spectacular, Here are some pictures:
I always love the contrast of clouds and mountains.
We finished up at Hanavae, where we boarded the barges back to the Aranui.
I should also note that: 1) we’d had a stop for a lovely picnic lunch (a baguette with tuna salad, which is one of the key elements of what I like to refer to as Purina Miriam Chow) and 2) the vehicle I was in had an especially good driver / guide, who spoke excellent English and told us about the issues of younger people leaving the island to get more education or to marry. He also mentioned that one of his sisters has a female partner and that that same sex relationships were gaining increasing acceptance. Overall, this was a wonderful day.
Our final stop in the Marquesas was on Ua Huka, where we anchored in Vaupaee Bay. There were several stops on the island, all reached via 4WD vehicles. We started out at the arboretum, which has an interesting tiki. (The other sides show the rest of the family, by the way. So it's not as sexist as you might think at first glance.)
One of the more unusual things at the arboretum is a wood museum. As the song goes, “they took all the trees and put them in a tree museum.” (Actually, there are plenty of trees outside the museum, though not, in general, ones native to the region.)
We had a few other stops, including a viewpoint from Hokatu village, followed by a couple of handicrafts places, a small petroglyphs museum, and a sea museum.
Our lunch stop was at a complex which included the Te Tumu handicraft center and museum. This was one of the better museums we stopped at, with informative labels on many of the exhibits.
After lunch we returned to the ship and, in the late afternoon, departed the Marquesas.
We’d have a day at sea (on Christmas Eve - apparently the bigger deal than Christmas Day in these parts) on our way to Rangiroa (in the Tuamotu Archipelago). I don’t know about you, but I found some cognitive dissonance at the sight of Polynesians wearing Santa hats, We also had a recap lecture about the trip (mostly photos from a few passengers and one guide) by Keao Nesmith and a talk about our final stop.
Rangiroa had what I would describe as another disappointing beach - rocky, rather than sandy. I never thought I’d say this when I was growing up, but I dream of being able to get on my bike and ride to Point Lookout.
Fortunately, I had thought ahead and had booked the (optional) glass bottom boat ride. This was delayed a little bit, due to a strong downpour, but it was well worth waiting for. I’ve done glass bottom boats before and they are a great thing for those of us who wear glasses. We mostly saw red snapper and surgeon fish, some parrot fish. At least one reef shark. They do chum, with the boat captain (a woman, by the way), snorkeling around throwing bread. I don’t really approve of that, but it does mean that one sees a lot of fish. Have a look.
Back on board, we headed back to Tahiti. I had done fairly minimal shopping, so there was no problem fitting everything back in my luggage. I managed to finish the long mystery I’d been reading, which I left behind. (You can drop things off at the reception desk, to donate to the library.)
There were no real issues getting back to the Intercontinental Hotel (and, from there, to the airport for my Air Tahiti Nui flight back to Los Angeles). I’d swung for premium economy, which was definitely worth the extra money, though the pizza they served for a snack / dinner was the blandest food I’ve been served on a plane in many years and their entertainment system is unimpressive. I had a long layover in Los Angeles, which provided some drama as three policemen escorted a guy out of the United terminal for reasons that were not entirely clear to me. Still, I got home fine and it only took me three days to gather up enough energy to fully unpack and do laundry.
Overall, I’d say the Marquesas were an interesting destination, with a good mix of things to see. The major downsides were heat, humidity, and voracious biting insects. The Austral Islands (or, at least, Tubuai) were less so, largely because of Fort George and the museum being closed. Many of the other passengers were well-traveled and had wide-ranging interests. And the islands, themselves, had a wide range of things to see. The Aranui, while not luxurious, was comfortable enough and a good way to see the Marquesas and learn about the region. However, things were not always as well organized as they might be, e.g. daily programs didn’t always have the correct locations for some events and other things (e.g. a ukulele class) never actually happened. If you go in with an open mind, it’s a great way to spend a couple of weeks.
We stopped at a typical site with a marae (temple enclosure) complete with tiki.
Then we drove down to a beach to look for what are called “flower stones.” These are garnet phonolites and are apparently found only on Ua Pou and in Brazil. You can look for yourself in this photo. (Hint: I didn’t find any, but our driver gave me one. If you like this sort of thing, you can buy jewelry made out of polished ones. I’m a sapphire gal myself.)
Then we went to the cultural center where we saw a show of ukulele music and drumming, with school children dancing.
We had lunch at a local restaurant, followed by free time to explore the village. (Or take another optional tour, which I skipped.)
I thought the beach there was one of the more attractive ones during the trip.
There was also a good opportunity to watch some of the freight operations, which are always interesting.
Our next stop was Hiva Oa, where we went to the village of Atuona. This was of particular interest to many of the passengers because of two European men who spent their final years there and are buried in the cemetery, which we took a bus to. Jacques Brel was a Belgian cabaret singer and actor, whose songs were translated into several languages. The one that is probably most familiar to Americans is, alas, “Seasons in the Sun” (based on “Le Moribund”) which infested the pop music charts in 1974. Anyway, his grave proves that Jacques Brel is NOT alive and Well and Living in Paris.
The more famous person, buried right by Brel, is Paul Gauguin.
I heard someone comment that the two men never knew each other. Since Gauguin died in 1903 and Brel was born in 1929, that’s hardly profound.
Anyway, it was an easy walk from the cemetery down to the village, passing by a house that Gauguin rented.
In the village, there are a few shops, as well as museums to both men. The main attraction of the Jacques Brel museum was his airplane, which he used to fly back and forth to Tahiti and to transport food and supplies from Hiva Oa to neighboring islands.
The Gauguin Museum doesn’t have any original works, just reproductions. They are honest about that, identifying where each of the actual paintings hangs. If you want to see the real thing, I suggest the Musee d’Orsay in Paris, though there are also several of his paintings at the Glypoteket in Copenhagen, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the National Gallery of Art in D.C., the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
You can also walk through pleasant gardens. And a reproduction of Gauguin’s “pleasure house.”
Overall, Atuona (including the museum) made for a pleasant couple of hours.
The next day, the Aranui called on two islands - Puamau and Vaitahu. However, there was a cold spreading throughout the passengers and, feeling a bit sniffly, I opted to take it easy, so I have nothing to say about those stops. I did go to Keao Nesmith’s second lecture, which was focused mostly on Polynesian gods and was, again, interesting.
Having a rest day proved to have been a good decision and I was feeling fine for our call on Fatu Hiva, which was probably my favorite stop of the cruise. Aside from being particularly scenic, we were at higher elevations much of the day, making for cooler temperatures. But first we went from the pier to a gathering place in Omoa.
We had time to shop for handicrafts before watching a demonstration of pounding trees into tapa (bark cloth) and another having to do with umuhei (aromatic flowers wreaths). Then those of us who were doing an optional 4WD tour got sorted out rather chaotically into vehicles. (There were other, crazier people, who had set off earlier on a hike across part of the island.)
The actual tour was spectacular, Here are some pictures:
I always love the contrast of clouds and mountains.
We finished up at Hanavae, where we boarded the barges back to the Aranui.
I should also note that: 1) we’d had a stop for a lovely picnic lunch (a baguette with tuna salad, which is one of the key elements of what I like to refer to as Purina Miriam Chow) and 2) the vehicle I was in had an especially good driver / guide, who spoke excellent English and told us about the issues of younger people leaving the island to get more education or to marry. He also mentioned that one of his sisters has a female partner and that that same sex relationships were gaining increasing acceptance. Overall, this was a wonderful day.
Our final stop in the Marquesas was on Ua Huka, where we anchored in Vaupaee Bay. There were several stops on the island, all reached via 4WD vehicles. We started out at the arboretum, which has an interesting tiki. (The other sides show the rest of the family, by the way. So it's not as sexist as you might think at first glance.)
One of the more unusual things at the arboretum is a wood museum. As the song goes, “they took all the trees and put them in a tree museum.” (Actually, there are plenty of trees outside the museum, though not, in general, ones native to the region.)
We had a few other stops, including a viewpoint from Hokatu village, followed by a couple of handicrafts places, a small petroglyphs museum, and a sea museum.
Our lunch stop was at a complex which included the Te Tumu handicraft center and museum. This was one of the better museums we stopped at, with informative labels on many of the exhibits.
After lunch we returned to the ship and, in the late afternoon, departed the Marquesas.
We’d have a day at sea (on Christmas Eve - apparently the bigger deal than Christmas Day in these parts) on our way to Rangiroa (in the Tuamotu Archipelago). I don’t know about you, but I found some cognitive dissonance at the sight of Polynesians wearing Santa hats, We also had a recap lecture about the trip (mostly photos from a few passengers and one guide) by Keao Nesmith and a talk about our final stop.
Rangiroa had what I would describe as another disappointing beach - rocky, rather than sandy. I never thought I’d say this when I was growing up, but I dream of being able to get on my bike and ride to Point Lookout.
Fortunately, I had thought ahead and had booked the (optional) glass bottom boat ride. This was delayed a little bit, due to a strong downpour, but it was well worth waiting for. I’ve done glass bottom boats before and they are a great thing for those of us who wear glasses. We mostly saw red snapper and surgeon fish, some parrot fish. At least one reef shark. They do chum, with the boat captain (a woman, by the way), snorkeling around throwing bread. I don’t really approve of that, but it does mean that one sees a lot of fish. Have a look.
Back on board, we headed back to Tahiti. I had done fairly minimal shopping, so there was no problem fitting everything back in my luggage. I managed to finish the long mystery I’d been reading, which I left behind. (You can drop things off at the reception desk, to donate to the library.)
There were no real issues getting back to the Intercontinental Hotel (and, from there, to the airport for my Air Tahiti Nui flight back to Los Angeles). I’d swung for premium economy, which was definitely worth the extra money, though the pizza they served for a snack / dinner was the blandest food I’ve been served on a plane in many years and their entertainment system is unimpressive. I had a long layover in Los Angeles, which provided some drama as three policemen escorted a guy out of the United terminal for reasons that were not entirely clear to me. Still, I got home fine and it only took me three days to gather up enough energy to fully unpack and do laundry.
Overall, I’d say the Marquesas were an interesting destination, with a good mix of things to see. The major downsides were heat, humidity, and voracious biting insects. The Austral Islands (or, at least, Tubuai) were less so, largely because of Fort George and the museum being closed. Many of the other passengers were well-traveled and had wide-ranging interests. And the islands, themselves, had a wide range of things to see. The Aranui, while not luxurious, was comfortable enough and a good way to see the Marquesas and learn about the region. However, things were not always as well organized as they might be, e.g. daily programs didn’t always have the correct locations for some events and other things (e.g. a ukulele class) never actually happened. If you go in with an open mind, it’s a great way to spend a couple of weeks.