It was a short night last night! To bed at 11pm but up at 4:55am. I’m not sure what woke me, perhaps a change in the sound of the engines, but when I looked out my window I saw land! I ran upstairs to Deck 13 for a look and we’d arrived to the harbor of Nuku Hiva, Marquesas. Unfortunately it was a wet and still dark welcome so after 1-2 pics I headed back downstairs to get ready.

By 5:55am I was standing in line to get a boarding ticket for the tenders ashore. Unfortunately that caused a mini-stampede of passengers to get in line behind me as unbeknownst to me, the ticket desk wasn’t opening till 6:30am (not 6am!) and all the people sitting patiently nearby were actually waiting for tickets too. Oh well…

I was on the first tender ashore at 7:30am so had a good hour to look around the harbor and local market stalls before my tour started. The Marquesans are known for their wood carvings, apparently any carvings we see for sale down-island will have been carved here. I rarely collect souvenirs but I did buy a little tiki and a pendant that will do well in my magnet collection.

My tour companions consisted of 6 others from the Cruise Critic forum. We had a brand new air-conditioned van, much more comfortable than the open-air, wooden seated trucks others were in. The rugged island is encircled by one steep and very winding road; we managed to see the whole eastern side of Nuku Hiva, plus the alpine-like Toovii Plateau in the middle which surprisingly is covered in pine trees, once imported from the Caribbean!

There’s no native vegetation suitable for consumption on the island. The first Polynesians brought coconut, fruit trees, and some animals with them and later visitors brought more such that the Marquesas are a leading producer of fruits for other islands. There’s no fringing reef so very few beaches formed and even at those most locals don’t swim at them as there’s a genuine danger of sharks.

The several archeological sites are mostly foundations of ancient buildings and ceremonial platforms from 1000 years ago. By the mid 1800’s there were ~100,000 Marquesans but smallpox and other European diseases reduced that to 2,000 by 1900.

Traditionally a person’s tattoo identifies their family, which tribe they belong to, their achievements, etc. By the age of 40 a man would be tattooed from head to toe! This tour driver (not mine) is also wearing a traditional macho necklace of boar teeth – showing how strong and brave he his (actually his uncle) in killing the animal.

The locals love to surf their outrigger canoes in the wake created by our tender boats!

My tour ran about 2 hours longer than I was expecting so I was tired and starving when we returned to the ship at 3pm. My 6:30am breakfast was a long time ago! I rushed to the little outdoor buffet on Deck 12 for sustenance, then collapsed on my bed to recuperate. I’ve been invited to a fancy restaurant tonight by another Solo Cruiser who had two free coupons to use. It’s a late 8:15pm reservation so my afternoon lunch actually held me in good stead. We caught the entertainment first – American Idol’s Season 12 winner, no less! She was an amazing vocalist and gave a very good show. Then dined at Cagney’s, the onboard steakhouse, which was nice. All round, a very good day!