Keikahanui Pearl Lodge Nuku Hiva

Beautiful people, very friendly, no TV reception. Every vehicle appears to be a Toyota truck of some kind, mostly old ones. One street through town then a few dirt "roads". One grocery store, a church, a bank where it took me 45 minutes to get $20 in French Polynesia francs for an $8 fee. Beautiful and rugged. Need four wheel drive to get to anywhere else on the Island. Have to go ashore on a tender.

We calmly and sunnily traversed the 6 day crossing of the Pacific from the North, across the equator, to the South Pacific ocean. It is apparent that we have reached the opposite climate as in the north, it has been in the upper 80's with high humidity during the sea days.<br><br>Nuku Hiva - <br><br>Bonjour! This ...

We made it! After 28 long days at sea, we finally reached the Marquesas on the morning of Wednesday, March 25. We spotted land for the first time around midday the day before, but having no wind, we had to just look longingly at the dark spot on the horizon, knowing we were moving towards it at only 2 knots. Imagine waiting 27 days to get somewhere and after almost 3,000 miles traveled having to finish the remaining 50 miles or so at 2-miles-an-hour. Still, we knew we ...

Sailing from the Galapagos to Nuku Hiva, Marquesas, took 28 days, so I thought it needed its own entry. For the most part we passed the time the same way as in the trip from Panama to the Galapagos, except perhaps that we moved a little more slowly, read a little less quickly, and obsessively checked how many miles were left a little less often. Yes, there was boredom and restlessness enough, but always punctuated by some hilarity or small crisis. Luckily, the crises were small ...

... was 10m in diameter - amazing! We were taken to a beautiful beach called Tortuga Bay on the western side of the island with beautiful white sand and a good breeze - time for the kite!! So I had George and John on the end of the Flexifoil power kite I brought from England and they were loving it - watch this space for more kiting throughout the Pacific! (I can just hear some of you guys back in the UK laughing yourselves silly, but if you've got a kite; fly it!!!) We then sailed to Isla ...