Port 12 Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia

by Ed · Published February 8, 2022 · Updated August 22, 2022

Kaoha! (the Marquesan word for “Aloha”, hello)

After four more days at sea we arrived at Nuku Hiva, Marquesas, French Polynesia, on Jan 25th, 2022.

We were greeted with sheer rock faces dropping straight into the sea. But a welcoming bay opened up.

Nuku Hiva’s formidable coast provides a breathtaking entrance

Nuku Hiva’s bay is quiet and beautiful!

Inside the bay we saw the ugliest cruise ship we have ever encountered! As we came closer to our anchor spot we could see the front half is a cargo ship and the back half a cruise ship. Consider this a centaur or gryphon. Half and half.

The strangest cruise ship we’ve ever seen is also half cargo ship!

We tendered ashore. A strange monument overlooked the harbor and pier. This will be visited later.

The tender dock is lined with small businesses that appear to be built into the hill, and the hill is crowned with a unique statue!

Just past the pier is a market – actually two markets flanking a restaurant. A courtyard in the middle has an interesting tiki.

A local market has a familial tiki in its courtyard

Walking along the beach we find many tikis in several park-like areas. Here are a few of them. We were told to always be respectful to the tikis. Greet them and ask permission to photograph them.

Numerous tikis line the coastline and parks along the coast. Be respectful!!

And then, something we haven’t seen in years!

“Mommy! Look! A Tardis!” “No, dear, that’s Superman’s changing room.”

At the end of the beach is the Nuku Hiva Keikahanui Pearl Lodge. We were told this is a great place to grab lunch! We’re glad we didn’t plan to have lunch – when we arrived we saw a sign saying the resort is closed for most of January. But we decided to look around.

This is the resort where we were told to have lunch. It is closed until Jan 27th.

A path leads around the main building and up the hillside to a series of private bungalows, all looking over the bay. It is quite serene, until we are told the resort is closed and we must leave… This might be a place to consider if we ever come to Nuku Hiva again.

The resort’s private bungalows pepper the hillside – it looks like a lovely place to stay!

Nuku Hiva has a Notre Dame Cathedral. Not quite what we expected, but this is interesting! A paved quad leads to a medieval portal.

This is the entrance to Nuku Hiva’s “Notre Dame” cathedral

The courtyard in front of the cathedral has a garden leading to a temple.

A garden leading to a temple overlooks the Notre Dame courtyard

The cathedral’s chapel itself has a unique entrance, leading to a very contemporary auditorium.

The chapel entrance

The cathedral’s interior is simple and clean. Surprisingly “untropical!”

On the street back to the pier the red blooms of the poinciana are strangely matched by the red streetlight poles.

The colors of the beautiful poinciana tree are echoed in the colors of the streetlights!

Back near the tender pier I head up the hill to see what’s happening with the statue overlooking the bay. The top of the hill has several monuments surrounding the large statue. Tikis surround the top, but you’ve seen a lot of tikis already, so let’s look at the unique artwork.

The octopus is overlooking the tender pier area. It represents a compass rose depicting the Polynesian Triangle with Hawaii, Easter Island, and New Zealand at the points.

The octopus represents the Polynesian Triangle formed by Hawaii, Easter Island, and New Zealand

This one has me flummoxed. It looks like a weather station to me. If the rock is dry it’s not raining. If it is wet it is raining. If the rock that hangs down is straight down the wind isn’t blowing, and if it is hanging sideways the wind is blowing hard!