Today the ship arrived in Taiohae, Huku Hiva, French Polynesia. It was nice to see land and get off the ship for the first time in eight days. At 8:45 AM I got on a tender for a ride to the shore. At the shore I took a tour called "Taipival Valley: Scenic Drive". The vehicles we used were four wheel drive that seated 4 and the driver. Our driver did not speak English but at each stop we had a woman that talked to us in English. Our first stop was at the church and our second stop was at a view point of the harbor with some statues. We then started to go up the mountain which led us through valleys of lush vegetation. We had two photo stops before we arrived at Hooumi Beach. We had some refreshments of fruit. Handicrafts were also available for purchase. After I got back to area of the dock, I walked around and looked at some of the handicrafts available for purchase and got on the tender and returned to the ship at about 1 PM. The ship left the area at about 4:30 PM.
Taipivai Valley original claim to fame was through American writer and sailor, Herman Melville (1819-1891), who deserted his ship and hid in this valley. Captured by the indigenous natives, he lived there for a few months, during which he observed their way of life. This experience enabled him to write the novel Typee. Fiction is generous blended with fact as the novel explores the life of a guest captive of a cannibalist ic tribe on a remote island. More recently, this landmark valley was the site of the base camp for the Survivor: Marquesas television show, filmed in 2001.
Below are some pictures that I took on our stop at Taiohae, French Polynesia.
This is a picture taken of Taiohae, French Polynesia taken from the ship
This is a picture of the Amsterdam taken from the tender as we were going to the shore.
This is a picture of the inside of the tender.
This picture was taken from the tender.
This picture of some native people of Taiohae, French Polynesia.
This is some native people who were on the shore and playing some music.
This is some more native people.
This is a picture of the dock on Taiohae, French Polynesia.
This is a picture taken on the tour of the church we stopped to see.
This is a picture taken at the church.
Tis is a picture taken of the inside of the church.
This picture was taken inside the church.
This picture was taken inside the church.
This picture was taken inside the church.
This is a picture of a unique cactus tree at the site of the church.
This is a picture of a Bread Fruit tree.
This is a closeup of Bread Fruit.
This is a picture of the Church.
This is a stature taken on our second stop on the tour. This stature was once located on Easter Island.
A picture taken on the second stop of the tour.
This is a picture taken while on a photo stop going up the mountain. The area shown was once the center of an active Volcano that formed the Island.
This is another picture taken of Taiohae, French Polynesia taken on the photo stop.
This is a picture taken on the mountain road of some horses. We saw many horses. The guide said that these horses are used to help bring back the coconuts from the hills.
A picture of a bush taken at another photo stop on the tour up the mountain.
This is another bay on another side of the mountain taken at the photo stop.
This is a picture of the autos we used to get up the mountain.
This is a picture was taken at Hooumi Beach, the last stop on our tour.
This picture was taken at Hooumi Beach. It shows some of the handicrafts for sale.
This picture was taken at Hooumi Beach.
This picture was taken on the road back to the ship.
This picture was taken at the location of the dock onshore.
This is a picture of some handicrafts for sale.
This picture was taken near the boat dock.
This picture was taken of near the boat dock. The people in the picture are from the ship.
This is a picture of the boat dock. I shows the ships tenders.
This picture was taken of TAiohae, French Polynesia from the ship as we were leaving.
This picture was taken of Taiohae, French Polynesia from the ship as we were leaving.
No comments:
Post a Comment