Okay, we can divert.
The unfortunate thing was that we only had a small window with no rain, so when we got there from Taipivai, we had to hit the ground running and stay that way until pizza.
We were at home the next day, making the most of our data plan, when a boat full of uniformed officers approached us.
Just a few minutes before, we received a message about tomorrow's championship va'a (outrigger) race. We assumed that since many of the participants had been coming close to us during practice runs, that they were here to tell us we were in the race course and needed to re-anchor.
That turned out not to be the case. They were doing the rounds of the anchorage, checking that all foreign boats had cleared in. They were very courteous and, after passing our paperwork and passports back and forth, told us there would be no need for us to be boarded.
A quick stop for chores in Taiohae also included an inspection of our paperwork (all good)
Having accomplished everything we wanted on our second Taiohae stop, we were now ready to move on to Hakatea.
In the morning, instead of leaving too early, we delayed our departure so that we could have a better view of the va'a (outrigger canoe) race. We knew they would likely be faster than Begonia, so we timed our departure so that we would be able to see them on both the outbound and inbound legs of the circuit.
As the appointed start time came, not only were there no racers in sight, but we couldn't even see any boats in the water in the starting area. We continued on, figuring they would catch up to us. Once we made the turn out of the protection of Taiohae Harbor, another thought came to mind.
The wind was high and the seas were very rough. It looked like a miserable place to be in a small single-seat outrigger, even one operated by an expert. There was no chatter on the radio, but it seems likely that the race was probably postponed until the weather calmed down.
Our short leg was easy. After shutting down the engines, we made five knots or so under bare poles. We didn't even need to configure the boat for sailing. After half an hour, we were close enough to our destination at Hakatea Bay to restart the engines for our arrival.
After rounding the headland, the sea flattened. The wind, however, was stronger than ever as it funneled its way through the saddle of the ridge above the bay. We found a spot amongst four other boats and then backed down hard on our anchor to be sure we stayed put.
The big attraction in this most southwestern indentation in Nuku Hiva's coast is the Viapō Waterfall, high up in the mountains of adjacent Hakau'i Bay. Viapō, with a single drop of 350m, is the highest waterfall in Polynesia outside of New Zealand or Hawaii, and the 199th highest in the world.
Since Hakaui Bay has big surf and poor holding, cruising boats anchor at Hakatea Bay. From there, it is possible to take a tender into the river at Hakau'i at high tide, or land at the beach at Hakatea and take a footpath about a kilometer to reach the village.
Scenes from the valley. We've no idea how the vehicles arrived, nor where they go when they get here (since there are no roads)!
The church, the main (royal) path through the village, and dining al-fresco
Maryanne and I had seen the Viapō Waterfall the last time we were here in 2017. Well, sort of. The base of the fall, reached after a 4km hike, is in such a narrow fissure that you can't see most of it from that vantage point. Also, by then, the water has been shredded into mist by the swirling winds, so the waterfall manifests itself as a lot of wet gusts amongst dripping cliffs. Additionally, to get to the last part, a perilous river crossing in fast, deep water must be made. Since we had done all of that before, and since we strongly suspected the recent heavy rains would make the last part impassable, we decided to give it a miss this time. The best way to see the falls would be by helicopter, but the island is too small to support a tour company. The only helicopter on the island is for medevac.
Instead, we took the kayak around the headland to Hakau'i Bay and went as far up the river as we could before grounding. We contented ourselves with an amble through the village and the lower part of the trail, as we watched other groups being led to their doom by local guides. Knowing that it is possible to have a meal prepared with a day's notice, our plan after our walk was to make the arrangements and come back tomorrow.
We met Ta'iki and his wife K'ua back in 2017, just after we had finished a meal with the other family in the valley. They were very nice and we promised that if we ever came back, we would give them our custom.
When we first mentioned that we had met them both before, they didn't seem too interested. They meet a lot of people. Most of the people they feed have just returned from the waterfall hike, with the meal as part of the tour package. When we showed them the photo we took the first time, when they were newlyweds who had just moved to Hakau'i, big smiles came over their faces. Ta'iki was especially amused by what his hair looked like back then.
Now they have a little boy, Pe'a'hē. He is quite gregarious. With no other children in the valley, he decided to make me and Maryanne his playmates, while we waited for our food. After teaching us to count to twenty in five languages, he then started a call and response game with various tongue-twisters. These things are fun for the first couple of repetitions, but quickly become tedious. Kids seem to have a boundless endurance for such things, and he never once seemed to tire of any game he made up for us to play with him. When another slightly standoffish tour group arrived, K'ua produced our meal and told Pe'ah'ē to stop bothering the nice people and go help your dad in the kitchen, which was really a preparation area surrounding an outdoor barbecue made from an oil drum.
Our meal was almost entirely breadfruit, prepared to different consistencies. On our plates, we had fries (breadfruit and yams), a salad of thinly sliced papaya and tomatoes, and a really sweet flambe-banana dessert side. I think Ku'a might have been at a bit of a loss to create a whole meal out of side dishes when we rejected any meat options.
Before we left them, we made a point of taking another photo, this time with little Pe'a'hē in the middle. These days, everybody has WhatsApp, so even though it might be a while, we promised to forward both photos to them the next time we had a signal.
Locals Ku'a and Ta'iki now have a son (Pe'a'he)
The next day, for some variety, we decided to take the trail from Hakatea to Hakau'i. It was a pleasant shoreside walk, but at the other side at Hakau'i, we found the river to be too fast and deep to cross. Tour groups brought from Taiohae were still doing it, but the operation required funding a big sturdy pole to brace against as you wade through chest-high water. Neither Maryanne nor I saw the point of doing it ourselves, since we had just spent the day before meandering through the village. We returned to Begonia to get ready to leave the Marquesas.
Anchorage location >> On google maps
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