Hiva Oa

I (Scott) was fascinated to watch the crew anchor the ship this morning, as the bow was about 150' from the breaking waves of the shore, then they pivoted it in the entrance of the bay, ending up with half of ship's length on each end. The tour took us up the hills (1st photo) where you can see the ship "blocking" the harbor and the general terrain of the island. We used 9 jeeps to snake up a valley to see a village site that is from the 1500's. They terraced the land and laid stones as the floors and built their houses from there. The 2nd photo shows a floor terrace in the foreground and a sacrifice altar (note the small rectangular area without stones). A large dance area was just to the right.

Two days before we came, there was a "crazy man" that the gendarmes were chasing who proceeded to break off an ear of the major stone teki in the area. The 3rd photo shows the distraught anthropologist; the break is white spot on the upper right of the tiki.

The 4th photo shows a church built by the Catholics, using stones from the Marquesian's sacred sites.

The last photo is a local group that came on board just before departure. Their dance is a warrior dance meant to scare the enemy . . "hulk on steroids" comes to mind!

By the way, a couple of times per day we usually get a torrential down pour for 5 to 10 minutes . . But not on this island, as they've not had rain for 7 months. (Kristen K.--I've lost my rain making touch.)

Location:Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia