Land Ahoy! 3,000 mls since L/A – first land sighted

Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands – French Polynesia

Scheduled Arrival – 08:00

Anchored – 07:20

Temperature: 29C/85F, with humidity it felt much hotter

Wind/Weather:  Partly Cloudy, with occasional heavy showers. Wind E’ly about 25-30 kts, but sheltered inside the bay.

Sunrise/Sunset: 05:40/18:16

Clox: No change (Z-9.5)

Navigation

We sailed along the East side of the island, then altered to Stbd, heading westerly, towards Taiohae Bay. Quite a challenging arrival with strong beam winds at the narrow entrance.

On departure we set a SW’ly course at about 15 kts for Tahiti.

Weather

Partly cloudy with moderate E/ly winds. Fairly calm inside the bay, but it clouded over shortly after arrival. When our tender docked we experienced a torrential downpour. They held us in the tender until it stopped. Experienced a few other showers, all fairly short.

Meals

Being a port day, only the normal, but extensive options were available today – no special events.

Since I was out watching the arrival, once anchored I stopped by the World Cafe for a quick breakfast. Grabbed a quick plate of British bacon & eggs and sat outside at Aquavit Terrace.

For lunch, I enjoyed an exceptional smoked salmon open faced sandwich at the Living Room Bar, while Judi had lunch at the pool.

Dinner – we joined our neighbours Jim & Penny (Seattle), at the Italian restaurant Manfredi’s. Since I can’t eat cheese, Italian restaurants can be a challenge, but not here. I asked the waitress, if they can handle “no cheese” and she was brilliant. She immediately arrived with another bread basket, all with no cheese. I couldn’t have the daily prime rib pasta, as it was pre-made with cheese, but I enjoyed the seafood rissotto. For main course, both Jim & I had the daily special – Halibut. OMG!!! wow, it was one of the best pieces of Halibut I have enjoyed in many years. Cooked to perfection. Judi enjoyed a couple of small pastas and the rib-eye steak.

We will be back.

Activities

Met Judi in the cabin, then headed to the Theatre at the appointed time for our included tour. The tendering process was very well managed. On arrival at the Theatre, we traded our tour ticket for a tender group ticket. After a short wait, our group was called and we headed to the tender, where our entire group comfortably fit on one tender. We were ashore by 09:15.

Judi made it about 1/2 way round the bay, while I went to the furthest attraction. I returned to the ship about Noon, heading down to the Library on Dk 1 to work on photos. Judi spent the afternoon at the pool.

Nuku Hiva for the anchorage

We returned to the cabin, watching the last tender returning and then the raising and stowing of the tenders. Have been involved in raising and stowing too many tenders/lifeboats, so it was most enjoyable standing on the balcony, watching the process, while sipping a refreshment.

At 18:00 we joined our neighbours Jim & Penny for dinner at Manfredi’s. After dinner, Jim & I headed to Explorers’ for an after dinner libation, while the ladies went to check out the shops. We met up again on the Pool Deck for Dancing Under the Stars.

This show comprised the  entire ship’s entertainment team – ship’s band/singers, the 4 vocalists, cruise director and Asst C/D. What an amazing show, they performed a high energy show continuously for over an hour. With the pool roof partially open it was both warm & humid. In addition to singing, Bevan the C/D also performed on the drums. Great show and they had the dance floor filled almost continuously.

I will complete a separate post with photos of our walk around Nuku Hiva.

As another day closes, we bid you farewell, till tomorrow and hope for fair skies and following seas.