Taiohae

0800 Position 8-55S 140-06W. At anchor in Taiohae Bay, Nuku Hiva.

Tourism is an important part of the Marquesan economy. It is too hard to get here by plane, so most tourists arrive by cruising sailboat, like we did. However, they are now getting occasional visits by cruise ships which provide huge but temporary bursts of money into the economy. The cruise ships only visit ten times per year and only stay for the day. It is the busiest day of the year when they are in. It seems the whole community participates. Regular folks become tour or taxi drivers, all the carvers, craftsmen, and artists set up shop and display their wares. Recreational dancers become professionals, etc. Everybody is busy. A two hour driving tour that costs $100 normally costs $400 when the cruise ship is in. All of the tours are prearranged and booked with the cruise ship in advance, so there aren't any taxis cruising for fares.

Rob went ashore early to try to find a taxi to take Longy to the airport on the other side of the island, a two hour drive away. He didn't have any luck for a couple of hours but the lady in the Air Tahiti office who helped us yesterday knew somebody who knew somebody who agreed to drive him to the airport. So we think Longy made it to his flight OK.

This would be our last chance at proper provisioning until we get to Tahiti, so we did some shopping after Longy departed. We got most of what we needed, but fresh produce was scarce. The word on the street was that the Wednesday morning farmers market would give us our best chance of getting fresh produce. It opens at 530AM, and you have to get there early to find the best stuff. So we decided to hang out for another night and give it a shot. As I write this the boys are in there elbowing old ladies out of the way to get lettuce.

We hung out for most of the day yesterday, and then when the tour vehicles started bringing the passengers back to the cruise ships we approached a few on the pier and asked for a two hour tour of the island for $100. A few balked because they had just earned four times that amount for the same service, but one guy realized that the party had ended and agreed. He took us up to the lookout above Taiohae, on to the island's central plateau, and east to Typee Valley that Herman Melville wrote about in his first book. It was a fun and worthwhile tour and our driver was very friendly and knowledgeable.

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