Baie de Vierges-Bay of Virgins. The only safe anchorage on the island. About 11 islands comprise the Marquesas, 6 of which are inhabited. Fatu Hiva is the most remote due to the lack of a landing strip for airplanes.

Close-up of anchorage. The huge satellite dish was a sore sight in this wild place, but hey, the natives like to watch bad syndicated t.v. too.

The french missionaries ironically added the 'R' changing the original name from Baie de Veiges-Bay of Penises, aptly named because of the natural rock pillars standing guard over the place.
Last comment 05/30/08.

Kyler and Anne Teague on Windrose helped us manage the anchorage despite our nighttime arrival and welcomed us with pizza and beer.
Last comment 04/21/08.

Coming into town.

Dingie dock.

The town's main square, the basketball court. Dancyn is the boat farthest to the left in background.
Last comment 08/09/06.

The first day on land, we hiked to a waterfall, a grueling sweaty hike after 21 days of muscular atrophy. There were 3-foot lung eels in the pool, one of the most primitive of fishes.

Breadfruit tree on main road through town. There were dozens of kinds of fruit on these islands, and everybody saw fit to give us some. Imagine, a place where people can't go hungry!
Last comment 06/28/08.

Catholic church, the main church. A small protestant church existed, but most of the islands are Catholic. Church is a strong part of daily life; there is a prayer service every day.

Drying copra--the main economy of the islands along with noni production. Copra is dried coconut meat that is taken off the islands and made into palm oil that's just about in everything from make-up to cookies.

The copra is dried for 7 days before sacked up and collected by the cargo ships that come typically a couple times a month. Oftentimes, these ships are the only physical contact with the outside world.

Most kids at the age of 12 onwards leave their homes to attend secondary school on the larger islands, afterwhich they often move to Tahiti for work or college, like Eddie who is on summer break.

Eddie's cousin and sister. Eddie spoke some english so we were able to communicate some with the locals whose secondary language is French, otherwise it was stickfigures in the mud and really shaky French.

Eddie's aunt, Felicity peeling breadfruit for a demonstration put on for the cruise ship that came in. Yes, cruise ship. However, the people can sell their incredible wood tiki scuptures and other art to sucker foriegners willing to pay exorbitant prices.
Last comment 11/12/08.

Making tapa, a bark cloth material used for clothing and art.

The noni shack copy. Noni is a fruit taht is fermented and made into a health tonic. It smells worse than the worst vomit. Here's to your health!
Last comment 06/28/08.

The noni fruit is placed on mesh racks for several days and then put in the blue barrels to further rot. Every household has some sort of copra and noni operation going on, small or large.
Last comment 04/21/08.

Felicity's watercress plot, land that had been in her family for generations. Picking before asking is really frowned upon since every bit of land, down to individual trees, is "owned" by someone.

Walking back with Felicity from the watercress plot, the only vegetable other than green papaya we came across. Heather quickly established a business with many folks, trading things like fish hooks, line, knives, and cheap Panamanian nail polish for food. Many islands depend on the cruisers for such items since the cargo ships are so few and far between as well as expensive. Its really just gift giving. Felicity kept throwing fruit at us, especially once Heather made her yogurt.
Last comment 04/20/08.

Hiking breathlessly around the island. The Marquesas were at one time populated by many different villages cut off from one another by the steep cliffs, yet they still managed to navigate around them to fight one another and the feasting on one's enemies in order to absorb each other's spirit. One of the most isolated island groupd, they were one of the last islands to give up cannibilism.
Last comment 10/09/08.