Jan 22, 2010 - Nuku Hiva, Marquesses Islands, January 21, 2010

LAND(S) HO! After 6+ days at sea (on ship), the air was abuzz with eagerness to put foot on land & let the touring/excursioning begin. Regent Seven Seas Cruises had arranged for a "Marquesses Island" welcoming of traditional cooked pig & pacific/Polynesian foods, "tribal" costumes & dances, along with traditional carvings & wares to be sold to tourists. Our approach to the Island & the sheltered harbor carried us around sheer rock walls and storm beaten cliffs. Once in site, the very small "town" of Nuku Hiva finally appeared with the...

Oct 7, 2009 - French Polynesia at last

“As a philanthropist in general, and a friend to the Polynesians in particular, I hope that these Eden’s of the South Seas, blessed with fertile soils and peopled with happy natives, many being yet uncontaminated by the contact of civilization, will long in their simplicity, beauty, and purity.” - HERMAN MELVILLE Melville, of Moby Dick fame, once jumped ship here and spent a few weeks in 1842 writing Typee. Paul Gauguin settled and died here in the Marquesas Islands as did revered Belgian song writer Jacques Brel. They are both buried in...