Baie Haketea ("Daniel's Bay"), Nuka Hiva

Our trip from Oa Pou was a nice 5 hour motor sail. We had sunny skies and dolphins. But we still didn't catch any fish.

Before leaving we went to shore one last time to check out an artisan marketplace that sold bone craved necklaces, wood carvings, and coconut carvings. Tom found a warrior hand spear he liked. It had a bone carved handle and a foot long marlin bill for the tip. I bought a shark tooth's necklace with a small black pearl attached. The necklace is made from coconut husks that they weave, similar to hemp necklaces you would find back home. We were happy with our purchases. They even threw in a bunch of bananas, grapefruits, and a piece of fruit we yet to identify. We pulled up anchor and were out of the harbor by 1pm.

Pulling into Daniel's Bay was quite a pleasant surprise. The guide books do it no justice as to how beautiful it is. The downside? Lots of bugs! The guide book says they use to have a water buoy here, set up by Daniel himself, which would be great for us as our water supply is getting low.

However, the guide book needs some updating. We weren't able to get any water. Our plan was to do a 2.5 hour hike from here to the third largest waterfall in the world. Again, a big HOWEVER. We spoke to another cruiser who did the hike yesterday, and we decided it was way to extreme for us. He said you need to wear long pants and a long sleeve shirt, as there are lots of biting bugs. You cross a river hip deep. And once at the falls, they saw giant eels. So they didn't think swimming was a good idea.

Upon hearing all of this, we decided to just hang on the boat. Tomorrow we will be off to the next stop, Taiohae, the biggest city in the Marquesas. We even heard they have sporadic internet. So we'll try to update the photos.

Love to all,
Amy and Tom

Also! We hear through the coconut telegraph that Mrs. Jones's class in Redding, California is following our travels. We would love to hear from any of you. So feel free to email us!

Notes from Ron:

• Daniel's Bay is where the Maraamu Tribe from the fourth season of the TV show "Survivor" was camped.
• The waterfall they are referring to is called "Vaipo" waterfall and it is only the 201'st highest waterfall on earth. It is also called "Ahuii" or ""Ahuei" Falls. There seems to be a lot of misinformation about these falls, probably caused by some fanciful speculation on the part of the crew and cast of Survivor. Hollywood has never been one to let facts get in the way of a good story. Here, and here, are some photos of the falls.