Daniel's Bay

Well, the bugs are starting to deteriorate the cruising experience here.
We, and most of our cruising buddies here, are altering our plans based on
the bites we are getting from mosquitoes and no-nos. Some friends are
refusing to get off their boats at some of the buggier places, even when the
shore-side attractions are strong.

For example, we were in the famous Daniel's Bay for the last two days but
left yesterday afternoon to come back to Taiohae Bay to checkout from Nuka
Hiva, and to escape the bugs there. Daniel's Bay is named for Daniel, of
course, who is an old man now who has lived there for the last 60 years and
who has been a welcoming spirit to cruisers most of that time. He speaks
passable English and has a wicked sense of humour which he uses constantly.
The bay itself is beyond description beautiful, with one of the world's
longest waterfalls up the valley.

Cindy's knee was still bothering her so she stayed on the boat while I went
with friends from Sydney, BC, to go on the "grueling" hike to the waterfall.
It started with an adventure just to get to shore with breaking waves 30
yards off the beach and river entrance. We actually went in the river
entrance to a tiny lagoon behind part of the beach and timed it to miss the
breakers behind and to the side of us. The beach and the valley are at the
bottom of some of the steepest and most stunning volcanic ridges we have
seen. The land at the bottom where Daniel and his cousins and brother live
has been maintained almost like a park with flowers everywhere, fruit trees,
coconut palms and grass that they keep well trimmed. This is finally what I
always imagined the Marquesas to be like.

They had three pickups there but the "roads" only go about a half mile so
they use them to carry stuff just around between the beach and the boats and
their houses and workshops. They have to go 6 miles out in the ocean to the
town to get supplies. This is also where the first season of the hit TV
series "Survivor" was filmed. They asked Daniel to move from one small bay
over to another one and he got a new house out of the deal and he likes the
new place better.

The hike up to the waterfall was excellent, going through endless old
archeological sites of raised stone platforms that had been artfully built
by excellent craftsmen - large stones placed with great care and precision
to make straight lines and corners. And, we could not even see most of it
because the jungle has reclaimed so much after disease wiped out the
villagers here hundreds of years ago. 3000 people lived here then and now
only about 12.

The waterfall is only really visible from a distance. When you get to the
bottom, the steep canyon walls prevent you from seeing most of it. The pool
at the bottom has a milky color to it like glacial runoff does at the bottom
of glaciers. A huge freshwater eel (5" diameter and 40" length) greeted us
and waited for handouts at the edge of the murky water. I got some good
pictures and boy oh boy is he one ugly fish.

I will try and post some pics later, in between scratching my insect bites.
I am now an oozing mess.