Day 2 - Exploring Hiva Oa
21 April 2016 | Hiva Oa, French Polynesia
Gerry
After a great night's rest, the crew of huzzah jumped into the dinghy and headed to shore for a guided tour of the island we had scheduled earlier. After meeting our driver/guides, we headed off into the jungle in a two 4 x 4 trucks - the crew of Huzzah in one, with Cliff, MaryAnn, and Helen from Carola (another PPJ boat) in the other. Climbing up steep, well paved roads, I couldn't believe the dense, lush canopy covering us. Incredible sights, sounds and smells everywhere. Soon enough, we stopped to walk into the forest (jungle) to see our first historical artifact - a very old Tiki. As we carefully navigated the terrain thru slash, rocks and mud, our two guides lead us barefoot like it was nothing! Throughout the day, we visited fishing towns, stopped by a bee keeper's home and got some amazing honey, cut down some pamplemousse (grapefruit), bananas, and picked some star fruit - most on the side of the road. Then we visited a scared native archaeological site called Iipona , complete with many elaborate tiki's from the 1400's AD. An authentic, great tasting and plentiful lunch followed, and more sightseeing rounded out our day. It was a long drive back to the boat, and we arrived after dark. But fun was had by all. The crew of Huzzah is enjoying a stable sleeping platform these days, and all but Gerry, are usually asleep by 8:30 pm each night. Cheers!!