Good Times on Nuku Hiva

The time slips away so quickly.  We are planning to leave Nuku Hiva on Friday or so, which means no more internet for the Papillon Crew for a while.  This gives me an excuse to post another set of photos of this lovely island.  This is good, because a) this place is very pretty, and b) we are busy with friends and social engagements, so I haven't the time to write much.  One of the delights of the cruising world is that you learn to make friends quickly, both on land and on other boats.

So, what have we done here?  First of all, the girls found a tree to climb.

Small monkeys at work.

This tree is right beside the dinghy dock, so every trip to or from the boat generates the request, "Can we climb the tree?"  It may be the main thing they remember about this island.

We rented a 4x4 one day to take a tour of the island and visit some Tiki sites.  The landscape is rugged, to say the least.  Sometimes the road was beautiful concrete, worthy of any city in Europe.  Other times, it was a rocky path that hardly qualified as a laneway.  The northern side of the island was especially bouncy.  Erik delighted in the driving; I think he gets tired of Auto doing all the work on Papillon.

Stylish with a pae pae.

Hey!  You're as tall as I am!

The ocean looks so benign from up here.

Happy faces on Nuku Hiva.

Fruit break with the Tikis.

Turtle petroglyphs

Papillon at anchor in Taiohae Bay.

Can you see why we're here?

Ho hum.  More beautiful scenery.

We have also done a lot of hiking up and down the mountains.  I'm especially impressed with Indy - asking a three-year-old to hike as far as an adult is tough.  But both girls are doing well, and the whining and requests to be carried diminish daily.

On one of our walks, we met a local family.  They invited us to come over to ride their horses.  Well, the girls naturally were all over that.

Erik and Indy on horseback.

Stylish is an old hand at this from her days at the ranch in Villahermosa.

Of course, the horses had heavy competition from a feline quarter.

Meow!  I love you!  Stay with me forever!

It didn't help that our friends were actively encouraging the girls to take the kitten home with them.  So, once again, Mom had to be the bad guy.  A Mom's life is a mean life.

Somehow, we've even found time to visit the beach.

Splish, splash.

Today is a holiday, and our friends have invited us for dinner.  So it is time for me to bake a cake.  With all of this comfort and beauty around us, we'll see if we actually manage to leave Nuku Hiva as planned.