Ile Ua Pou & Baie D'Hakahau

With the rain gone and the sun shining, we had a great time visiting Ua Pou. This diamond shape Island is only about 10 miles long and 7 miles wide and has countless soaring mountains spires and towers, the highest being Oave, a volcanic plug reaching 4,040 feet. The village of Hakahau is the third most populated in the Marquises, it is very pleasant and full of flowers and like on all the Marquisan islands, the catholic church built from wood and stone is the most remarkable building of the village.

Strolling through town on Sunday morning we found it very quiet, we hiked to the white cross which overlooks the bay and stopped at a small bar which seemed to be the only place opened. Some tourists who had just arrive by plane from Papeete came in and a kind gentlemen gave me his beautiful lay which I was admiring. Like a lot of these small villages there is an abundance of fruit, mangos, papayas, bananas, grapefruit, limes, and a lot others unknown to us. We found a large mango and grapefruit tree in an overgrown park. We picked a few and took them home to enjoy. Growing wild, the fruit on the islands is delicious.

As we returned to our dinghy, it was surrounded by local children. They were all excited to see us and wanted to come visit Adelia. They loved having their picture taken and were happy to show us their swimming skills. A few of them followed us for a while until we convinced them to go back to the dock. The older boys were playing with homemade skim boards.

It was great to see all the kids playing on the dock and the boys with their skim boards. Large families gathered on the beach to drink beer, play games and cook the fish they had caught in their nets earlier in the morning.