Hiva Oa is another one of the larger islands in the Marquesas group. WHile there are various areas to explore including isolated bays on the northern coast, we limited our visitation to the main town of Atuona. The following are pictures as we approached the island.
The main town of Atuona is situated on a large open bay which is really unsuitable as an anchorage. The primary anchorage is actually located in small pocket around a point from the village. Protection is limited and is provided by a small seawall that can accommodate just a few boats with some protection.
As such, we limited our visit to just a day and moved on to a more secure spot on Tavuatu – an adjacent island. We were pleasantly surprised when we went ashore as the local gas station was well equipped with heavy duty fishing tackle that we were running low on after our encounters with the locals. Unexpected but expensive and we had little choice if we wished to stock up.
We were told it was just a short walk to Atuona. About an hour in to it, a kindly local stopped to pick us up.
When we got to town, the restaurant we wanted to go to was closed.
We did, however, find a nice little place a bit further down the road with ice cold Hinano’s – a welcome relief from the heat.
While I am sure there is much more to do and see in Hiva Oa, for us, other locations beckoned with the expiration of our 90 day Visa beginning to approach.