Hiva Oa Island Tour

We stayed a little longer in Atuona than we likely otherwise would have, because we wanted to go on a group island tour, and we pulled it off for Tuesday, 8 April.  The crews of Exodus, Lady Carolina, and True Blue V all piled inside and outside of Marie Jo’s pickup truck taking up all available sitting space.  The back of the truck was covered and had benches, but since a lot of the route was a bumpy dirt road, it was still rather uncomfortable, and we made all the kids sit back there and then cycled the adults through. 

We headed northwest from Atuona, and our first stop was atop some cliffs overlooking the bays.  Then we walked a bit then hopped back in the truck.  Then when we were in what seemed like the heart of the jungle, almost as an afterthought, Marie Jo stopped the truck and asked if we wanted to go to the fruit stand.  Not knowing what to expect we all answered an enthusiastic, sure, let’s go.  Down a steep and muddy driveway down to what seemed like someone’s back shed, we found ourselves surrounded by pamplemousse and stalks of bananas.  We met the proprietor, and he let us try many things, including dried bananas, which were sweet like candy, and pamplemousse.  This was our first taste of this fruit, and the closest comparison I can make is to grapefruit, but it’s much sweeter than any grapefruit I’ve ever had.  He showed us how he dries the bananas, and he also showed us how he makes banana vinegar.  We all had a very magical experience there, and we opened our purses and wallets and purchased many a pamplemousse and pack of dried bananas.  I even bought a bottle of the vinegar, and I’ve made many salad dressings with it.

After our encounter with the fruit stand, Marie Jo must have realized how much we liked the local fruit, so she would stop anywhere there was something we could pick.  First up were the dark purple fruits that looked like large grapes that she called Pistache but were in no way like a Pistachio nut.  They weren’t very sweet, and I thought they made my mouth feel kind of dry and gritty.  The boys (including Tim) like how they turned your entire mouth a dark purple.  We also stopped to pick limes, star fruit, and tiny little chili peppers.  We all had a lot of fun, and we felt comfortable since Marie Jo was choosing the places to gather fruit that it was OK, and we weren’t stealing anyone’s property.  Along the way we had some amazing views of various bays.

After a few hours we came to the primary destination of Puamau, a village situated on Baie Puamau, which is a large anchorage facing the northeast.  Marie Jo drove us right up to one of the most amazing archaeological sites with several terraces and many, many Tikis.  The guidebook says that one of the Tikis, Takaii, is the largest in the world standing 8 ft tall, but we didn’t know it at the time.  We had fun observing all of the Tikis, but in the end our attention came to be focused on a large pamplemousse tree, and Marie Joe got a large stick and was knocking them down while Tim caught them.  The boys explored a bit and found another pamplemousse tree, and engaged in their own fruit retrieval effort, successfully, I might add.

We made better time on the way back because we made fewer stops, but we did stop somewhat close to Atuona, to take a look at the smiling Tiki.  It was a short trek into the “jungle” and it really was a smiling tiki.  It was small, only coming up to about mid-thigh, and it had a rounded head, making it look like the minions in the movie Despicable Me.  We took all the obligatory photos and then proceeded to gather all the tiny chili peppers we could find.

Our island tour was a bit different than we had expected.  We kind of expected a real tour with an informative and historical narrative.  This isn’t exactly what Marie Jo provided, but I think the kids especially had an even better time because gathering all the fruit was a real treat.