First hike on Marquesas

Tags: French Polynesia, Ua Pou, hiking, sailing

Date: October 17, 2026

We sailed for four days from Rarioa towards the Marquesas archipelago. This was our first view of the island Ua Pou:

Passing south of Ua Pou. The white cliff on the right has its color from bird poo:

Beautiful, dramatic landscape — all the more impressive because of the contrast to the atolls of Tuamotu.

We arrived just before sunset to the bay of Hakahetau and anchored:

On our first day ashore we went to the small grocery store on the village and the woman at the counter said she could get us some fruits if we were interested. We were very interested and a couple of days later we bought a box full of lemons, oranges, mangoes, pamplemousses, papayas, bananas and passionfruits. It was glorious!

That same day we went for a short hike in and around the village. We passed the newly renovated church:

Next to the church there was a small pomegranate tree:

The village lies at the mount of a river running down from the heights. This is where the river filters out into the sea through those rocks:

The frigate birds were busy diving and skimming the surface of the fresh water — maybe they are drinking?

In the river, we also saw this:

This is probably a giant mottled eel, one of the largest species of freshwater eels in the world. They spend their adult lives in freshwater, and migrate to the open ocean to reproduce in deep water. The mottled eel is a popular source of food in China, whereas in Polynesia it is considered a sacred animal.

Amanda at anchor in Hakehetau Bay:

Felicie in front of bougainvilleas:

A look down the driveway to a house with the peaks in the background. The peaks from the left are named: Poutelainui, Pou Oave (the one partly hidden in the cloud), Poumaka, Totamahiti (the short one off the shoulder of Poutemaka):

On our hike we saw this cow with a pampelmousse: Mmmmh, smells interesting...

...how am I going to eat it?

...if I squeeze it really hard and lift my head in the air, this delicious juice runs down my throat, mmmhhh:

We left the cow behind and continued along the trail:

Went across a small river:

Heliconia, also called lobster claws or false bird-of-paradise flowers:

Poutemaka:

Pacific banyan tree:

Another, very large tree:

At midday close to the equator our shadows are very small:

The island in the background under the cloud is Nuku Hiva:

Back in town we passed this lovely frangipani tree:

Close-up of the frangipani flowers. In Polynesia, the flower is sometimes used by women to indicate whether they're seeking a relationship (flower placed over the right ear) or if not (flower placed over the left ear).

We have seen quite a few telephone boxes in French Polynesia. We don't know if they are still functional but they do have an intact phone inside:

Mango tree in the village: