Even if you don't like him or his works, you can understand why P Gaugin chose Hiva Oa.
We spent a couple of idyllic days in Hiva Oa. There were huge, delicious, if expensive, pizzas to be eaten, and a very good, if rather slow, dinner in the only good hotel. There was the tedious business of checking in with the charming Gendarmarie (it took Talulah Ruby four goes to complete theirs - hours of work are nominally 0700-1100, but the police depart either if there is no further business or it suits them), followed by a shortish session in the Post Office sending the completed form off to Tahiti. Then a visit to the Cemetary to see the Great Man's grave, follwed by a visit to the museum in his honour. I've no idea whether the copies of his paintings are good or not, but it was an interesting display, and I now know a lot more about Paul Gaugin and his works. And after this strenuous morning, we hired a taxi with the delightful Simone (who was rather apprehensive about approaching vehicles, so she drove mainly in the centre of the road, or off to the left-hand side, more or less straight at the on-coming traffic, of which (thankfully) there was not very much. We saw two delightful villages of about 150 people each, a very pretty stone-built church, a vanilla plantation (retired French naval captain plus goats and very pretty garden), and bought a copy of a tattoo on home-made paper done by a French ex-pat with the help of his Belgian wife in a spotless house beside the main road. Passing trade was not great - they must get a dozen vehicles a day down that road! We spent the early part of the evening drinking G&Ts, because the beer costs over £2 a small tin here, and sorting out our laundry, which Sandra had muddled up with Lady Kay's. So earlyish to bed, then up at six to set off for Nuku Hiva. We'd planned to go via Ua Pou, but due to light winds (and some poor time estimation) we will probably head straight for Nuku Hiva.
We'll let you know what this bit of Paradise is like a bit later.
All well,
James, Chris, Elizabeth and Will
Yacht Cleone
En Route Hiva Oa to Nuku Hiva
French Polynesia