Puamau, Hiva Oa (aboard Aranui)

Another day, another island. This would be the pattern aboard the Aranui for the next week. The ship would move during the night, and we would have a new destination outside our window each morning. Today we returned to Hiva Oa (the second time for Aranui, the third time for us), but this time to the north shore, the opposite side from Atuona.

Puamau is important to visitors because of its archeological site, bearing some of the largest tikis in Polynesia. Its only an indifferent anchorage, and there was but one yacht sharing the harbor with us.

Once ashore, we had a brisk, half-hour, uphill walk to reach the ancient tikis


and piles of stones called mae’ae (compare to “marae” in Hawaiian).

As at Easter Island, one of the mysteries is how (and why) these people, without much technology, had moved such large heavy stones significant distances over extremely rugged terrain.

Part of the beauty of this site was the majestic forest that now surrounded it, and the lovely view of mountains and sea.