Voyage to Paradise #4 September 2013

I went ashore at Nuku Hiva, a volcanic island which Herman Melville wrote about in “Typee” when he jumped ship and spent some time there. Our jeep followed Melville’s footsteps as we bumped along a twisty dirt road, stopped at an archeological site and continued on to Chez Yvonne’s where we feasted on many varieties of fish, taro. barbequed goat, breadfruit, pit-roasted pork and po po (a banana pudding made with manioc – tapioca) before sunning and swimming on the black sandy shore. Later in the afternoon, barges from the ship came to the beach and transported us back to the Arabnui III where sturdy seamen held onto me before passing me to other seamen until the barge was even with the gangplank due to the undulating waves.