Hiva Oa ....

.... with the main town Atuona was our destination today 🌸 We reached this island after a calm night sail with magnificent moonlight over the Pacific Ocean.

Is it ringing a bell? In Atuona, Paul Gauguin and Jacques Brel are buried. So we first headed from the pier to the cemetery to visit their graves, and afterwards to two small museums in honor of these two great - yet so different - French artists. The exhibition at the Espace Jacques Brel was particularly impressive.... as songs by this artist were played alongside the exhibition .... a tear or two were a (certainly beautiful) consequence.

Afterwards, we made a brief visit to the black volcanic beach of Atuona and encountered beautiful flowers and Marquesan wood carvings along the way 🌸

To conclude, we strolled a bit through Atuona and discovered a very nice Marquesan festival ground, a Tuhoa 🌸 and purchased some smaller pieces of Marquesan handicrafts there.

Filled with beautiful thoughts - Gauguin, Brel, Marquesas Islands - we sailed out of the small harbor of Atuona with the ARANUI 5 to explore the next of the Marquesas Islands 🌸 and got comfortable by the pool on our ship.