Marquesas Islands: 13 Nights

Day 1 MORNING DEPARTURE FROM PAPEETE, TAHITI

Day 2 TUAMOTU ARCHIPELAGO - FAKARAVA
Fakarava is the largest atoll in the Tuamotu. There is snorkeling and scuba diving for people of all levels. You can swim and snorkel in the translucent lagoon to watch the colourful ballet of tropical lagoon fsh. The entire morning will be spent on shore. Lunch will be served on board while we set sail for the Marquesas.

Day 3 AT SEA ON THE ARANUI
You can relax with a book on one of the sun decks, swim in the small pool or enjoy the immense South Pacifc. Balmy evenings mean reading in lounge/library or chatting with an authority on Marquesan culture or archaeology. You’ll probably spend many evenings socializing on the upstairs deck/bar with your fellow adventurers from around the world. The spirited Polynesian crew treat you like welcomed guests and proudly introduce you to their rich culture. Almost every night, they sing and strum hypnotic Polynesian rhythms on their ukuleles and will teach you to move your hips to hypnotic beat of the tamure.

Day 4 THE MARQUESAS ARCHIPELAGO - UA POU (Hakahau-Hakahetau)
From the deck, you’ll see the soaring mountain spires of Ua Pou. Whenever the Aranui stops, villages greet it. As the muscular crew unloads supplies - from cements to sugar - and loads sacks of copra ( dried coconut meat ), you’ll explore the tiny town of Hakahau with its church with a hand-carved wooden dais. You can meet some talented woodcarvers and hike up a hill for a breathtaking view of the distant cloud-covered mountains. At Rosalie’s Restaurant, you’ll taste your frst Marquesan lunch: breadfruit, a marquesan staple, along with curried goat, barbecued rock lobster, poisson cru (raw fsh marinated in lime juice and soaked in coconut milk ), taro and sweet red bananas.

Day 5 NUKU HIVA (Taiohae-Hatiheu-Taipivai)
We sail into Taiohae’s spectacular bay, a giant volcanic amphitheater dominated by towering cliffs streaked with waterfalls. As the Aranui unloads, you can explore Taiohae, the tiny Administrative capital of the Marquesas. Taiohae Bay is where a 23-year-old sailor , Herman Melville and a buddy jumped a whaling ship in 1842. We follow their escape route by jeep along steep, winding dirt mountain roads to the village of Hatiheu to visit an archeological site. We’ll have lunch at Yvonne’s Restaurant, one of the best restaurants in the Marquesas, where the specialty is pig baked in an underground oven. You’ll meet the owner-chef, Yvonne, who also happens to be the town’s energetic mayor. After lunch, we will travel to the valley of Taipivai. The area is dotted with stone tiki gods and sacred ritual sites (me’ae) and immense stone platforms (paepae) where the Taipi built their houses. Enigmatic petroglyphs of birds, sacred turtles and fsh are carved on huge boulders. The Aranui’s whaleboats will sail down the river to return you to the Aranui, which is anchored in the bay.

Day 6 HIVA OA (Atuona)
We have plenty of time to explore Atuona, the second largest village in Marquesas. This is where Paul Gauguin lived and did some of his best work. You can visit the colonial store where Gauguin shopped and go into a replica of the Impressionist’s infamous “House of Pleasure.” As you walk up the hill to the cemetery, you’ll have sweeping views of the harbor. Beneath a huge frangipani tree is a tombstone with the simple words: Paul Gauguin 1903. Nearby is the grave of another famous European who also was seduced by Hiva Oa: Belgian singer-composer Jacques Brel, who died in 1978. You’ll also enjoy another lavish Marquesan lunch at Hoa Nui Restaurant.

Day 7 FATU HIVA (Omoa-Hanavave)
This is the most lush and remote island of the Marquesan. It’s also a center of Marquesan crafts. As our guides lead you through the village of Omoa, you’ll see women hammering mulberry, banyan or breadfruit bark on logs. They dry it and then paint ancient Marquesan designs on their famous tapa cloth. Fatu Hiva is also well-known for its hand-painted pareus (sarongs ) and monoi, a perfumed coconut oil scented with tiare blossoms and sandalwood. Skilled woodcarvers will invite you into their home/studios.

Day 8 HIVA OA (Puamau)
We’ll travel by foot or by jeep to the most important archeological sites for tikis (ancient, human-like religious sculptures ) other than Easter Island. Our trained guides will show you these mysterious jungle ruins of Puamau and tell the stories of these haunting statues of an ancient civilization. Bring plenty of flm..

Day 9 TAHUATA (Vaitahu)
On this leaf-shaped island, the air is thick with fragrant scent of tiare, frangipani and history. In the tiny village of Vaitahu, Spanish explorers landed in 1595 and opened fre on a crowd of the curious islanders, killing about 200. When the frst missionaries came in 1797, the generous local chief left his wife with missionary John Harris, with instruction that he treat her as his own wife. Harris fed the next day. Tahuata also is the site of the frst French settlement in the Marquesas in 1842. The huge church built by the Vatican, is decorated with beautiful Marquesan carvings. We’ll picnic in the Valley of Hapatoni and swim and snorkel at a nearby beach.

Day 10 UA HUKA (VAIPAEE-HANE-HOKATU)
We’ll visit a museum with exquisite replicas of Marquesan art. Some Aranui passengers will explore the island by four-wheel drive; others will ride the Marquesan horses. For three hours, we will explore the mountain landscape with heart-stopping views of the Pacifc. The wild horses (brought from Chile in 1856) thrive here, outnumbering the islands 476 residents. We’ll have a Marquesan lunch at local restaurant and have plenty of time to visit studios of woodcarvers. We’ll visit the arboretum and the garden of fruits and fower. Back on the Aranui, it’s Polynesian night with dancing and buffet dinner on the decks.

Day 11 NUKU HIVA (TAIOHAE) AND UA POU
The Aranui will dock in Nuku Hiva at Taiohae in the morning. You may take the Le Truck back to the town center and spend free time there. At noon, the ship will sail to Ua Pou, returning to our frst stop in the Marquesas, Hakahau. This is your last chance to buy Marquesan crafts.

Day 12 AT SEA

Day 13 TUAMOTU ARCHIPELAGO- RANGIROA
On lovely Rangiroa, the largest atoll in the world, we’ll picnic on coral beach. Aranui passengers can swim and snorkel in a translucent lagoon. Excellent snorkeling and scuba diving are available for people of all levels. “Rangi” is an underwater jewel box with stunning colors of corals and clouds of tropical fshes. You’ll have the opportunity to purchase black pearls from local black pearl farmers. These rare black pearls are French Polynesia’s main economic resource.

Day 14 MORNING ARRIVAL IN PAPEETE, TAHITI

You’ll board the Aranui III in Tahiti and sail almost 800 miles to the most spectacular and remote islands in French Polynesia. The frst stop on this 14 day voyage starts with the Tuamotu islands, where you’ll see pearl farmers harvest rare black pearls from giant oysters.

The Marquesas’ six inhabited islands are so remote that the Aranui III is their lifeline to the outside world, bringing supplies and picking up copra, dried coconut and noni fruit. We make 14 stops, so we have plenty of time to explore. Little has changed in these untouched islands, which have few roads or cars. Visitors are very rare and very welcome.

The frst view of the Marquesas are the mountain spires of Ua Pou, “volcanic needles like the pinnacles of some ornate church,” as Robert Louis Stevenson wrote in 1880. Whenever the Aranui III docks, villagers gather on the pier to greet us. As our muscular crew unloads supplies -- from cement to sugar -- and loads sacks of copra (dried coconut meat), our well-trained, multi-lingual guides bring you to meet traditional artists and take you on breathtaking hikes to hidden jungle ruins.

You’ll never forget sailing into Nuku Hiva’s spectacular bay, a giant volcanic amphitheater dominated by towering cliffs streaked with majestic waterfalls. There are dramatic dive sites or heart-stopping views by helicopter. A decade before he wrote Moby Dick, 23-year-old Herman Melville jumped his whaling ship here in 1842. We’ll retrace his escape route on a spectacular Jeep safari over the mountains to mysterious jungle river valley, still much the same as Melville described it in his autobiographical frst novel -- Typee. Hidden amidst the bamboo and vanilla vines, you’ll see stone tiki gods, sacred ritual sites and enigmatic petroglyphs of birds, fsh and sacred turtles and fsh carved on boulders

Hiva Oa is where Paul Gauguin’s search for an unspoiled island ended. This artist with a lust for life painted his fnal masterpieces here. In the hill top cemetery where Gauguin is buried is the gravestone of another European who also was seduced by these islands -- singer-composer Jacques Brel. Our guides will show you mysterious jungle ruins -- the largest tikis outside the Easter Islands. Once used for religious rites, these human-like stone sculptures are reminders of that a great civilization fourished here before the Europeans invaded.

Even though Fatu Hiva is a center of Marquesan culture, Aranui passengers usually are the only visitors to this remote, verdant island. We’ll see artists painting ancient designs on tapa cloth, making pareos (sarongs) and monoi, coconut oil scented with tiare blossoms. We’ll see woodworkers carving intricate bowls and spears. After hiking past towering cliffs with dizzying views of majestic waterfalls, cool off with a plunge in a secluded river pool.

On Ua Huka, the wild horses outnumber the 300 residents. Explore by horse or by jeep -- either way, you’ll have magnifcent views. Along the way, you’ll enjoy bounteous Marquesan buffets: barbecued rock lobster, poisson cru (raw fsh marinated in lime juice and soaked in coconut milk), curried goat, breadfruit, taro and sweet red bananas.

• Shipboard accommodations
• 3 Meals per day with a glass of wine (1 bottle for 4 pax) which is provided for scheduled onboard lunches and dinners only.
• All Aranui 3 planned excursions

OTHER INFORMATION

ABOUT Aranui 3

The Aranui is a mixed passenger/cargo vessel that operates between Tahiti and the Marquesas.

She offers comfortable, air-conditioned accommodations for about two hundred passengers. Passengers will be able to sunbathe on deck, swim in the pool, or enjoy exotic tropical drinks while the Aranui wens her way among the islands of the Marquesas.

Accommodations classes are Suites, Deluxe, Standard and C Class.

The vessel operates under the French flag, and her crew are all Polynesian, primarily Marquesans. Additional vessel particulars are available.

Bars and Lounges

Bars and Lounges

• There are two charming bars, two lounges and a full programme of activities. You’ll learn about Marquesan history, culture and art from the guest lecturers. And the spirited crew will teach you to weave hats, how to wear the national dress, the pareo, and dance the tamure.

Located on Boat Deck

 

Boutique Onboard Shop

Library

Sunning

Sunbathing Space

• Passengers will be able to sunbathe on deck

Located on Sun Deck

 

Swimming

Swimming Pool

• The swimming pool on deck is the place for the perfect plunge. In the well-equipped gym, you can stretch your muscles while gazing out at the ocean. There are facilities for fishing, swimming, snorkeling and scuba diving.

Located on Boat Deck

 

Aranui III Photos

Aranui III

Aranui III

Standard Stateroom

Suites Stateroom

Deluxe Stateroom

Standard Stateroom

Deluxe Stateroom

Suites Stateroom

Swimmin Pool

Bars

Sunbathing Space

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