Nuku Hiva Excursion on Marina

[sunbunny24]

Hi all we will be cruising with Oceania in March and are wondering about the excursion they offer in Nuku Hiva. Has anyone taken this excursion. We are wanting to see the Vaipo waterfalls but it's not mentioned anywhere. Thanks

[TERRIER1]

Hi all we will be cruising with Oceania in March and are wondering about the excursion they offer in Nuku Hiva. Has anyone taken this excursion. We are wanting to see the Vaipo waterfalls but it's not mentioned anywhere. Thanks

 

I am hoping that you mean March 2015 and not next month. We were on the Marina in April 2013 and arranged a private tour on Nuka Hiva with others from Cruise Critic. We passed the Oceania tour which was three times the cost and for half of the hours. We were gone for over 7 hours, toured the sites, went to the other side of the island and had dinner. The O tour was gone for 3 or 4 hours with no meal and they did not go to the falls but either did we.

 

This is a small island and I woud highly suggest you book a tour as early as possible since there are not that many operators available. I believe that the O tour was sold out as well.

[sunbunny24]

I am hoping that you mean March 2015 and not next month. We were on the Marina in April 2013 and arranged a private tour on Nuka Hiva with others from Cruise Critic. We passed the Oceania tour which was three times the cost and for half of the hours. We were gone for over 7 hours, toured the sites, went to the other side of the island and had dinner. The O tour was gone for 3 or 4 hours with no meal and they did not go to the falls but either did we.

 

This is a small island and I woud highly suggest you book a tour as early as possible since there are not that many operators available. I believe that the O tour was sold out as well.

 

We are going March 26-April 5, 2014. The Oceania excursion is still available but like you want to see more of the island. What was the tour company you used?

[TERRIER1]

We are going March 26-April 5, 2014. The Oceania excursion is still available but like you want to see more of the island. What was the tour company you used?

 

We booked with Claude Gerard. There were quite a few of us and we divided up so each 4x4 had 4 people.

 

claudepua@mail.pf

[gui888]

We are going March 26-April 5, 2014. The Oceania excursion is still available but like you want to see more of the island. What was the tour company you used?

 

The excursions shows "Sold Out" on the booking page?? :confused:

[Benita]

We went with Claudepua as well. Claude lives in France, but Pua is in Nuku Hiva. Unfortunately, he does not speak English. We had three jeeps, each of which held a driver and three of us. They had a British expat who lived on the island drive three of us non-French speakers and Pua and his sister each drove a jeep with the other six. Four of the six spoke French, so they did the translating and we all met up at the highlights, where our driver did the explanations. It was an all day trip, which included lunch at Yvonne's who owns the restaurant and is the mayor. It was a great day - about twice as long as the PG offerings and a third the price.

Edited February 18, 2014 by Benita

[roger b]

We went with Claudepua as well. Claude lives in France, but Pua is in Nuku Hiva. Unfortunately, he does not speak English. We had three jeeps, each of which held a driver and three of us. They had a British expat who lived on the island drive three of us non-French speakers and Pua and his sister each drove a jeep with the other six. Four of the six spoke French, so they did the translating and we all met up at the highlights, where our driver did the explanations. It was an all day trip, which included lunch at Yvonne's who owns the restaurant and is the mayor. It was a great day - about twice as long as the PG offerings and a third the price.

 

We went on the trip with Claude in January which took all day over over unmade mountain roads with high drop offs. it was one of the most uncomfortable trips, I have ever been on, we cried off early before the end of the trip about 16.00 and went back to the ship.

The rest of the group arrived back to the ship about 20.00 after a terrifying drive over the mountains in the dark and rain storm with the english expat that had been drinking all though the the dinner at and was drunk and in his first talk with the group admitted he was an alcoholic.

If you missed the ships tour you have saved your money as they take you on a 3 hour journey to a beach where there is nothing !!!

This is an Island with very little to see , a few nice views, an abandoned coconut farm, and a beach and that was it for 6/7 hours of bumping up and down on unmade roads.

I forgot to mention the toilet facilities are few and far between, I only saw one!!!

[tvmovielover]

And the other 6 trucks worth of people had to wait while groups were rearranged so the "sick" person could be taken back to the tender port (maybe someone was really sick-it is a really bumpy ride). Friends from our trivia group rented a car and did their own tour in a few hours-there is only one road. There are some pretty views and the archeological area is interesting.

I did not think Claude's tour was great with a large group. Four of us lucked out getting a nephew (relatives and friends drove) Paul who spoke a fair amount of English and was informative and helpful to all. Philip Beardmore was annoying and not informative on the Jan trip. The dinner was fine but involved going back to the far side of the island and then back again over the same road to get to the ship. Smaller groups seem to have enjoyed this same trip (at other times) and some actually liked Philip.

Edited February 19, 2014 by tvmovielover

[roger b]

And the other 6 trucks worth of people had to wait while groups were rearranged so the "sick" person could be taken back to the tender port (maybe someone was really sick-it is a really bumpy ride). Friends from our trivia group rented a car and did their own tour in a few hours-there is only one road. There are some pretty views and the archeological area is interesting.

I did not think Claude's tour was great with a large group. Four of us lucked out getting a nephew (relatives and friends drove) Paul who spoke a fair amount of English and was informative and helpful to all. Philip Beardmore was annoying and not informative on the Jan trip. The dinner was fine but involved going back to the far side of the island and then back again over the same road to get to the ship. Smaller groups seem to have enjoyed this same trip (at other times) and some actually liked Philip.

 

The wait time that you refer to was not more than 10 minutes as two women and two men moved to another car,if you had to listen Philip's ranting in the car for 4 hours you would have done the same as us and returned to the ship.

I did speak to the four that changed cars and they said that they had a terrifying drive back from the restaurant with a drunk driver.

[tvmovielover]

I heard the same thing you heard about the ride back at night (and about how much he drank). I disliked Philip to the point that I would not recommend the trip if he is in charge but I still do not like that your group pretended sickness to leave when the rest of us had to continue to hear his rants at each stop.

[roger b]

I heard the same thing you heard about the ride back at night (and about how much he drank). I disliked Philip to the point that I would not recommend the trip if he is in charge but I still do not like that your group pretended sickness to leave when the rest of us had to continue to hear his rants at each stop.

 

Sorry that you feel that we had let the rest of the group down, but one of our party suffers for car sickness on rough roads.After four hours with Philip we had all had enough, if it had been a comfortable ride in a decent car we would have continued.

We had seen all there was to see and the final offering of a meal did not appeal as dinner on board.

We are getting away from the original question,my recommendation hire a car for four you cannot get lost.

[tvmovielover]

I give up-you all were on the side of the angels and I agree that there are a few things to see on Nuku Hiva and that the way to see them is in a car that you rent yourselves.

[canuck.qc]

Sorry that you feel that we had let the rest of the group down, but one of our party suffers for car sickness on rough roads.After four hours with Philip we had all had enough, if it had been a comfortable ride in a decent car we would have continued.

We had seen all there was to see and the final offering of a meal did not appeal as dinner on board.

We are getting away from the original question,my recommendation hire a car for four you cannot get lost.

Do you have contact info for a car rental company. Thanks

[roger b]

Do you have contact info for a car rental company. Thanks

 

http://www.sundrive.com/rental-stations1/french-polynesia/nuku-hiva-marquisas-island-car-hire/

[Floridiana]

I have been on Nuku Hiva twice with the freighter Aranui. It is an awesome island with an interesting history. The Aranui passes close to the very steep shoreline which makes for an unforgettable experience. Herman Melville jumped ship on Nuku Hiva and wrote a short novel about his adventure. (some of it true)

 

With all islands that are newcomers to tourism, you have to take the lumps with the bumps. A spirit of adventure and some previous reading will help to appreciate the remoteness and rugged beauty of Nuku Hiva.

[smj]

I agree with roger b. You do not want to tour with Phillip. Our driver did not speak one word of English. The ride back way long and unsafe. The island is beautiful but a few hours is enough. I wish we had gone back early.

[Benita]

The drivers of the tours sold by the cruise lines do not speak English, on the whole, either. They meet up at certain sites and somebody gives the commentary in English for all to listen. Remember, you are truly in the middle of nowhere and the infrastructure, as well as the native population is not geared up for us. That is part of the raw beauty of the place.

For those renting cars - the roads and bridges wash out frequently. In our caravan of three jeeps, one got stuck on a bridge and needed to radio out for help, so if the weather is rainy or if there have been recent rains, please reconsider.

Philip had a big mouth, but maybe because ours was a lunch stop, he refrained from alcohol. When he started on a political diatribe, I warned him that if he offended us, he probably would not see any tips and he laughed and behaved more normally.