Visiting the remote Marquesas Islands is once-in-a-bucket-list adventure, writes Lois Galer.
As the mist-covered peaks one has seen from far off for several hours give way to a sheltered turquoise bay, protected by steep cliffs on each side, one might catch a glimpse of a roof top or two among the dense foliage ahead.
Until that point you could swear the island was deserted. But no way. Within minutes a crowd has streamed down to the beach.
Then comes a procession of utility vehicles heading towards a small pier where rocky cliffs meet soft, white sand.
The village folk on each of the six inhabited islands in the remote Marquesan archipelago have waited three weeks for this day.
For them the 7920-tonne freighter-come-passenger ship, Aranui 3, is their lifeline.
Mainland Tahiti is some 1300 km south of the Marquesas Islands.
A few cruise ships and other pleasure craft visit from time to time, but to the 10,000 Marquesans, there is only one Aranui 3, which brings much needed stores - oil, concrete, sugar, building materials and the occasional new vehicle - and leaves with an abundance of fruit and vegetables, as well as the islands' main export, copra.
She also brings visitors, 200 each voyage, eager to sample the islanders' distinctive culture and buy some of their wares: hand-crafted wooden tiki, fruit bowls and spears, hand-painted tapa cloth, perfumed oils, sarongs and jewellery.
This year, my husband Bill and I were among the 200 aboard for this once-in-a-bucket-list adventure.
While cargo is unloaded by two 10-tonne cranes and ferried ashore on barges, 60-80 passengers at a time disembark from the steep gangway at the ship's side into open, duck-like tenders, and are landed either on to a pier, or directly on to the beach.
A few of the larger ports of call have docks for landing both cargo and passengers.
And this is where the efficiency of the ship comes into play.
Aranui 3 carries its own fork-lifts, all operated by the 70 or so Tahitian and Marquesan crew.
Ashore, the villagers retrieve their goods from open containers, then repack them with their own produce ready for lifting back on board.
One could spend hours watching this operation, but other locals, not preoccupied with unloading and reloading, are waiting to entertain the passengers.
At Hakahau on the island of Ua Pou, it was the turn of the local school, members of which offered samples of the local produce to savour and demonstrated how to prepare and cook their main staple, breadfruit.
There were market stalls, selling everything from handcrafted ukuleles to sarongs (called pareu in this part of the Pacific) and jewellery, while the school pupils performed haka and traditional Polynesian dances.
On the larger islands, Hiva Oa and Nuku Hiva, locals with 4WDs drove us up into the mountains to view ancient marae where rituals were carried out many hundreds of years ago.
One was guarded by giant stone tiki, some similar in size to those on Easter Island.
Archaeologists believe there could have been a connection between the islands during the great migration period.
Times have certainly changed in these islands since then, though not so you'd notice, judging by the lifestyle of the villagers, who seem to go about their daily routine much as they have done for generations.
The trappings of the modern world seem to have spared them.
Fast food here is a basket of fresh fruit, and an espresso is a coconut with a straw.
Internet is a word not understood by the more remote villagers, though no doubt banks and administration offices in the main centres have access.
Our tablet refused to compute wherever we went and cellphone coverage was the luck of the draw.
Let's say the trip is not recommended for those in need of daily contact with office or family.
Since the Marquesas Islands came under the governance of France in the 1840s and became part of French Polynesia, most of the islanders have practised the beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church.
Each of the six inhabited islands has its own church, those on the larger islands known as Cathedrals.
One of the most impressive of these, and said to have been built by the Vatican, is on the island of Tuhuata, the first to be settled by the French in 1842.
Like most of them, it is exquisitely decorated with rich carvings by local craftsmen and is light and airy with high timbered ceilings and open gable-ends, allowing the scent of tiare blossoms, which grow wild in these parts, to filter through.
Even more impressive is the immaculate appearance of not only the churches themselves, each set among manicured lawns and colourful gardens, but entire villages.
Here in the Marquesas there is an obvious pride in the environment.
Is it such a surprise then to learn that French artist Paul Gauguin left ''overcrowded'' Tahiti to spend the last years of his life in Atuona on the island of Hive Oa?
And that well-known author Herman Melville, who wrote Moby Dick, jumped ship at Nuku Hiva and that Belgian singer-composer Jacques Brel (buried near Gauguin's tomb) was also seduced by these islands?
No doubt there have been many others over the years.
Not all, however were so keen to stay, least of all some of the first missionaries who arrived in 1797.
One story goes that missionary John Harris was left on his first night at Tahuata with the local chief's wife, with instructions to treat her as his own wife.
Harris is said to have fled the next day!
Among the most picturesque villages on the island of Fatu Hiva in the so-named ''Bay of the Virgins'', was Hanavave, surrounded by high volcanic pinnacles and flanked by two smaller outcrops, one resembling a sphinx and the other a lion's head.
The visit coincided with Father's Day, on which each male visitor received a flower lei.
The cultural singing and dancing that filled our visit of only a few hours, drew a number of visitors forward eager to learn the islanders' skill, to everyone's amusement.
Visits to other islands included demonstrations of making cloth from tree bark (tapa cloth) and scented oils.
Then there were the feasts, including suckling pig cooked hangi-style in the ground, goat curry, poisson cru (marinated raw fish with coconut milk), polished off with red banana pudding and fresh paw paw and pineapple.
Back on board Aranui 3, after often two, but sometimes three island visits in a day, the cultural experience continued, with lectures on the history of the Marquesas and what we'd see the next day, ukulele lessons and island dancing classes.
We would also practise a national song that was to be part of a passengers' cultural performance towards the end of the voyage.
We mustered 12 Kiwis for the rendering of Po karekare Ana, which I have to say went down a treat, backed by the ship's band, who knew the song as well as we did.
All too soon our 14-day voyage of discovery was over.
We were back in Tahiti and by then looking forward to some quiet reflection on all we'd seen, done and learned.
If you go
• Aranui 3 sails from Tahiti (Papeete), with one stop in the Tuamotu islands on the way to the Marquesas, and returns to Tahiti again. It does 17 such voyages a year.
• We flew to Tahiti on Air Tahiti Nui direct from Auckland. Air New Zealand also flies direct to Tahiti.
• Cabins on the Aranui 3 for the 14-day voyage range in price from $NZ3900 per person for a multiple-share dormitory, to $NZ6690 per person for a standard twin-share cabin with porthole, and $NZ9446 for a suite with balcony. The fare is expensive compared with many cruise-ship deals, but does include all shore excursions, guided tours and three meals a day, with wine at lunch and dinner. All you pay for are items from the ship's boutique and drinks from the bar.
• For more information, visit www.aranui.com or email reservations@aranui.com
