Taiohae Bay, Nuku Hiva
Hanavave Bay, Fatu Hiva
Atuona Bay, Hiva Oa
Hakahau Bay, Ua Pou
Vaitahu Bay, Tahuata
Hike to Vaipō Waterfall
Visit Gauguin’s and Brel’s Graves, Atuona
Get a Traditional Patutiki Tattoo
Snorkel Anaho Bay’s Coral Garden
Ride Horseback on the Toovii Plateau
Taiohae, Nuku Hiva
Atuona, Hiva Oa
Hatiheu Village
Puamau and the Iipona Tiki Site
Ua Pou’s Basalt Spires
The dry season, roughly May through October, brings the steadiest weather and is when most charter yachts are in the islands, many having just completed the Pacific crossing from the Galapagos as part of the annual Pacific Puddle Jump. November through April brings more frequent squalls and higher humidity, though the Marquesas sit close enough to the equator, around 8 to 10 degrees south, that they lie outside the main South Pacific cyclone belt most seasons.
Nuku Hiva Airport (NHV) and Hiva Oa’s Atuona Airport (AUQ) are the archipelago’s two international gateways, both reached by roughly three-and-a-half-hour Air Tahiti flights from Papeete rather than any direct international service. Most charter guests instead join their yacht already in the islands after it has sailed in from the Galapagos or the Panama Canal, since the Marquesas themselves are the usual first landfall for boats crossing the Pacific rather than a place reached easily by air alone.
Taiohae Bay on Nuku Hiva is the practical hub, with the group’s only fuel, provisions and customs clearance, while Hanavave Bay on Fatu Hiva is the scenic highlight most cruisers save for last. Atuona Bay on Hiva Oa combines shelter with easy access to Gauguin’s grave and the Iipona tiki site inland. None are reef-protected in the usual sense, since the Marquesas have no fringing coral, so swell reaches further into the bays than guests might expect.
Seven to ten days allows a proper loop through the southern group, Hiva Oa, Tahuata and Fatu Hiva, or the northern group around Nuku Hiva and Ua Pou, though covering both in one charter is a stretch given the distances involved. Passages between islands typically run four to twelve hours in open ocean swell rather than sheltered inter-island water, so building in weather days matters more here than in a typical Pacific cruising ground.
Yes. In 2024 UNESCO inscribed the archipelago as Te Henua Enata: The Marquesas Islands, a mixed cultural and natural World Heritage site covering seven valleys and their surrounding waters, recognising archaeological remains dating to around 1000 CE alongside ecosystems UNESCO itself calls exceptionally well conserved. It is one of very few Pacific properties recognised for both culture and nature together, formalising protections already evident on the ground, from restored meae to minimal coastal development.
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