Nuku Hiva, with 330 sq. km. (127 sq. miles) of surface area, is the largest island in the marquesas archipelago. Its beauty from the sea or high above the island is truly breathtaking. The 2,100 inhabitants live in Taiohae, Taipivai, Hatiheu, Aakapa, Pua, Houmi, anaho and Hakaui, where they work for the government, the community, Catholic church or school system, or for themselves - chopping copra high in the mountains, fishing, raising cattle and other livestock, or sculpting bowls, platters, Marquesan ceremonial clubs, Tikis and Ukuleles. Taiohae is a pleasant village, bordering the sea. It is the administrative, economic, educational and health center of the Marquesas Islands.
Here are the French and Territorial administrators, the government buildings, gendarmerie, post office, general hospital, town hall, Air Tahiti office, banks, schools, well stocked stores and shops.
Sundays and holidays are just as busy as any work day, when the villagers drive back and forth along seafront road in their 4-wheel drive vehicles, calling out to their friends, and stopping to join the on going game of petanque (french bowls), played under a flowering flamboyant tree in the front of the town hall. Nearby the women sit under a shelter and win money playing bingo.