Vaituha
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Vaituha bay as seen from the ocean. Vaituha is a small valley in northwestern
Eiao Eiao is the largest of the extreme northwestern Marquesas Islands. The island is uninhabited, but is administratively part of the commune (municipality) of Nuku-Hiva, itself in the administrative subdivision of the Marquesas Islands. As of 2 ...
(
French Polynesia French Polynesia ( ; ; ) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole #Governance, overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. The t ...
) in which a small watersource empties into a small bay of the same name. This bay is one of two reliable anchorages on Eiao. The depth of the bay is 27 meters. The interior end of the valley has a seasonally spectacular waterfall emptying of a pebble beach. The high
magnesium Magnesium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 ...
water is drinkable, but often turns the warter in the bay a shade of orange because of eroding
silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension (chemistry), suspension with water. Silt usually ...
after rain. This
silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension (chemistry), suspension with water. Silt usually ...
and color can stay for weeks and can cause
ciguatera Ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP), also known as ciguatera, is a foodborne illness caused by eating tropical reef fish contaminated with ciguatoxins. Such individual fish are said to be ciguatoxic. Symptoms may include diarrhea, vomiting, numbness ...
in fish. The valley rises steeply to the plateau which comprises much of the center of the island, and is one of the few ascents thereto. The Vaithua Valley contains most of Eiao's flora and fauna, including wild pigs. In 1962 - 1963, Georges de Caunes lived on the island in this bay, earning it the temporary title "Bay of Caunes." This was to perform a radio show based on the novel
Robinson Crusoe ''Robinson Crusoe'' ( ) is an English adventure novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. Written with a combination of Epistolary novel, epistolary, Confessional writing, confessional, and Didacticism, didactic forms, the ...
. This was ended in around 100 days due to health complications.


References

Landforms of the Marquesas Islands Valleys of Oceania {{FrenchPolynesia-geo-stub