Nuku Hiva is the largest of the Marquesas Islands. The Marquesas are said to be the original home of the great Polynesian canoe explorers who discovered Hawaii. Much later, Captain Cook spent much time in a number of islands in South Pacific region of French Polynesia. A remote, windy, and volcanic island with distinct dry and wet sides, a beautiful Catholic Church on the shore, and an incursion first by the English and then by the Americans in 1812. Among its unusual history, it is also nearby where Paul Gauguin finally ended up after leaving Tahiti and never returning to France.
