and a high school (Collège Sainte Anne), as well as a Catholic and a Protestant church. For tourist needs, there is a hotel and small private pensions, as well as restaurants and bars. Larger cruise ships can also enter Atuona Bay. However, they are usually anchored and passengers are disembarked. Regular supply ships to/from Tahiti dock at the harbor pier. Tourism Places of interest The village of Puamau is 45 km from Atuona (a two and a half hour drive up a steep and winding road). On the outskirts of the village is a large ceremonial platform, said to be the burial place of Queen Vahine Titoiani. There are large stone tikis carved on two corners of the platform. In the Puamau valley, about two kilometers from the coast, is Ipona (formerly: Oipona), the largest and most important historical site in the Marquesas. The valley once belonged to the influential Naiki tribe, which also controlled the Atuona region. After the Naiki captured and consumed the chief of the neighboring tribe, Tio'o, the clans of the Hanapaaoa district took revenge and wiped out the Naiki. The victors erected a tapu on Ipona and installed tikis. After the introduction of Christianity, this place of worship fell into disuse. The Marae Takii, now well restored and consisting of three overlapping terraces, stands at the foot of a steep cliff and includes 8 stone statues and cyclopean heads. The largest is Tiki Takai'i, the guardian spirit of the valley, at 2.43 meters. However, the most interesting artwork is the Maki'i Taua Pepe figure, unique in the entire South Seas region, which, according to Karl von den Steinen, physician and ethnologist, depicts a priestess or goddess giving birth. According to Thor Heyerdahl, who visited Hiva Oa in 1937, the statue does not resemble a woman giving birth, but "more like an animal swimming," and he compared it to two sculptures of the "alligator god" from the St. Augustine culture. v.d. Steinen's interpretation of a woman in labor is contradicted by the fact that the base emerged from the navel region and not from the loins. He learned from his informants that the statue had long been lying on its back in a thicket and had only "recently" been erected. Another notable site is in the Vustin River valley. Also notable is the Taaoa Valley, west of Atuona, which is filled with huge banyan trees, coconut