Huahine

[Kyle]On arriving Geoffrey and Sarah returned from a swim ashore with a report of what was on offer. The anchorage is a giant sand patch (not great for snorkelling), so with their newfound knowledge, we made a plan for our time in Avea Bay. We set up the dinghy and rowed ashore to explore together. We enjoyed fancy cocktails with sunset views and traditional music at Relias Mahana hotel, followed by a Pizza dinner at the Tiki Pop food truck (in French: a Roulotte)

Drinks ashore for sunset

Bird life and local life, past and present.
Bird pictures: Cute little Chestnut Breasted Mannikins (Finch),
and one of the many Myna bird

In the morning we returned ashore to see the small marae/platform (Marae Anini), an ancient religious site on Pt Tiva. We extended our walk to the hamlet of Parea hoping to find some bread (no luck) and then had lunch back by the boat at Chez Tara with great food, shade, sand in our toes, and a beautiful white cat to keep us company.

Returning to the boat, we relocated back toward the pass for some snorkelling.

As we’d left the channel, the bottom rapidly rose from 28m down to 3m. Ahead were plenty of dark patches which we took for coral, so we set the anchor towards the edge of the shelf in an obvious sand patch. Our subsequent snorkel revealed that those dark patches were simply bits of algae, and there were acres of sand before any coral began. It made for a very long swim before we could see anything cool.

Unfortunately, our engine alarm surfaced again so that still wasn’t fixed. We did enough diagnostics to verify there was indeed no water in the boat and went on to enjoy a shorkel.

Despite a longish swim to the actual reef, we saw our first decent patches of anemone (complete with clown fish), Spiny urchins, and some very large box fish). We ended the evening with another lovely sunset and a showing of “Moana”, the latest Disney cartoon/movie set in French Polynesia which Geoffrey and Sarah and kindly provided for us. Those familiar with the movie will know that the godess (Te Fiti) creates Huahine (the island we were visiting) as she lays down at the end of the movie (indeed aside from the movie - the profile of the island is recognized as a sleeping/pregnant woman).

Lunch followed by a snorkel