When Mark and I were driving south to Avea Bay with Irie a
few weeks ago, we spotted a pretty looking beach to port. Apart from a local
boat dragged upon the white sand, the area was deserted. Three new mooring
balls had been placed in front of the beach, clear of the shallowest coral
patches. We poked our nose in to check it out, liked what we saw, and agreed to
stop here on the way back north to Fare. The bay would be a good weekend
destination, since WiFi was not available, but we could still grab emails over
a slow 2G connection (thanks to our
Wiriepro :-)).
So, last weekend, we motored up to this special place. Irie
was the only boat to pick up a mooring and onshore, a local family was hanging
out on the beach and having fun in the shallow water. It didn’t take long
before we donned our snorkel gear and jumped into the refreshing, turquoise
water. We explored some of the reefs, where – despite the poor visibility – we
could make out some interesting fish and creatures. The closer to the beach,
the warmer the water, and most of the way, it felt as if we were swimming in a
bath tub. Not as refreshing as expected! On the beach, we met Siki, the
caretaker of this government owned property. He told us many stories,
"animatedly" drawing numbers in the sand to explain something further. For the
rest of the afternoon, I practiced my French and Mark learned a thing of two,
being immersed in the language. One of the other beach visitors happened to be a
Frenchman who gave us a ride back to Haapu a couple of weeks ago. Huahine is a
small island!
That night, we saw the sun set and the moon rise to the
chatter of birds in the jungle-like vegetation onshore. Later on, there wasn’t
a sound and the sea was flat. We couldn’t even hear the breaking reefs, since
the ocean swell had been minimal. No wind means no waves… It also means that it
is incredibly hot, inside as well as outside. The peace was complete in this
little piece of heaven. No locals playing music on the beach, no smoking fires,
no commotion or traffic noise. When we went to bed, I even turned off our
little bathroom fan and hid the loud ticking clock of our bedroom. Total
silence and nobody around; this is one of the main reasons to live on a boat!
The second day of our stay, we took the dinghy to shore
before 8am, to go for a hike before the sun was out in force. It was already
incredibly hot, but we hoped for some shade on the trail. Siki arrived with his
va’a (outrigger canoe), loaded with
bags of coconuts. He had been collecting them since 4:30am. It was one of his
jobs and a cargo ship was due to arrive the same day to transport the coconuts
to Tahiti. He showed us how to reach the viewpoint close by and explained a
thing or two about the resort that used to occupy this slice of paradise. A
cyclone had wiped it out in the nineties and some remnants were still visible.
The view from the top of the rock was pretty nice!
Afterwards, Siki lead us over an overgrown path, hacking
away with his machete, to a dirt road. We followed it, meeting locals along the
way, and took in more views of Bourayne Bay. He was taking us to a wild patch of
pumpkins, but once we arrived, none were to be found. The track was being
widened and the pumpkin patches diminished. We caught up with the main road
around Huahine Iti, before turning back and taking a different trail to the
beach. It is possible to get here overland, but the path is hard to find. The
only other way to reach this nice stretch of beach is by boat. Right before
returning to the bay, Siki hacked down an enormous stack of bananas and carried
it to our dinghy. Mark and I rinsed the stack in the salty lagoon to get rid of
any critters (and saw a massive spider run away over the water) before loading
the dinghy up. We were also given some papayas.
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| Uru (breadfruit) |
Later that day, we brought some stuff to shore to give to
Siki. He promised to swing by in his
va’a
the following morning with an
uru
(breadfruit), knocked two young coconuts out of a tree for us, and handed me a
bracelet he made earlier. Sure enough, after we woke up and got started with
some work the next morning, we heard someone call “
ia orana!” Siki’s head popped up and he off loaded his canoe,
dunking everything in salt water first: breadfruit, pamplemousses, limes, and a
massive soursop. We couldn’t thank him enough (
mauruuru,
mauruuru,
mauruuru!) and promised to return in the
future. With a boat full of fresh fruit, but nothing else to eat, we headed
back to Fare, Huahine’s only “city” and supermarket.
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| Irie moored at Hana Iti beach |
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| Siki transporting bags of collected coconuts on his va'a |
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| One more climb to get to the top of the rock for a nice view |
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| Bourayne Bay, cutting Huahine in half |
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| Papaya trees are everywhere on Huahine! |
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| Siki trying to find a pumpkin for us |
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| Can you believe this bamboo is only a few years old? |
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| Siki handing Mark an enormous stack of bananas |
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| Going home with what is easily the biggest stack of bananas we were ever given! |
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| Spotted boxfish (male) |
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| Humongous sea cucumber with his mouth open |
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| Pretty patch of coral |
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| Yellow boxfish (young adult) hiding |
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| Yellow boxfish checking me out |
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| Massive soursop (courasol) |
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| Free bananas on Irie! |
It feels as if Mark and I are living in Fare, Huahine, these
days. We have become used to the island pace and the Polynesian way of life. We
go to the hardware store on a Saturday morning and are not surprised to find it
closed. We take our jerry cans to the fuel station, never expecting to be
helped the first time around. Once, they were out of gasoline on day one, and a
month later, the station was already closed at 11am. A second attempt, usually
has us carry full jugs home. As Mark states: “Whatever we want to do, count on
about 50% of it working out.” And, he is right when it comes to local matters,
like a store or food van being open, fresh fish being for sale, coco glacé
(coconuts on ice to drink the deliciously refreshing coco water inside - $1 a
piece!) vendors being present, a planned event, a given direction, a previously
reliable internet connection actually working, and so on. When it comes to boat
parts or other pieces we need, to fix or maintain the boat, the percentage of
finding something on tiny Huahine drops to zero. 
On Irie, we have the unwritten rule that whatever we haven’t
used for a year (or two) – except for parts and tools – needs to get off the
boat. Having quite a few things that belong in this category, we looked forward
to a planned flea market in Fare last week. When the event was canceled, we
decided to take a tub of stuff to shore anyway and set up shop next to the
vegetable sellers. As “new providers” we were the hit of town, and gear
unavailable on the island went quick. Mark and I made enough money for lunch at
a roulotte and happy hour that day,
and for a Valentine’s dinner at the Yacht Club on Saturday!
As we set about our daily routines, we enjoy being
comfortable on one of the free mooring balls in Fare’s multi-hued lagoon. The
view of the surrounding reefs, islands, beach and water is pretty and the wind
has recently been helping us out with electricity and keeping the temperature
bearable. Thanks to our friends Rachelle and Patrick on SV Namaste (now in the
Marquesas), who told us where to find abandoned fruit trees, we go “shopping”
in nature for avocados, grapefruit, limes and bananas. The gusty wind had
knocked over some plants and branches to make the pickings easy!
Since the sun gave us a break yesterday, we braved the 120%
humidity and swarms of mosquitoes to go on a walk in the jungle. Besides
getting some exercise and feeling as if we were the only people on the island,
we enjoyed exploring the remote interior to the sounds of birds and a rushing
river. The lush foliage of the tropics and the beautiful flowers of Polynesia
never cease to impress me. We even found some hot pepper bushes to spice up our
meals. Huahine, as most of the fertile islands of French Polynesia, truly is a
piece of paradise to visit or live in and its abundance of natural wealth and
beauty is a fact. The locals realize this and love their island. And we do,
too!
