Huahine - 1 day stop
We sailed into the main harbor area at Huahine, and dropped anchor about half a mile offshore. We had signed up for the Renaissance sponsored tour called "Beach, snorkel and Island Tour". We boarded a good-sized motor launch and were quickly driven across the brightest blue water we have seen yet to a very shallow reef area where we stopped to snorkel. This is only 9 am and the sun was already getting us plenty warm, so the swimming was a welcome relief. We saw some fish, and had even brought along fish food this time, but we couldn't seem to get them interested enough to get any kind of feeding swarm going. We came back aboard about 45 minutes later to head for the next point - the white sand beach.
The captain of the boat running this tour has his whole family involved. His 10 or 11-year-old son and beautiful 9-year-old daughter helped out on the boat, and his adult son was driving the boat. His daughter has the classic beautiful face of the Polynesians, and was wearing a bikini top and a pareo wrapped around her waist. Her chestnut brown skin was highlighted by the beautiful 10 or 12mm sized perfect black pearl earrings (worth about $2000!). Everyone took pictures of her - she could be the poster child for Tahiti. I got one very close up shot showing just her face and the pearl earrings that ought to be made into a postcard. At the beach I went snorkeling again but it was very disappointing - very, very shallow and no fish to speak of.
Sandy stayed on shore where the family there had the son climb a coconut tree and bring down 2 coconuts. They showed how you husk the nut with a sharp pointed stick, and then cracked it open and shredded the coconut meat into a large wooden serving bowl. It was wonderful - sweet and chewy - very ripe.
After quickly changing out of my snorkel gear we then boarded a bus for the tour of the island. While the tour was very informative, the bus seats were very crowded, and they made only 2 or 3 stops along the entire route, so our photo opportunities were limited. We drove up to Huahine's Belvedere Point for a magnificent view overlooking the harbor, and then kept going on the bus.
The next stop was at a small cement bridge over a shallow stream where the locals feed the Sacred Eels - huge 5 to 6 foot long eels as big around as your arm or leg. The local children get into the water (only about 8 inches deep it appeared) and feed the eels, making the water at their feet seem to boil with writhing eels. They would try to pick them up from the water, but the eels are very active and just thrash their way out of the children's hands.
We saw fields where they plant the local sweet potato plant - the local contest last year grew a potato 5 feet in length weighing almost 120 Kg. That's as big as a person. They also pointed out some vanilla bean plants being cultivated. They plant acacia trees to act as the support structure for the vanilla plants. The vanilla flowers only bloom one day and must be hand-pollinated. Once the beans are ready, they are picked and dried on racks in the sun. They can only be left in the sun about 2 hrs a day. It is very labor-intensive work, and very time consuming over a period of months to get the final product, which is in such high demand. Tahitian vanilla is the most sought-after in the world.
Back aboard ship we had made reservations at the Grill restaurant for 8:30 pm. That afternoon on the pool deck they had a local group come aboard called the Huahine Mamas. These dancers and artisans gave a wonderful dance show to the poolside crowd, and then gave pareo demonstrations and sold their crafts.
So we kicked back for a few hours and watched a movie on the TV in the cabin - "Tumbleweeds" - a very cute movie. We were seated with two other couples in their late thirties at dinner, and I had the most delicious filet mignon cooked to perfection with Béarnaise sauce on the side. Sandy had a delicious plate of mahi-mahi. I had a glass of nice Merlot with my meal, and Sandy had a Chardonnay. For dessert I had an apple tort with caramel and a scoop of the wonderful French vanilla ice cream.
As we left the restaurant at 10 pm we ran into the Texas couple again - Mike and Dominique. She is like a bright little pixie - very petite and pretty, and a bundle of energy. They were going to the bar to do some karaoke, and she had applied silver glitter to her eyelashes. They are interested in trying to go with us on our first Raiatea snorkeling tour - Shark and Ray feeding - that we set up by phone from Papeete a few days ago. Hopefully they will be able to join us - they are a lot of fun. It was raining pretty heavily tonight and the sway of the ship is quite pronounced now. Good thing we've developed sea legs by now.