Four days ago we pulled up anchorage from Moorea at 12.30pm and set sail towards Huahine. This was our biggest sail to date and included an overnight sail. To be on the safe side I decided to take a sea sick pill which worked really well and as long as I stayed above deck I felt fine. We had the winds with us and we were able to turn the motor off and sail for a lot of the trip which was awesome and just adds a layer of silence to everything. This was the first time for me that I had truly been away from land and to find myself on a small boat with just Craig and myself was a weird but good feeling. We didn’t sleep much that night as we both set up beds on the couches so we could keep an eye on things. Every 20-30 minutes one of us would pop up to check the horizon for any other boats (its amazing how far you can see with the moon) and also to check that we were staying on course. Instead of the auto pilot which uses a lot of power and we didn’t know how much we had Craig set up some bungee cords on the wheel which worked really well and kept us on track. We had a couple of bouts of rain which we had expected and some big rolling waves but nothing that had us worried. Around 2.30am the wind completely died and we decided to turn the engines on and motored until dawn. 5.30am the wind picked up a little and we were able to resume sailing for a little bit until it died again and that it is how the rest of the trip went. A little bit of motor and when we found the wind some more sailing. All in all a successful trip and it was a fantastic feeling when we finally spotted land on the horizon, we had done everything right.
Looking from Huahine towards our boat
Huahine itself is beautiful and yes I realise I said that about Moorea as well. To be perfectly honest even though I loved where we anchored at Moorea in 3 metres of crystal blue water I think I like this island more. It is partly because there are no big hotel chains here, there are a couple of smaller motels but they are well hidden and this gives the island a whole unspoiled feeling. This must have been what the other islands felt like 20 or so years ago. There are two islands here which are connected by a single bridge, both islands being 28sq miles total in size and according to Wikipedia there is 20miles of paved road (we biked some of it and I would swear there is more). The locals take pride in this place and there is way less rubbish that what we saw at Tahiti and Moorea.
Storm coming in
We are anchored in a little bay by the main village of Fare which consists of a pharmacy, post office, hardware store, a couple of rental shops, boutiques, couple banks, a few eateries and one supermarket which is huge (compared to other supermarkets we have been into). We will definitely be stocking up our supplies here for the next month or so.
Each morning we wake up really early, no choice really has the roosters of which there sounds to be hundreds on the island start crowing. To be honest there are some kooky chooks here as some roosters will crow at any time of the day or night, on more than one occasion I have woken up to hear a rooster crow, will check the time and its 2am in the morning – daft buggers.
I have fallen into the routine of first thing in the morning (between 6-7am) I will clean a room of the boat. Living on the water obviously there is moisture everywhere and it’s really important that everything (and I mean everything) gets cleaned and wiped down on a regular basis. After that it’s a quick jump in the ocean from the back of the boat and then brekkie time.
The rest of the day consists of exploring, snorkelling, reading, relaxing and just staring at stuff off the boat. Craig always finds something to do around the boat. Yesterday we went to the hardware store and purchased some wood and bits and pieces and Craig created some extensions for the two couches. When we want to sleep upstairs now, instead of having to drag up a big mattress which was annoying we can have a double bed each. This will be really handy when we are doing any longer sails as I am unable to go down below without starting to feel unwell. Again I know this is something that will change over time but it is quite nice to sleep up on the deck being able to easily see everything.
Our new extensions on the couches that Craig built
The other day we hired a couple of bikes and decided that we would bike around both the islands, only 20kms of road (so we thought) how hard could it be! There are truly just a few cars on the island which means we could cycle along for stretches of a time and feel like we had the whole place to ourselves. I made one incorrect call which had us biking along an unpaved road full of puddles and potholes for a few km’s but the rest of the time the roads were awesome.
Craig on a bike
Beautiful paved road
Now we started off full of vigor however it wasn’t long before we started to feel the effects of the heat (think doing a spin class in a sauna). Both of our bikes were unfortunately not set up correctly for us and even though we tried changing the height of the seats they wouldn’t budge (salt water gets into everything and rusts or sticks things together) so both of our saddles were too short for our legs. We “assumed” (I know never assume) that we would pass dairies along the way and would get drinks at them, nope, well into the ride and we were both so parched it wasn’t funny. We finally came around one corner to find the road started to climb up a hill and according to the sign did so for a few kms. We stopped and had a chat and decided the best thing to do was to head back the way we came as we were feeling the heat, we were really thirsty and Craig was really feeling the effects of being on the bike (he has since sworn he will never ride a bike again LOL). So doing the right thing we turned around and headed back the way we came. On the way out we had gone along a side road which had taken us past some ruins but on the way back we decided to stick to the main road and what do you know, we passed some ladies who had set up a little shop outside their house and YES they sold cold drinks – those 2 cans I threw down my throat tasted like nectar and then the swim we had once we dropped the bikes off – bliss!
Ruins 1
Ruins 2
Ruins 3
Ruins 4
Ruins 5
Looking at the map later that day we realised that we had biked around half of the bigger island before we had turned back so not the entire both islands we were originally going to do but none the less we were happy with our efforts.
Ancient Fish Trap
Today would have to rate as one of the best days so far. The sun is shining, the sea is really still and we have spent the majority of the day in the water. We went out to the reef and spent a couple of hours snorkeling out there.
I got a bit of a fright when I had swum off on my own and suddenly beside me was a black tip shark (bigger than the ones from Moorea). My heart sped up a little and I have to admit to looking around for any coral that I could potentially clamber onto. I had nothing to worry about however as it was only being curious and soon swam off. Straight after that I did start swimming towards Craig and the dinghy and stayed close to them for the remainder of our swim.
Craig coming to pick me up from the beach
We intend to stay here for a few more days and then I have read of an anchorage at the bottom of the island where you can swim with the Manta Rays so we will see if we can find that. From there it is a day sail across to Raiatea.
Until next time, hope the wind fills your sails
Sunset on Huahine
That was fa