AdventuresAboardAvatar: Fare Village, Huahine West

We sailed around the North end of the island, where there is a large lagoon and the only flat area, where they put the airport. We watched two planes come in. The hills facing the North side are steep and covered with trees. As we rounded the airport we saw some big splashes in the water, Whales! We watched as two or three humpback whales were breaching and spy hopping and making splashes with their pectoral fins. Out of all the photos I took, I got one good shot! Whales and dolphins are so hard to photograph!!

We entered the pass and made it to the main village on Huahine Island, Fare. This is a great little town with good shopping (big grocery store!) and a fabulous bar called the Huahine Yacht Club. Big trees and several docks line the downtown waterfront. There is a big A-frame building that is where the cruise ship guests are brought ashore. We tied up to the dingy dock in front of the yacht club and explored the village. There are many canons and old anchors from days of old. The village was very well kept and had a typical waterfront park where many of the locals were hanging out waiting for someone to come to the pier and pick them up to take them back to their rural homes. It is often faster to get around by boat than taking the windy coastal road.

We had met some neighbors anchored near to us from the French flagged sailboat Donazita. They invited us to go with them to the yacht club and listen to some music, then back to their boat for dinner. Patryza was from Poland and had done extensive sailing in the Atlantic, both racing and delivery. Her French captain and boyfriend was Djidji (Gee gee) who had started a circumnavigation on a previous boat, but it got cut short, so they were on a mission to make it around the globe together. They had sailed to the South Pacific via Cape Horn, so we knew they were quite experienced, and had many great stories to share with us. When we got to the yacht club for happy hour, there were not many tables available, so we sat with another couple from a catamaran, Winds of Change, owner Gert was from Germany and crew Sandy was a surfer from New Jersey. It sure is awesome how most everyone we have met from Europe speaks English! We had a great time listening to Steve from Liward, a 48 Hans Christian, and a couple of local guys playing 60s and 70s rock and roll, along with plenty of Jimmy Buffett thrown in. It was a very fun evening with lots of new friends!

The next day we finally unpacked our folding bicycles for the first time. One had a bit of corrosion where water leaked into its bag, but Mike did a little maintenance and we were off to explore the North side of the island. We past many lovely little houses each with flowers out front. There is a lagoon on this side, which we had not seen from our sail around. The airport is on the outer motu, but we rode along the palm tree lined main shore until we came upon a recently rebuilt ancient Fare (which is the word for house, but same name as the village!)), in this case a meeting house. It is a large thatched roof building built right along the lagoon in the middle of many maraes (sacred stone structures). A restored dug out outrigger canoe was also on the premises. It had a few modern cleats and a base where a mast for sailing probably went. It also had a duck as a figure head. Not sure what the significance of that was. Unfortunately it was Sunday and no one was there manning the place so we were only able to read the signs and had no one to ask questions to. We walked out and looked at the maraes which were extended out into the lagoon. One of the rocks looked like Woodstock and there were many gulls there worshiping him.

Across the road was a trail head which led to more Maraes up the hill side hidden in the trees. As we walked into the the forest the canopy of trees brought the temperature down to a very comfortable level. The plants were bright and colorful and there was a barrier wall where the maraes started. Some of the trees along the trail were covered in moss and looked like a furry blanket over a stump. In the older rotting trees, new plant life was taking hold. One tree had an interesting vine climbing up to the sun. The ground was rich with nutrients, dark in color and somewhat moist, but luckily, not wet! We had put on mosquito repellent before we left, but never noticed any of them trying to bite us (thank god!).

At the top of the hill there were many trees growing right through the rocks of the Marae. One had been cut recently and had very interesting growth rings, showing it had been a double or twin tree. Another one looked like a spider on the ground. The last Marae we came to had a large Banyan tree growing in the corner. The roots went all through and around the rocks. I got in the photo so you can get a feeling as to how big the tree is. Not as big as the one in Nuku Hiva, but still, quite large. On one side of the tree are vertically placed rocks, like we had seen at many other Maraes. But this one also had a line of vertical rocks in the middle of the square. We rested and ate lunch while we contemplated what the ancient people did here. Was this a sacrifice area? Or did they just come and pray to their Gods? Again no one to ask, so we just enjoyed the nature and the peace and quiet.

Back on the road, we kept riding to the North East side. We came across a grave marked by several cannons. The writing was hard to read, but we believe it was marking the graves of those who fought against the French, when they were taking over the territory. More interesting were the fish traps, V shaped stones piles in the water built 100s of years ago, but still being used. It looked like the fishermen stayed in the huts built over the water and collected the fish that swam into the V's. There were some people riding horseback down the river that leads to the lagoon as well.

We followed along the road out toward the motus and saw some interesting trees. There was a break in the foliage and we spotted the ocean, so we stopped to look out where we had just sailed around the island, a couple days before. The white sand beach comes from the pulverized coral in the reef just offshore.

That evening, back on the boat, a Boobie bird seemed to be having trouble flying. He was all wet and was resting on top of our solar panels. He looked quite tired and exhausted. He had something in his wing, so we decided to try and grab him to see if we could remove it. Mike got a glove and reached up to get him. He squawked a little, but I had the scissors ready and quickly removed the strap. He tried to fly away when we let him go, but he fell helplessly into the water again. We watched him carefully and he finally got flight, but came right back and landed on our bow pulpit, where he spent the night. On the tag I cut off it had a phone number and it said his name was Coco Huahine. So we started thinking this was someone's pet?!? Boobie birds usually dive for fish to eat, we watched many of them for years in Mexico. But this guy seemed lost and not sure how to get food. The next morning he finally flew off the bow, but was cruising low to the water like a pelican looking for fish, not a Boobie. When he came back and landed on our boat again after not catching any fish, we decided to call the phone number, because he may not know how to feed himself. It was not easy as I find it difficult when people try to keep wild things as pets. But we did not want him to starve either. When the gal came to get him, she explained that they had found him 6 months ago, having fallen out of a nest. So they raised him and have a stick perch for him on their “houseboat”. Unfortunately I did not get a photo of their boat, but it looked like a Polynesian double hulled canoe with a hut like structure in the middle. While we were waiting for her to arrive, Mike tried to feed Coco some canned sardines. He did not seem too interested, so maybe he was not as hungry as we thought, or he only wants fresh fish?!?

The sun was setting on the village of Fare, but we decided to motor down the inside of the reef to the South end for our next adventure.