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.
Out of the pass and heading North
radio tower
Whale breach
Village of Fare welcome area
Miguel at the Yacht Club (nice cannon)
very old anchor
village welcome dock
dingy dock at sunset
anchor lights just starting to appear
Patryza, Gert, Sandy, Dejdej, Miguel & Shelly
Steve rocking the yacht club
pretty flower
Palm lined road
View of marae thru trees
Meeting house rebuilt at Marae
side view of house
dugout canoe with outrigger
Duck figurehead on canoe
marae
another marae sticking into the lagoon
Woodstock stone
gulls hanging out at the marae
tree growing out of rocks
hiking trail
pretty plants on trail
entrance barrier wall
into the jungle we go
old dead tree in path
moss covering tree
baby tree growing out of dead tree
vine headed up for the sun
Miguel in the jungle
Shelly in the jungle
beginning of several maraes in the mountains
big trees growing out of rocks
double tree
spider roots
Banyan tree
each root has hold of a rock
me in the photo to give some perspective to size
upright rocks by tree
better view of upright rocks
upright rocks in middle of platform, Miguel eating lunch
stair step marae up the hill
Miguel in the entry door
the corner
looking down hill from door
grave of revolutionary fighters
Fish traps from the bridge
V shape of traps made of stones in creek
some stop at nets others at shacks
We think people are living out there over the traps
shape of the stone piles
looking up river from the bridge we see horseback riders
tree with big roots on our bike ride
thru the bushes to the ocean
beach to the left
beach to the right, looking toward the pass on the East side
Coco on the bow pulpit
Coco waving hello
Miguel trying to feed Coco
"you want me to eat CANNED sardies?!"
Another beautiful sunset!!
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