.: Moorea & Huahine

After our aborted attempt to Moorea, we left early the next day to try once again. This day was dead calm, with a heavy chop and sloppy seas. We motored the entire way in what felt like a washing machine. Captain Peter kept giving me the eye as if to say “I told you we should’ve just kept going yesterday”. To rub salt in the wound a little bit more, I was also hanging off the rails for most of the trip and gave my first donation to feed the fish.

Once we arrived in Moorea, the lagoon was calm as glass. The next morning was Mother’s Day. Great to chat to everyone on Skype (and leave messages with those we couldn’t connect with). It was a magical day – and Peter even remembered the occasion, ha,ha. After my daily session of Yoga to greet the sunrise, we headed over by dinghy to wander in water thigh-high amongst the schools of sting rays and sharks.

After snorkeling, we listened to the Canucks on internet radio (how much better can you get on Mother’s Day?). Well, actually, I had the VERY BEST Mother’s Day on May 8, 1988. Kylie was born!

At 5:00 p.m. we up-anchored for an overnight sail to Huahine. This was a 10/10 crossing with the velvet sky bursting with stars, including numerous shooting stars. As dawn broke we came within sight of a wild, lush coastline. We anchored just outside the main town of Fare with an island population of about 5,000 people. We spent the first day wandering the village and organizing our rental car for a few days later. The next day we listened once again to the Canucks play their last game of the series. Very sad – Good for Montreal for winning their round.

The rental cars all spot a big orange dot on the front and rear bumper. Actually a great system to let the locals know who the tourists are! It poured rain almost all day, but we still had a great tour of the 32 kilometre island, which we circumnavigated twice. We stopped during a break in the weather for a 2-hour hike to the top of the mountain for a 360 degree view. However, just before arriving at the top, the skies opened up and within minutes we were totally drenched. The view was also clouded over, but being soaking wet in 90 degree temperatures isn’t too hard to take.

Another highlight on the tour was stopping to see the mystical blue-eyed eels in the river. Legend has it that they brought fresh water to the island many, many moons ago. These eels are about 2 feet long with very sharp teeth. They are almost tame though as the locals feed them.

On our final day in Fare we went for a dive in the pass. Each dive I am feeling more and more confident, and this was aided by having a wonderful Dive Instructor Annie who led our private dive. We dropped in to about 40 feet and then swam over the reef to the ocean side where the current was very strong. We descended to about 100 feet and were well rewarded by seeing tons of sea life, including 5 Eagle Rays swimming above and around us and a whole school of Barracuda’s.

That afternoon we sailed to our first private anchorage where we stayed for two days swimming, snorkeling, beachcombing and kayaking. After our lunch anchorage today we continued on to our destination for the next few days – Baie de Avea. It has been raining a lot – a couple of times each day – but each time, although a downpour, quickly moves on and then just as quickly everything is dry again.