We left Papeete at 2:00 am and, after a pretty choppy ride, arrived at Huahine in the morning. I was scheduled for a Jeep Safari in the afternoon. We were anchored in Maroe Bay, I think, but some of the details on this part of the trip aren’t as sharp as they were on the first cruise. Like I’ve said, I was tired and distracted. We took the tender ashore and were met by our guide, who told us to call him “Joe”. I never did find out his real name but I know it wasn’t “Joe”. There were six of us in the back of the jeep, sitting on side-facing seats,
with open sides and a canvas canopy top. We loaded up and headed down the road. It was a little bumpy but the seats were padded. Huahine consists of two separate islands, Huahine Nui and Huahine Iti, joined by a bridge and circled by a large coral reef. Like all of the islands, there is one road that essentially circles the islands winding along the coastline for about twenty miles. Almost immediately after leaving the dock, we crossed the bridge and had a good view of the ship anchored in the bay, so we 
stopped for photos. We were off again in just a few minutes. One of the first things I noticed was the foliage. Just as with every island throughout this trip, there was a wide variety of trees, shrubs, fruits, flowers, ferns, etc. There were bananas, papaya, mangos, breadfruit, pineapple, etc. Then there was noni, which I hadn’t seen until we got here. It only grows in the French Polynesian islands and is reputed to have almost mystical properties, including curing cancer. It is taken in liquid form but smells so bad that I couldn’t imagine anyone actually using it. Bottom line: there’s a lot of vegetation here!After a little more driving, we pulled off the road more or less in the middle of nowhere. We all hopped out and
crossed the road to the bank of a creek. Joe announced that this was the home of the fresh-water blue-eyed eels! Apparently, these eels are sacred to some of the residents. Joe must not have belonged to that particular sect since he was talking about feeding them some “sacred” mackerel from the “sacred” can bought at the “sacred” supermarket. Not a lot of reverence here! These eels are big, probably four to five feet long. They’re also very fat, likely from being fed all that “sacred” mackerel. I couldn’t actually see their eye color from the bank so I’ll just take Joe’s word for it.
A little farther along, we stopped to observe some unusual rock formations in the water. These were like walls, constructed in a long arrow shape, with a deeper pool at the pointed end. Joe explained that they were fish traps, designed so that the fish swim through the rocks and get trapped in the deeper water when the tide goes out. I guess it’s the same concept used in constructing crab traps. They were designed centuries ago, maybe millennia ago, so I guess those old Polynesians were pretty sharp! They’re still used today. We drove a little more, then took a detour over to the beach. It was another beautiful stretch of coastline but, quite honestly, I’ve seen so many coastlines that I’m not so easily impressed anymore. Still, I always enjoy the view!
The next stop was a vanilla farm. On the way there, we stopped several times to see various things: a coconut drying operation, mounds and trellises for growing yams, kapok used for pillows and floatation devices, etc. It was interesting but a little more detail than I really wanted. The vanilla story was fascinating although I really can’t remember all the steps in the process. What I do remember is that it takes years from planting to harvest and is a very labor-intensive process, sometimes including hand-pollination. Tahitian vanilla is very expensive and now I can understand why. 
We made one more stop at a marae on the way back to the dock. I’ve seen maraes on virtually every island we’ve visited so this one didn’t hold much fascination for me. The scenery in the area was pretty, however, so I took a few pictures while we were stopped. Then we made our way back to the dock and the ship. It had been an interesting tour, although a little long, and a good overview of Huahine.
No comments:
Post a Comment