Month: August 2018

Fish in a Barrel

We waited for a calm weather day to make the trip from Raiatea to Huahine, knowing that it would be an upwind sail. We timed it right and had a beautiful day sailing in light winds and calm seas, the latter being a rarity for us here in the South Pacific. So, we were on a bit of a high when we came in through the pass. Mike’s eyes lit up even more when he saw all of the surfers catching the nice waves on the reef as we came in. We immediately knew we were going to like this place.

Our first night we anchored outside the main town of Fare. There were quite a few boats there, and our anchoring position had us sticking out a bit into the channel where the boats come through the northern pass. We weren’t blocking anyone from coming in, but it would have been better to be able to sneak in closer to shore. That was definitely evident that night as two supply ships came in, and I woke up to the bright lights of the ships traversing pretty close to our stern. The next morning, we moved.

We reanchored off the reef not far from Fare but between the two passes where you can enter the lagoon. It was the perfect place for Mike to get a good look at the waves in the morning and head out to join the other surfers. Mike was told by a some other people that the locals could be a bit territorial about their waves, but he had no problem making friends quickly and catching “epic” waves (his words). For the next two days the swell was perfect for Mike to spend hours in the water while I had a chance to relax and catch up on some reading.

Unfortunately, the swell died out the following day leaving all the surfers staring longingly out into the water. We happened to look out our companionway and saw our friends Liam and Annie on Gone with the Wind passing by at the same time as they hailed us on the radio. They were heading down to Avea Bay in the south part of the lagoon and planned to go to a traditional Polynesian lunch buffet the next day. Because the surfing had died out, we decided to follow them down to Avea Bay.

Avea Bay is a big, beautiful bay with clear, turquoise water all around us. We’ve seen huge sea turtles in the anchorage and lots of rays. We could see staying here for quite a while.

Adagio in Avea Bay…

Our Polynesian lunch was great with poisson cru, roasted pork, fish cooked in banana leaves, chicken and spinach, and lots of other traditional foods. We had a fun day hanging out with our friends with good food and drinks.

Time flies when you are somewhere really lovely, and it has for us here in Avea Bay. We’ve been snorkeling, paddleboarding, surfing (Mike found another break down here) and touring the island. I think I’ve lost track of when we even arrived here!

A few pictures around Huahine…

But, I think the most hilarious experience we have had here has been what I’ve termed “fishing in a barrel.”

We hadn’t had much luck fishing lately. We hadn’t caught anything on the troll between the islands, Mike hasn’t found anything to spear, and even jigging in the pass didn’t yield any fish. So, Mike and Liam came up with a new strategy. We were hanging out for dinner one night on Gone with the Wind, a beautiful catamaran with blue underwater lights between the two hulls at the stern. After dinner (and a few cocktails) we all noticed a lot of good size trevally swimming off the transom, chasing the baitfish that were attracted to the lights.

The boys decided the next night that they were going to go after the trevally. Mike seemed a bit overly confident to me. Yes, there were a ton a fish swirling around in a small space, but that didn’t mean they were going to go after your lure with all of the baitfish around! And, we never fish at night, so who knew how this was going to go. Liam jumped on Mike’s enthusiasm and even reported on the SSB net what he was up to that night. So, now the pressure was really on to catch some fish.

As soon as it got dark we flipped on the underwater lights and waited for the fish to arrive. It took a bit of patience, but soon the little baitfish showed up and the trevally followed. Mike cast his lure in the mix trying to con the fish into thinking he was just another baitfish. At first, there was no action. But, then Mike snagged the first trevally, and then another and another. Pretty quickly we had five nice fish in the bucket! It was a bit comedy to watch Mike pull the flailing fish up out of the water and Liam try to get it into the bucket. Those fish do not give up without a fight!

We don’t know whether it was the rain the started to come down or if the fish just had enough, but the fish action shut down after that. We had enough fish for each boat to get a couple of meals out of them, so everyone was pretty happy. I guess sometimes you just have to think out of the box to try and outsmart the fish!

We’re back to surfing, swimming and paddle boarding. It’s pretty nice to just stay put somewhere for a while. So, we think we’ll spend a couple more weeks here before heading back towards Moorea.

~katie

Something Special

There have been a few places we have anchored that just gave the feeling of something special. It’s hard to put your finger on what makes a place feel that way, perhaps it’s not the place at all – maybe it’s just the day or something else going on that is evoking that emotion. Whatever the cause, when we pulled into Baie Vairahi on Raiatea, I thought it was special.

We left Bora Bora after saying goodbye to many boats we had met over the last few months. Now is the time of year where boats that want to make it down to New Zealand before cyclone season need to leave French Polynesia and start heading west toward Tonga. We had a last, fancy dinner at the Bora Bora Yacht Club with a large group of people to say our goodbyes and headed out for Raiatea and Taha’a the next morning.

Raiatea and Taha’a are unique in that they are two islands inside the same lagoon fringed by reef all the way around. We stopped first at a couple of anchorages on Taha’a, did some snorkeling and got to see another pearl farm, where we actually got to see the grafting of the oysters and removal of the pearls (very cool!). But, we really wanted to head down to Vairahi on Raiatea where we heard that there was an awesome hike called Les Trois Cascades (The Three Waterfalls).

We pulled into Vairahi Bay and were the only cruising boat in the anchorage. Aside from some unoccupied, small local sailboats on moorings, we had the bay to ourselves. That might have been part of the allure of this secluded place. Or, perhaps it was the calmness of the water, or the misty clouds on top of the hills at sunset. Maybe it was the fragrant smell of flowers after a brief rain shower, or the the sounds of the birds at sunrise. I don’t know what it was, but I wanted to capture the feeling in a bottle and take it with me.

Vairahi Bay at dusk…

We set out to try and get some information about the Trois Cascades hike, as we really didn’t have a lot to go on. We wandered into a small hotel called Pension Les Trois Cascades, so we figured they must have some information based on their name. We met the French owner who told us that yes, we could do the hike on our own, but the trail wasn’t well marked and it might be hard to find. He recommended we hire a guide and gave us a name and number. The next day we joined our guide, Kiam, and a group of French tourists and set out for the waterfalls.

After our last hike in Bora Bora, any hike was likely to be a breeze, and we knew the hike would only be about three hours. The trail was obvious for parts of it, but other parts not so much. I could see easily losing the trail and missing the waterfalls (or having to backtrack a few times to find it.) The hike itself wasn’t too strenuous, but we did have to use ropes in several places to climb up a bit.

The terrain and vegetation were completely different than the Bora Bora hike. This hike was basically in a rainforest. We followed the river, and there were moss and ferns growing on every surface. Bamboo and the Polynesian Chessnut Tree dominated around us. We got to see waterfalls both big and small. We stopped at each one to marvel at the flowing water and soothing sounds. At the highest waterfall at the top, there was a pool you could swim in and cool off from the hot, humid hike.

The hike was nice, a bit relaxing after our last one, and the waterfalls were beautiful. But, I was just as happy back on our boat looking out over Vairahi in this little special place we had found.

~katie