We had finally slipped the lines and left Papeete for the last time.  It was an overnight sail to our destination, Huahine.

Though the weather wasn’t bad, the seas were confused and it was an uncomfortable passage, but that seems to be the norm for the Pacific Ocean.

The next morning we were treated to a great view of the solar eclipse. I have now seen 3 in my lifetime (at least I think the one I saw when I was 9 years old was a total solar eclipse, but it could have been partial???) which is amazing. Both Roger and I thought that having seen the last one in 1999, that would be the last we would be likely to see.

It was 08.20 and we were just off the coast of Huahine. We hadn’t spent the 200xpf’s on buying the special glasses to view it, instead, we both put our photo-chromic  glasses on, then a pair of sunglasses followed by another pair, it seemed to work ok as we still have our sight!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

A couple of hours later and we were sailing in through the pass to Huahine.

We anchored overnight in a nice little anchorage called Baie Haapu (pronounced Ha ah poo), which we had to ourselves. It was so quiet and peaceful and was such a welcome change from Papeete, this was more like it.

The next morning, we upped anchor and headed further south to Baie  A’vea. Now we were in the French Polynesia that you expect, turquoise blue water that is crystal clear, palm fringed, white SANDY beaches, ahhh paradise.

The afternoon was spent snorkelling over the reef. One of the great things about the bay is that there were so many places to snorkel. The current was quite strong though and it was tough on the old knees. But the rewards were worth it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We saw clams, the like of which we had never seen before. The clams themselves (not the shell) are the most exquisite colours, iridescent blues and greens. Simply amazing and they appeared to be growing out of the coral. Now, if you remember our underwater camera blew up on us in Fakarava. We reckon it was because we went too deep, so I figured that maybe the screen itself was the only part damaged. So we took the camera down with us. It’s quite tricky taking photos with no display, you have no idea if you have captured your target or not.

But I am very happy to say it worked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I  didn’t manage to get a photos of the pipe fish we saw, but the clams and the anemones make up for it.

I know these are small photos but there are so many I want to show you.

I have since been told (in quite gruesome detail) that these clams are edible, but I cannot imagine killing them, they are just

so beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were also hundreds if sea cucumbers. We haven’t seen numbers like this since we were in the San Blas. Most were small black one about 8inches long, but there were the occasional large ones.  They also had markings we had not seen before (this photo’s just for you Susan).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The anemones were so beautiful, especially when you catch a glimpse of their gorgeous pink inner skin. They appear to have several ‘mouths’, but up until now I had never seen them.