Opunohu Bay Moorea, and on to Huahine,16:43.0S, 151:02.3W

Serenity of Swanwick
Phil and Sarah Tadd
Tue 15 Aug 2017 17:30

We spent two nights at the head of Opunohu Bay, where there are a number of marked walking trails in the hills and woods above the Agricultural College.  After stopping at the café/shop in the college grounds for a for a glass of fresh pineapple juice, we followed a trail through the woods, past architectural remains up to a view point, before descending through pineapple fields.

 

Opunohu Bay

 

Serenity at anchor, with Henrietta in the background

 

Looking out of the bay

 

A Marae, traditional temple.

Marae Ahu-o-Mahine, at the back is the altar

 

The ring of hills around the bay is the rim of a sunken caldera. 

 

At the viewpoint, with Opunohu Bay to the left and Cooks Bay to the right.

 

 

The walk back down went through woods of Polynesian Chestnut trees

 

And fields of pineapples.

 

From Moorea it is just under 90 miles to Huahine, so in order to both leave and arrive in daylight we sailed overnight.  We left just before dark, and were anchored behind the reef, alongside ‘Bonnie’ and ‘Blue Lilly’ at 10.45 the next morning.  Huahine is less of a tourist destination than Tahiti, Moorea and Bora Bora, and the town of Fare is quiet, but has the advantage of stalls selling fresh fruit and vegetables, and a large and well stocked supermarket.

 

Approaching Huahine

 

The anchorage at Fare, Huahine

 

We had planned to hire bikes and cycle round the island yesterday, but it poured with rain, so plan B involved doing some repairs around the boat.  On our first day here it rained so hard we collected 50 litre of rain water for the tanks.

 

Today we expect to use a break in the weather to sail to Raiatea, 22 miles away.  We are getting towards the end of the season here, and there is still so much to see.