Huahine- Day 142 - 143 French Polynesia.
Nina
Steve and Lynda Cooke
Fri 3 Jun 2016 03:02
Huahine- Day 142 - 143 French Polynesia.
Huahine….. The Wild One at the Heart of the Leeward Islands
Huahine is not the biggest or most imposing of the Leeward Islands in French Polynesia, but we have been already captured by the friendliness and beauty of the place. It is the most Eastern of the Leeward islands, and the first of the next group of 5 island we will visit, finishing with Bora Bora, before we check out of French Polynesia.
It consists of two Islands, the northern one being the larger, with a narrow pass between the two, joined by a bridge and some 100 meters or so. Lush green volcanic hillsides, all surrounded by the usual coral reef. Turquoise water inside the spotless clean lagoon, with the usual surf and swell crashing over it surrounding it.
We have seen turtles and rays so far, and they report that whales even come into the lagoon to feed in the baby season of July.
Everyone is so friendly, and call 'Iarana' to you as you pass them.
We came into the North West corner, in front of the main town. The huge outside reef had a bank of some 2 to 5 meters deep, with a couple of foot of sand over flat coral. The chart said we may be too deep to manage it, but a bigger Jeanneau was just vacating a spot, so we snuck into his space.
Do Over was just behind us, and dropped close by. Great.
We found happy hour at the bar and restaurant next to the dinghy dock, called Huahine Yacht club. Happy hour 5.30 to 6.30 p.m. brilliant
The next morning we hired bikes with Do Over, and rode around the north side of Huahine Nui (the bigger northern island). Great sit-up-and beg bicycles, with front and back gears and front and rear suspension.
Yes kids, remembering Mum's famous riding escapades around Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas in Rio de Janeiro with Sam, I can report that her riding skills have been improved dramatically since!
We found the sacred blue eyed eels, and fed them with tinned mackerel. Huge things, but worryingly big mouths on them, so we were a bit careful.
We also rode past the ancient sites or Maera, where the Polynesians lived and died.
They really did used to eat each other, up to the arrival of the Europeans in the 19th century. The stone platforms were the bases for the various levels of hierarchy of society, and they believed that they captured and 'absorbed' the persons 'mana' if they ate them. Chiefs and elders from neighbouring tribes were particularly sought after. A quick smack on the kneecaps from the Big bommy-knocker clubs stopped them running off.
They could also volunteer to be a sacrifice for the rest of the village, and lived like a god for one year before the final ceremony, where their heart and delicacies were taken from them while they still lived!
As an interesting detail, they used to store the victims bodies under their houses after death, rubbed in coconut oil, to render them down in the sun and heat, until the sculls could be removed easily, and then put them on display at the holiest Maere platform of the village.
Fantastic to think that these wonderfully friendly people were eating each other, and also visitors, in their great great grandfathers time! No wonder they are so friendly now. Did I really see them licking their lips?