Saturday 26 August – Safely in Huahine

The wind was strong all night and we had some gusts into the 30 knots so just as well we took Baby Spice down. We averaged 5 knots of boat speed with just the jib up which brought us to the island Huahine perfectly as daylight arrived. It got exceptionally bouncy as we approached the island, I was on shift and my huge jug of water went over and then my cup of tea, it was a lot to mop up. Rowan let me go back to sleep as we had to motor a few miles into the wind before getting to the pass, he said I was so dead to the world he couldn’t wake me as we entered the pass and headed south inside the reef. It was only when it got narrow and shallow I was woken up to help navigate. What a surprise to find beautiful waters again, like in the Tuamotus. A stunning island covered in dense vegetation and with beautiful beaches.

Sunrise over Huahine

We headed to the bay Parea, right at the bottom and as far as you can go in the boat. There were a few squeaky bum moments crossing over shallow coral heads but it all worked out well. We spotted a mooring ball and planned to get it when we had the nasty feeling of our port engine going strange again. We had spotted the South African Cat Waterlust with their French friends, were two of the 6 boats anchored here. The French couple saw us and with their young baby came and helped us get onto the mooring ball, which was hugely appreciated as we thought the engines might cause trouble. We were hugely grateful to get securely on to the mooring, especially as the wind was howling gusts down the mountain sides. The setting is stunning and well worth all the effort.

For the map lovers – our route in through the pass and then a long wiggle south inside the reef

Morning light inside the reef

Rowan using his phone to help navigate our way down inside the reef

Big lagoons we hope to explore on our way back

Wild remote scenery

We had a settling cup of tea and when I went onto the sugar scoop at the back I noticed our dinghy rope dangling in the water, sure as nuts we had reversed over it and chewed it up, that is what caused the engine problem! Rowan dived down and got the offending bits of ope off the propellor and was happy to find our brass clip still attached. What a relief to know it wasn’t engine problems! Such a coincidence that it should be on the same engine again.

After a morning restorative nap we went into the small hotel and had lunch at their restaurant at a lovely beach. Amazingly the restaurant was full, as it feels so remote. We had a great raw fish lunch and then worked it off with a good beach walk.

PolePole safely moored in the bay

The hotel we had lunch at

The colour of the water is unbelievable

Our lovely restaurant setting under huge old trees

Walk along the beach

On the way back to PolePole we invited the The French and South African families to sunset drinks. The French couple were going out already but we had a great time with Graham and Alisha the South Africans on board Waterlust. Graham grew up in Pietermaritzburg and went to College the same school my brother went to, and my nephews Lovat and Pieter. We thought he may know Lovat but he is a couple of years older and does not remember the name. Alisha is actually English but grew up in Vancouver. She met Graham crewing which they did for a number of years together, they crewed for the Google founders which must have been interesting. They returned to Cape Town where they got married and had two kids Georgia and Angus who are both real characters and very sweet (8 and 6 years old). They have been sailing for 2 years, starting in Croatia where they bought their boat. They had the unfortunate experience of being struck by lightening in Shelter Bay marina in Panama just before crossing the canal. They were next door to the French couple who also got fried. It took 8 weeks for them to fix their boats and as they both had young kids they bonded and have been firm friends ever since. It was a fun evening listening to all their stories. The kids had a ball jumping on our much more bouncy trampoline!

Rowan and I were ready for bed early, we did not get a lot of sleep last night. Just very happy to be securely moored in these winds and having our engines working.