Travel with Indigo

Huahine , unusual among these islands, is split by a lagoon running across it on a more or less east-west axis. Near the west end is a small island within the lagoon. This geographic arrangement, aided by a salacious imagination, resembles vaguely an important part of the female anatomy (a shameless cad might say the only important part). The island’s name is the Tahitian slang term for that part. It’s Pussy Island. Who says Tahitians don’t have a sense of humor?

Upon entering the reef protected lagoon through Passe Farerea, the captain anchored  in the lee of Motu Murimahora. The motu is on one side of the lagoon directly astern and Huahine  off our bow on the other with craggy peaks reaching up 1,500 feet from the sea. From this base, we took the tender to a nearby coral reef within the lagoon and snorkeled over the reef drifting along with the current.

Then Pete, Chris and I took the tender on an extended ride around much of Huahine to the tiny village of Fare, where we did some shopping and sightseeing and general goofing off.  Next day the captain moved Indigo from the lagoon to just off shore of Fare. This provided Pete, Chris and I a wonderful opportunity to waste an evening at a fine beachfront tiki bar and restaurant. Its fish for that evening’s dining, two mahi-mahis, had just been bought fresh from a local fisherman a few hours before we sat down. I know because I tried to buy his catch for Indigo.

Huahine has a population, despite its alluring name, of just less than 6,000 people, engaged mostly in fishing, farming and a bit of tourism. It produces vanilla, watermelons and other melons.  The island’s gentle people lead a quiet, traditional way of life far from the drab hubbub of Papeete, and they live on one of the Society Islands’ most stunningly beautiful places. From its west shore, the nearby islands of Raiatea and Tahaa, our next destination, are easily seen.