New Society Island Anchorage

Huahine Nui. We are anchored off Fare, the main town of Huahini,.one of the Society Island group. This is a less "touristy" island and quite laid back with pretty white sand beaches, lots of coral reef and motus. It is a less dramatic island with regards to the landscape, though it is still very hilly and green. There are two islands, Huahine Nui – (the larger island) and Huahine Iti (the smaller one).

We left Papeete on Saturday morning around 0800 and went through the smaller, more treacherous pass closer to where we were moored. (Richard – this was the pass that had the big waves and surfers). We made it through quite easily – it sure looks worse than it was in reality. We had hoped to sail the whole way and kept hoping. We thought at first we were in the lee of the island of Tahiti, than we passed Moorea and thought that was blocking our wind...but the reality was there were very light winds (contrary to the weather predictions). So we motor sailed most of the 100 miles – bummer. We got in around 1100 on Sunday with a little "avoid the squalls" maneuver as we got close to the entrance pass. That was the best wind we had the entire trip. .We found a nice spot amongst the dozen sailboats, closer to the sandy beach in about 20 feet. It is a really good sandy bottom with just a few bommies around. The water is clear and lots of fish are around.

After a quiet day seeing a few friends also at anchor here, we called it an early night after the all night passage. On Monday morning, we went in to check out the village of Fare. It was a bustling place with everyone carrying their fresh baguettes. That is the thing here – starting around 0800 – everyone is seen carrying around the long loaves of fresh, French bread. There were a few nice fresh fruit and veggie stalls and a big grocery store. A few shops selling local goods, clothes and a small souvenir shop or two. The dinghy dock is a well maintained dock and people seem quite friendly. There is supposed to be a good snorkel spot nearby so we'll check that out – and we're having our friends Mike and Karen from Chapter Two over for dinner tonight.

We'll probably be here a few days. There is word that some big weather is coming – and this looks to be an okay place to sit it out. Or we may head down the island inside the reef and find another more remote anchorage.

Huahine, another idyllic island.