Huahine

Huahine has to be the incarnation of paradise, together with Maupiti the most beautiful of all the islands we visit, in my opinion. Which is a bit outrageous to say given how gorgeous all the islands are. Huahine’s name comes from the shape of its rolling hills, which look like a pregnant woman lying down (which you can see at the end of the Disney movie Moana, by the way), but also for its vanilla and its pearls. It is also full of blaring boom boxes, on the back of bicycles, at picnics, on the cliffs…. sometimes even two or three boomies in one group. The racket! The contrast with the calm azure around is striking… In any event, there are rolling green hills abound, luscious flowers everywhere and the island is so well upkept that it almost looks manicured. We stay in the simple but absolutely pristine pension Maherio where we meet several families. Our kids are over the moon – it’s been way too long since they got to hang out with someone their own age. And the same goes for us. The days in Huahine really mark me mostly for the random and beautiful encounters we made – upon arrival, Anjali, Nilay and I go for a walk to explore the nearby village. Strolling along with our 2 chilled coconuts a lady with a portable boom box stops to compliment Nilay on his cool hat, finding him very “Indiana Jones” which leads us to a conversation about how fun those movies were and a discussion about what age would be appropriate to let the little ones watch which leads us to a whole conversation about must see movies, then songs, then places etc etc. Her name is Fatima, a real global nomad and we end up spending the afternoon together, eating papaya, splashing on the beach and talking about Tours (turns out Thierry and she share a birthtown). Encounters like this happen daily here, and add to the “farniente” spirit of our stay on Huahine. The days pass swiftly between morning walks, snorkelling, hanging out with friends, touring the island and playing games. On that Sunday we get to meet Gérard and Jules, our skippers for our 3 week sailing expedition that is about to start. Jules prepared us a lovely chocolate-praliné cake and a delicious apple tart, so he just catapulted his status from cool to übercool. Gérard, our 71 year-old captain with a library of stories to tell from his numerous expeditions, careers and encounters, probably wonders how he managed to get himself into this, with three excited kids scrambling around his boat. The small bits and pieces of logistics sorted, we head back for our last night on land for a while. 

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