Huahine the Hard Way

After beers and conversation with Tooria and Laurance we returned to Brio at about 4pm and decided the time and the weather were right to depart for Huahine, about 80 nm away. We were soon underway, motoring out of the pass when we heard the now too familiar sound of a belt slipping. This was quickly followed by the engine’s high temperature alarm going off. A quick look revealed the salt water pump belt was broken and the pump had seized. Not wanting to destroy the engine through overheating we unfurled the genoa and shut the engine down. There was a very light breeze, barely enough for steerage, so Ivan paddled with a dinghy oar while Louise steered us between the marks of the reef. It was not the perfect getaway from an island! We made it out the pass and away from the reef, but we were in the island’s wind shadow and unable to clear it. We wallowed about 5 miles offshore with little or no steerage for the next 8 ½ hours. Others who had left around the same time as us were reporting 15kts of wind and travelling at 6-7 kts. Even the half-moon had left us just after midnight; it was frustrating to say the least. We finally reached wind at about 2.30am, set the monitor to hold our course and started to feel like we were making progress.

Having been at anchor or docked for the past 4 weeks or so, we were both suffering from seasickness and so were looking forward to arriving at Huahine as quickly as possible. The clock was against us as we sailed towards Huahine; the closer we got, the lower the sun was in the sky. We knew it would be foolhardy to risk entering the coral pass without an engine and in the gusty headwinds we would encounter as we turned into the pass. We discussed our options: see if the water pump could be freed up so we could run the engine and enter the pass before nightfall or bypass Huahine and sail on to Raitea, another 24nm on, meaning another night at sea and slowing right down so as not to arrive in the dark. We preferred the former of the two options and Ivan set about removing the water pump, soaking the partially disassembled pump in hot water and working the pulley to and fro to free it. It seemed to work and he re-assembled and installed the pump with a new belt, finishing about an hour before sunset. Not sure whether the repair would hold up, we gunned the engine and motorsailed towards the southern pass (Passe Avapeihi) that would take us to the small anchorage off the town of Fare. All went well; we entered the pass at sunset and dropped the anchor behind the reef on dark. Suddenly we were both starving hungry, so we heated up some leftovers and turned the lights out at about 7pm for a good night’s sleep.

Outrigger fisherman

Early the next morning we re-anchored much closer to the town so it was an easier row in to the dock. It was a good anchor spot in about 4m of clear water and no coral heads to worry about. We spent the day relaxing and doing some boat chores, ending it at the waterfront café’s happy hour with lots of other cruiser folk.



Forget about thegood looker with the bike...check out the colours of the water!

We rented bikes for the day to explore Huahine. The island is only about 15 km in length and made up of two parts joined by a bridge. As with the other Society Islands we have seen, the main road mostly hugs the edge of the island where it is flat, with only a few roads going into the very hilly interior. We figure we did about 60 or 70 km to get around the island, including a torturous 15% incline (which was very fun on the descent). We were fascinated by the ancient stone fish traps put across the inlet in one place. They are apparently still used today. We also saw some giant ‘sacred’ eels in a river posing as a drain. Not sure why they are sacred. Maybe something to do with them being across the road from the Seventh Day Adventist church!



Fish trap in idyllic surrounds