Polynesie | Leeward

Huahine orientation time, at the pension Meherio (means

This yummy fruit is known by different names in different places. In French Polynesia it is called pomme etoile (star apple).

The rain let up briefly, so we went to check out the beach

Huahine is called

This sandbar had crabs scurrying back and forth every time was passed through, which was often, as this is the way from the pension to the village center.

View from the beach at the Maitai hotel

Maitai hotel, next door to our pension. It

The pier at the Maitai hotel. Raiatea and Tahaa on the horizon

Dana with Raiatea

We went to check out the celebrated roulottes (food trucks). This one wasn

Back at the pension meherio. We were surprised to see a cactus thriving like this in the tropics

Reconstructed marae at lake Fauna Nui, Maeva

Our host Tepaiaha took us on a tour of the lakeside marae

As a boy Tepaiaha had helped with reconstruction of the lakeside marae, which mostly involved clearing away the bush from the temple areas. He remembers pulling rocks to find human skulls underneath.

The fish weirs at the mouth of lake Fauna Nui, centuries-old fish traps that are still in use today

Back on the beach for the evening light show

Sunset commute

And now for something completely different - crab chasing after dark. Isn

Tepaiaha shows off his tattoos - a surfer and a kayaker (with paddle)

Banyan tree on Matairea hill

Atop Matairea hill

We attended a church service, for the amazing singing. Check out the Sunday apparel. In the Protestant churches the service is all in Tahitian so we didn

Visiting a floating pearl farm

We stopped in a tiny village called Faie to check out the

Yep, they

View to Maroe bay

Our only sunny day on Huahine, and what a day it was!

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Huahine is actually two islands: Huahine Nui and Huahine Iti. This is the bridge that connects them

Jumping from the bridge is very popular. It was too big a jump for us, but for the locals that is what you do on a Sunday afternoon.

Jump! The prominent rock in the background is known as Te Moa o Hiro, meaning Hiro

Kayaking on the reef near Fare. Check out the PCB design of the paddle. It

From Huahine we flew to Raiatea. It was only a stopover on the way to Maupiti, but a stopover that lasted most of the day, so we rented a car and went on a six-hour

The island of Tahaa, view from Taputapuatea

More crabs to bother!

Dana really liked this little guy. The feeling was probably not mutual

Southern Raiatea was very lush, even in the dry season.

We took the left. Uturoa, pop. 3,800, is French Polynesia

Uturoa seafront. There wasn

Apooiti marina, where the rich yachties call

There wasn

That is one nice-looking island. Its proper name is

Still at Apooiti marina

Back at the airport, next stop - Maupiti