Thursday, March 16, 2017 – Snorkeling in Huahine (HUH)

Last night we both slept poorly, as Bill was coughing all night again.

We had breakfast at the pension, already in our bathing suits. We didn’t need to go to town, so we could spend the morning snorkeling.

Teps, our kind host at Pension Meherio, told us that if we walked up the beach to the right for about 10-15 minutes we would see where the lagoon would narrow down as the reef grew closer to the beach. He told us that at this place there were nice coral and fish to view and that the current would allow us to drift all the way back to the beach that is roughly in front of the pension.

In some parts, it was a little difficult to walk along the foreshore and it was quite hard with coral in our reef shoes. We ended up very close to the reef and the pass and we saw even more fish that we had not seen before while snorkeling. We chose to go along the outside of the masses of coral, more towards the reef, and at one point, near to the pass the current became so strong that it almost ripped April’s bathing suit off. We both struggled a little to get in closer to shore again. We loved it so much, we spent two hours snorkeling through the maze-like mounds of coral, heading back towards the beach. It was well worth it for the amount of coral and number of fish in this area, which is more than the area around the beach in front of the pension.

We clambered onto the shore to pick up our towels and beach bags just in time for lunch. We rushed back to the pension, eyeing the dark clouds gathering overhead. We arrived back just before a heavy tropical rain hit.

While Bill heated the leftover pizza from the night before, April attempted to do laundry in the machines at the pension which Teps had generously allowed her to use. The machines were, of course, not like ours in Canada, and were French, with many unfamiliar, mysterious names and symbols. While the first load of laundry marinated, we ate our leftover pizza and sweltered in the humidity.

We had a mid-afternoon shower, as we were hot and sweaty again. We then took at nap.

Dinner was later, around 7:30 p.m. at the pension. Teps had ordered dinner from a friend of his with a food truck. They delivered it to the pension, since there were so many of us that wanted to eat from there (two singles, two couples, plus Teps, his son, and his son’s friend). Dinner was grilled red tuna steaks in a delectable vanilla sauce (vanilla is grown on Huahine), plus rice.

For dessert, someone offered April peach yoghurt and April was also given cookie ice cream. Bill was not feeling very well and decided against having dessert.

We were relegated to the “Anglophone” table with two other guests, one an American, and the other a French professor who lives in America. Conversation was very interesting and we enjoyed our dinner at the pension very much, especially because we didn’t have to leave and find dinner in town.

At about 9:00 p.m. we went back to our room to go to bed, as we had booked an excursion for the next morning. 

Breakfast at Pension Meherio.

Miri Miri the cat at Pension Meherio.

Taro growing at the Pension Meherio.

Teps has a degree in agriculture and planted a beautiful garden around the Pension Meherio.

Tiare de Tahiti or Tahitian Gardenia. This fragrant flower is what is handed out frequently to tourists in leis. Locals sometimes put a single bloom behind their ear.