The Perfect Beach
13 September 2010 | Huahine Island, French Polynesia
The Perfect Beach
How to describe the perfect beach?.......quiet, sheltered from the wind, wide, flat sand surface for playing volleyball, badminton and Frisbee, palm trees leaning out over the water, coconuts to crack open, star fruit tree laden with fruit, trails to explore through lush vegetation, clear, warm water, snorkeling over coral and fish, a little hut with a fire pit, perfectly spaced trees to hang a hammock and appeal enough to make you want to stay and relax!!
We found this beach!
After about 4 days anchored off the village of Fare, in Huahine, we wanted to find an anchorage with a beach. Phillip and Unilda, aboard 'Xtazy', told us they'd heard about a beach near the end of the island. We'd also heard other cruisers describe this beach as amazing.
We motored along the channel, between the island and reef, until we reached the very end of the marked channel. The amazing, large, half-moon circle beach we'd been told about was there, but it wasn't really what we had envisioned.
Beautiful it was, but it was not a beach to spend time on with the kids. There were houses all along it. They were small, local homes tucked in behind palms and lush greenery. No matter where we would land our dingy, we would feel like we were in someone's back yard.
We chose a spot where there wasn't a house and asked a man nearby, if it was OK to be on the beach. He said yes, but it just didn't feel right.
Liam built a sand castle and Maia and Liam did some sand sculpture. We played 'toss the coconut' in the water. This was a game of throwing huge green coconuts just in front of other players to see how big of a splash we could make and how wet we could make them. It was much more challenging than it sounds and that's because of the sea cucumbers! Sea cucumbers are long, soft, squishy creatures that feel slimy when stepped on. Picture 6 inch slugs underwater! They were all around us on the sandy bottom and we had to avoid stepping on them as we jumped away from the splashing coconuts!
The next morning, the 'Xtazy' crew and the Gromiteers left that anchorage in search of a beach Michael and the kids had discovered one day while on a dingy excursion. After about 15 minutes of motoring, we anchored in front of what looked like just a little strip of sand and a ramshackle building. Were we in for a surprise!
To get to the beach in the dingy, we wove through coral heads until we got into shallow water near shore. We turned off and tilted the engine and paddled the remaining 50 meters until the water shallowed to about 5-6 inches. We got out of the dingy and pull it along up onto the beach.
The beach was wide and flat in the centre and narrow along the ends. The wide area was perfect for playing Frisbee and badminton and also doing sand sculpture. The building was a simple shelter with benches and counters. There was a fire pit in front with a supply of wood. The whole area was well looked after by a very friendly Polynesian man who said he was the caretaker.
Unilda drew a huge hopscotch on the wide, flat area of the beach and we used a tiny coconut as a thrower to play the game. We played barefoot-in-the-sand soccer with 2 and then 3 players per side. There was some toe bruising, but no broken bones! Badminton worked fairly well when the wind was down but Frisbee was the best.
We explored the paths leading away from the beach and found the remnants of buildings and cascading swimming pools on the side of one of the hills. We found out later that this had been the site of a small luxury hotel which had been hit by a hurricane 4 or 5 years before. We could all imagine how amazing this place had been.
All worn out , we (the adults) retreated to hammocks, beach mats and chairs to read and snooze in order to rest up for the campfire. Zoe, Maia, Liam and Mishell, continued to play and explore. Maia and Michael went to collect star fruit, Zoe and Mishell collected flowers that had fallen on the beach and Liam went climbing coconuts trees, the monkey that he is!
We had brought in all we needed to cook our dinner on the campfire, so around mid-afternoon, the fire wood search began. Soon the fire was blazing and we were waiting to flatten the coals to begin cooking. We had hamburgers and coleslaw and Phillip and Unilda made pancakes. They were a huge hit! We hadn't thought of making pancakes on a fire. What a great, easy idea. We loved the idea so much, that the next night, we cooked pancakes.
On our second day at the 'Perfect Beach', our friends on s/v AKKA joined us for dinner, too. They had been passing by early in the afternoon to the other not-so-perfect beach, so we waved them in to anchor with us.
We copied Phillip and Unilda's pancake idea for our second dinner on the beach. It was fun, easy and the kids loved it. For dessert we made s'mores. Phillip and Unilda had marshmallows and we had graham crackers and chocolate. The kids were in their element, making s'mores for themselves and taking orders all around the campfire.
We had planned to go back to the village anchorage the next day, so that Michael could make some Skype phone calls regarding the boat's transmission. We then realized that it would be Sunday. It would be fruitless to call any business on a Sunday....... so........ another day at the perfect beach.
Picture album to follow.