On August 1st, We had a brisk daysail from Huahine to Raiatea and Tahaa, two islands that share the same barrier reef. We entered Iriru pass in the late afternoon and spent a night in the deep, steep-sided bay called Faaroa. The guidebooks all tout this bay for having the only ‘navigable’ river in French Polynesia, so we piled into the dinghy to explore it the next day. We probably made it a mile or so upriver, winding between banks overgrown with bananas, breadfruit and hibiscus trees. There were a lot of fruit plantations along the way, and one friendly farmer about our age took a break from brush-sawing the growth around his banana trees and waved us ashore. He gave us virtually a boatload of fruit and a tour of the farm along the river flats, which he rents from the community, though he owns the adjoining land on slightly higher ground.
A highlight of the tour was the papaya-tree shimmying – Mike and Donald climbed about 20 feet up for the fruit. Our host was an ex-military, long-distance cross-country runner named (I think) Andre. He told us that he was happy to give produce away since without a truck, it is hard for him to get all his fruit to market before it gets overripe. Very kind!
As the four of us loaded into our nine-foot dinghy, laden with fruit, he also told us that our boat is too small!