We raised Huahini island about dawn after an overnight passage from Moorea and it was beautiful with deep valleys covered in verdant green jungle. This is one of the less populated islands and a little off the beaten tourist track, so we were eager to get anchored inside the reef and start exploring. Our first anchorage was 15 ft of crystal clear water on a sand shelf on the reef side, but opposite the town of Fare. Most of the lagoons in the Society Islands are quite deep and fringed by shallow reefs, so anchoring can be a challenge. Once settled at anchor, we jumped in the dinghy to explore the town of Fare (means: home). This is a quaint little town centered around their waterfront quay. We arrived on Saturday and the main event was outrigger canoe races and a public jam session (music) on main street – so the excitement was running high! Considerable talent was demonstrated in both events. We also arranged to rent bicycles the following day for a tour around the north side of the island. Although usually closed Sunday, the bike guy agreed to meet us at 8:00 and 4:00 for the bikes, which worked out since he was taking his kid fishing between then. The bike ride was great! We road about 20 km on flat, paved roads all the way around to Fae on the east side of the island. Along the way we saw one of the largest Marae complexes in Polynesia. The Marae are stone platforms used like churches in the Polynesian religion. They are sacred and unique to each tribe. They even move them when relocating and destroy each other’s Marae in war. What makes the Marae complex of Huahini special is that the head chief told each tribe to build their Marae grouped together in this one place, which then promoted harmony between the tribes of Huahini. Of course, they continued the tradition of human sacrifice, but that’s another story. Other interesting archeological structures that we saw on our ride were ancient stone fish traps built in the river, which the locals are still using to this day (pics in the gallery). Eventually, we got to Fae where we bought a can of mackerel to feed the sacred blue-eyed eels. These eels were easily a meter in length and quite plentiful, soon we had a squirming mess going after the mackerel. There’s nothing like a swarming ball of giant sacred eels to whet the appetite, so we headed down to the bay to rest our tired bums and lunch on cheese, salami and baquettes. Although the ride back went quickly, we were on the back side of our energy curves and dog tired. Since we were early, we chained up the bikes and headed for the boat, but the bike guy was watching for us and came roaring up in his boat to ask where his bikes were… Once we settled up with him we went back to the boat for an early night and the next day headed down the lagoon to Baie Avea – one of the nicest anchorages in Polynesia!