July 9th: Day 12 Huahine Island
We anchored in a lovely lagoon, surrounded by a reef with dense rainforests rising right from the base of each mountain and covering the island. This was a very, very green island. Hit your ball into the rough here and you’ll never find it again— of course, since there are no golf courses here, no problem.
We rode on wooden benches in the back of a truck-bus across the island where we met up with Dr. Fillipenko and family on the narrow beach there. We also watched a canoe race. Lovely and peaceful. An hour later, we were back at the dock, then back to the boat for a quick lunch to go back to shore for our excursion— on another off-road vehicle.
This time, we were in the back of a padded, rather comfortable Jeep with family and family friends from Northern California. They were great fun— all Filipinos and Indians, all very smart. We went from a viewpoint at Belvedere to see the blue-eyed eels in a drainage creek, to the river where we saw ancient Tahitian fish traps, to another pearl shop—this time accessible by boat because it was in the middle of the lagoon. Though small, it was extremely educational. (Though this time, we had on our resistance shields!)
Lastly, we went to the vanilla plantation (otherwise known as the mosquito farm! Where we shared our insect spray with the rest of the party and avoided bites.)
Then back to the ship for so many activities that it was hard to stop in on all of them. There was the end of the enhancement lecture on coral reefs, the introductory lecture to Moorea for tomorrow, and the pool party and tattooing on the pool deck. I missed getting a (fake) tattoo but managed everything else. No wonder I yawned through another lovely dining experience!
