After 24 h of sailing from Papeete we arrive on Huahine, the closest of the “isles sous le vent” de Tahiti. The next day we explore the wild, lush island of Huahine, well equipped with an umbrella to protect Sabine and the children from the intense sun. Like on all other Polynesian islands we see many beautiful flowers. A tourist attraction we don’t miss are the blue eyed eels living in a small river. Occasionally we see houses in a traditional style with solar panels solar panels on the roof – a good example of how to use the abundance of solar power here in the South Pacific. We also pay a visit by boat to a pearl farm where they produce the famous black pearls of Polynesia (they also come in other colours, manly different shades of dark grey and green, but not white).
On the motus (small islands in the lagoon) many agricultural products such as melons need good soil, which is traditionally transported there from the main island. After a short time the soil is not fertile enough any more and until recently it was deposited somewhere on the motu, often posing a hazard for the environment (e.g. for the lagoon). A project called www.rurac.gov.pf “projet d