Hua means sex and hine means woman as in
vahine. Known as 'The Garden Island',
for its lush rainforests, it's a beautiful
and peaceful island. It is small, at 29 square
miles, and is made up of two mountainous
ranges of Huahine Nui (big) and Huahine lti
(small), connected by a small bridge. The
volcanic summit of Mt. Turi is 2,200 fee.
Our ship anchored between the two islands
in Maroe Bay. After lunch we set off on a
tour to experience the cultural highlights.
Our first stop was the single street main
village of Fare, where we saw the giant ginger
roots in their annual competition. We visited
a vanilla plantation and then onward to Maeva,
one of Polynesia’s most important archeological
sites. Passing the ancient fish traps, still
in use today, we arrived at a small stream
full of enormous
eels. These large, sacred (to the locals)
eels, range from three to
six feet in length and have translucent blue
eyes.
Thr tour concluded with a stop at the Belvedere
lookout for spectacular views over the bay.
Huahine is located 175 km North-West of Tahiti
within the Leeward lslands. The island is
covered with dense rain forest and large
trees. The 6,000 people live in 8 villages
with the main town being FARE. Polynesians
have lived on Huahine for some 2,000 years.
Captain Cook was the first European to visit
Huahine in 1769. He later returned taking
a young Polynesian named Omai to travel around
the world with him and live with him in his
homeland, England,
ln 1809, Protestant missionaries Tyerman
and Bennett undertook a one year tour round
the island writing one of the first journals
on the area. Starting from 1847 to 1888 Huahine
fought against French annexation but fell
after a long series of skirmishes and negotiations
to eventually fall to the French protectorate
in 1897.
Settled in the 1830's, this former whaling
port was established for those ships going
North and South during the months of May
and June. The village sits along the waterfront
with different general stores and some tourist
opportunities.
In times past, Huahine was a center for Polynesian
culture, with it now being one of the richest
in archeological sites. In the village of
Maeva there are close to thirty Maraes (ceremonial
temples) restored. lts Maraes and grounds
are one of the larger Marae complexes in
Polynesia.
In a river outside of Faie is home to some
very unusual residents – the sacred
Tahitian eels! The eels range in size from 3 to 6
feet long and are very interesting to look
at. They have fins along their side which
many people think are "ears" and
their eyes are a translucent cold blue colour.
They are believed to be found only on Tahiti,
Moorea and Huahine. The ancient legend says
that the first eel crawled across the mountains
from a pool in Arue, on the north coast of
Tahiti. Feeling lonely, the eel married a
beautiful maiden from Mataiea. After much
courting and splashing about the water, the
present day inhabitants supposedly descend
from this incongruous couple. Regardless
of who believes the mythology behind these
slithery yet graceful creatures the eels
today remain a tourism favourite and mainstay
on the island of Huahine. They are gentle,
harmless and are only interested in "sacred
mackerel" from "sacred cans"
that can be purchased at any "sacred
market" on the island.
