Cruise through French Polynesian Islands, with Paul Gauguin. Huahine to begin with.
Cruise through the indescribably beautiful archipelago of French Polynesian Islands, with Paul Gauguin. Sexy ‘Huahine’ to begin with.
The exceptionally enchanting and fabled French Polynesian Islands, situated in the heart of South Pacific Ocean, are beautiful enough to create mild tremor in the hearts of tourists.
These remarkable Islands are the product of relentless seismic activity happening over millions of years in this region. The episodic spouting Lava from within the earth’s crust has resulted in the creation of five amazing archipelagos of over 129 islands.
Post eight hour flight from LA and a short stopover at the picturesque ‘Intercontinental Hotel’, you board this massive centrally Air Conditioned luxury Ship stationed at Tahiti Port, the capital of French Polynesia.
No sooner you enter this expansive vessel and settle on a snow white sheet Queen Bed overlooking an exclusive attached Balcony on the 7th Deck of this 8 deck Vessel, you are in no doubt of being in an extensive pampering zone.
The Cabin or State Room, as it is called, is provided with 24 hour non chargeable room service, fully stocked refrigerator and attached bathroom with a full size bath tub. You feel like a VIP.
The 3 large dining restaurants on 5th, 6th & 8th Deck effectively cater to approx. 300 guests on-board with amazing élan. Dip in the Pool on the 8th Deck and enjoy the 5 star Spa & Gym on the 6th Deck.
With over 350 member crew, the Guest:Crew ratio is skewed in favor of the guests; mollycoddling is therefore inevitable. As the Majesty commences its 10 Night 11 Day journey cutting through clear azure waters of the Pacific in this southern hemisphere, eating, drinking and merry making begins to roll. The Cultural evenings on Deck 5 certainly adds to the luster. Also, you are free to select any planned excursions on each island, albeit at an extra cost.
After leaving Tahiti, its Huahine, where – Paul Gauguin takes its first halt. Huahine, incidentally is closest from where you begin and one among these intensely mesmerizing Islands.
Huahine
After cruising overnight, the first stop is near an Island called ‘Huahine’. It’s one of the seventy nine inhabited islands in French Polynesia. Hua (amusingly means Sex) & hine (Vahine – ‘Woman’ in Tahitian vocabulary) gives Huahine a nickname – “Sexy Woman”.
Out of a total population of 275 Thousand put together in all the islands, 200 Thousand stay in Tahiti and the rest distributed among the other 78 islands. 6400 inhabitants however stay on this Sexy Woman’s Land.
At Huahine, the excitement is ubiquitous as smiling guests assemble, at deck 5, to be ferried to the pier in the Ship’s tender boat. At the pier representatives holding placards guide you towards your selected excursion.
A local bus with wooden benches is there too to shuttle passengers between pier and the local town – “Fare”. Your booked Excursion is to being in the afternoon. So you decide to explore this town all by yourself.
“Fare” – is supposedly the main but nondescript town of Huahine. It has a row of stores with some restaurants, couple of ATM Machines, rest rooms and a Post Office on one side of the short road and a wharf and a handicraft shop on the other. A cursory look around but no “Sexy Woman” in the vicinity.. You take the shuttle back to the pier. Ha…Ha..
Once back at the pier, Joe, the Driver cum Guide prepares to take six of us on a four hour paid tour around the Island. Just a Mile into drive, Joe applies breaks. As you alight on a small bridge, Joe points towards Huahine’s supposed prominent mountain ridge. Interestingly, it resembled a silhouette of a pregnant woman. Joe nonetheless fails to tell who was responsible for this pregnancy. God ? Nature ?? Oh!!
It doesn’t matter…. Click, click and you proceed towards a small cute church that’s surrounded by few small but delightful houses. A few miles further ahead at a place called ‘Faie’, Joe stops. After which, he intriguingly runs and collects a can of Tuna flakes and then slips down into a small gorge nearby.
A shallow stream flows through this gorge and no sooner he begins to pour Tuna flakes into it, a bunch of eels come wriggling to enjoy their delicacy. Joe then draws your attention towards their eyes. Indeed! their alluring Blue & Green colored eyes looked incredibly beautiful.
Joe then helps all in clicking their pictures. Interestingly, these eels are sacred to the locals for their exceptional quality to keep the streams clean of filth. These eels often live for up to 30 years, however, for breading they leave this Sexy Woman’s Island and travel deep into the Pacific.
Joe then takes turn towards the Pearl Farm where harvesting of the famous Tahitian Black Pearls is in progress. After parking the car near the shore, a small motorboat ferries you right at the center of a water body, towards a House Boat like structure.
A beautiful young lady, you can call her Huahine (Sexy Woman), awaits your arrival. Following this she zealously explains how with judicious Human intervention super seductive pearls are created within an Oyster. She also demonstrates the way a nucleus is introduced and grafting is conducted on live Oysters, which then transform into fascinating pearls after some 18 months of Harvesting.
Half an hour of getting enlightened on Pearl harvesting, you return back to the shore. There you along with all others feed on some yummy Coconut water and then leave. You now proceed towards ‘Maeva’. Maeva. This is a major Cultural and Religious center and has an outdoor museum as well. Here one can see some 40 marae (temples), believed to be built by their ancient chiefs.
Surprisingly there are no Graveyards on this Island. All the deceased are buried within the premises of one’s own homes. All R.I.P. where they once played, produced and stayed. On a lighter vein, what if one of them got up one fine night to check up on his family …. Scary ???
Four hours pass fleetingly but the extolled temptress remains elusive. Ms. Huahine’s day off ?? Possible. Joe gets us back to the pier from where the Tender boat takes us back to the Ship. Drinks & Dinner awaits Guest as sailing to the next destinations commences – To the enchanting islands of “Tahaa” and “Bora Bora”.
Linda
Wonderful post and beautiful photos
Bhupender
Thankyou
Adi
Your blog is a great source of inspiration for further travel plans
Bhupender
Please go ahead.
Anonymous
Lovely and beautiful place .
Bhupender
Thankyou
Jagdev Singh Bhatty
Nice one
Bhupender
Thankyou
Subhash shukla
Great place.want to visit it.
tina
Huahine is definitely the place to go… thanks for sharing your experience
Bhupender
You are welcome !!
faye
Never heard about Huahine.. You are really adventurous . Definetly gonna put this on my bucket list. Thanks for sharing
Bhupender
The entire archipelago of 129 Islands is amazing, I am told. Though I visited just the few important ones. Do go there if possible.
NArinder
Wow! U must publish a book at some stage on Niche Tourism!
Bhupender
Maybe we both will sit together one day to begin this endeavour !!
Bhupender
Surely
Nitin saxena
Pics that narrate and story that relates – a bonding of the two that tempts one to read from beginning to end. Good job.
Bhupender
Thankyou. Your inspiration is of immense value. Infact it is invaluable. Thankyou very much.
Narinder
Wow! You must think of publishing a book on niche tourism!
Bhupender
Really ?? Ha ha…. May be sometime ….. Not thought of it at present.
Belu Singh
Great planning!Thanks for sharing your awesome experience.
Bhupender
You are most, most welcome Belu.
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You have described the island so well , even if we were there in this island we would not have felt d beauty of it. Hats off to you.
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