Huahine is quiet and impossibly beautiful …

It has a small population of about 6000, a tiny airport for domestic flights, a narrow and hazardous entrance to it’s harbour suitable only for small ships to anchor, and hence not many tourists.

We hired a little Fiat Panda (a bit slow up hills) and drove a good portion of the 80km of roads on the whole island. Beautiful road: best in French Polynesia, hardly a pothole.

What a feast for the eye, on a near perfect day.

At one stage Jan said it seemed like a landscape architect had come and planted out the whole island.

We have noticed that the Tahitians place great personal pride in keeping their environment tidy: tidy yards, well kept (even though not great quality) housing. Huahine is the best of the islands in this regard. The contrast with, say, Tonga is palpable.

Along the road sides were beautiful plantings, and everything looked like it had been whipper snipped the day before.

Sure enough, late in the day we passed a crew of about 10 men, big brushcutters roaring.

The beaches were pristine white. The colours in the lagoon just amazing.

And the views from several high vantage points were spectacular.

At one stop we were invited to look at the sacred eels … Hmmmm … a few hard to see eels in a concrete drain? … but the nearby street stall had FREE lady finger bananas for the taking … deeelicious!!

Just one little Polynesian hotel on the island which we found for lunch … (plus lots of pensions, of course!)

So anyone out there thinking of having a nervous breakdown? This is your place to recover!

Thumbs up to Huahine … our best stop in French Polynesia!

More from Huahine …

Our first stop around the island was a recommended snorkelling site. “Go to where the Sofitel Hotel was. Ignore the stop barrier. Just go past it and over to the beach. It’s great for a snorkel.”

Hmmmm … We arrive at the barrier. “DO NOT ENTER”. Nowhere to park. But, the only soul in sight (fiddling with his mobile phone under a tree) waved us through and pointed at the “beach” … reef shoes mandatory! The snokelling was average.

All that remains of the Sofitel is a rusty fire hose.

Everywhere the place was perfectly groomed. Along the road sides and down to the waterfront.

More views down into the bays.

This is not a river. Huahine is actually two islands joined by one little bridge. This is the channel between them.

As afternoon settles in …

… it’s time to take the car back to the little town of Fa’re

… and ride “le Truck” back to the ship.

Take one bare 10(?) tonne truck chassis. On top, mount a large wooden box. Top half of the sides open with drop down/pull up perspex sheets for windows (propped up when it rains, down for a/c when it doesn’t). Leave a hole in the side for a door. Low flat roof/ceiling to ensure steamlined low profile for racing. Wooden benches to sit on. Seat belts? … forget it!

Et voila. A perfectly satisfactory bus!

If you need a quiet Pacific Island holiday, come here!