11/5/2019: Baie Apu, Ta'haa

Prior to moving on from Huahine we hired a car for the day to tour the island and it was absolutely beautiful ... lush, scenic, quiet, friendly, definitely somewhere to return to some day. A real getaway from it all sort of place. During the day we visited restored marae, art galleries, fed the blue-eyed sacred eels (big, slimy things they were too!) and helped paint a pareo (sarong) at a small studio.

After an enjoyable few days on Huahine we headed off for Ta'haa yesterday and anchored alongside a number of the boats competing in the Tahiti Pearl Regatta, an annual sailing regatta between various of the Society Islands. Ta'haa itself is enclosed within the same large reef as neighbouring Raiatea, the larger of the two. Ta'haa is famous for vanilla production as well as pearls and is probably the quietest of the islands in this chain. The lagoon makes for calm and easy sailing and the motu (coral islands) offer great snorkelling in clear waters. This morning we snorkelled off one such motu and marvelled at the colourful corals and variety of fish.