February 14, 2018

Captain James Cook named the group of islands in the South Pacific, the Society Islands on his first trip in 1769, supposedly in honor of the Royal Society, the sponsor of the first British scientific survey of the islands. However Cook himself stated in his journey that he called the islands Society, as they lay contiguous to one another.* The islands are legally and politically part of French Polynesia. The islands include: Motu One, Maupiti, Tupai, Bora Bora, Manuae, Tahaa, Raiatea, Maupihas, Macao, Moorea, Huahine, Tahiti, Tetiaroa, Maiao and Mehetia. All these islands encompass 610 square miles of ocean.  Compared to the Cooks that encompass 2,000,000 square miles.

We awoke to welcome little patches of blue sky. Our first thought was to grab a quick breakfast and head to one of the better known snorkeling areas on the other side of the island. The water over there was clearer and seemed to have less current.  Here’s a little Convict Fish, about 6″ long and everywhere we’ve been snorkeling on this trip.

It was a bit more current than expected, so we drift snorkeled down a line of coral that was fairly close in to shore. The water wasn’t brown from silt, but was full of debris from all the storms. Not terribly clear, but I was able to get a few pictures.

Good thing we took advantage of the weather break. Almost as soon as we got out of the water and got changed, it turned to rain again. Time to go home, relax and get ready for our Valentine’s Day dinner at Holy Steak House. Pete was salivating at the idea of a good steak.  On our way we stopped at the White House to shop for Sarongs.

We dressed in some of our nicest clothes, which isn’t saying much, and headed out to be picked up by the restaurant as arranged. We waited in the rain for 10 minutes, then I walked back to reception to call the restaurant again. They acted like they hadn’t ever heard of us and said they were sending someone right away. The restaurant is very close by, so we waited under a palapa roof for another 10 minutes. Meanwhile, Le Mayfair had sent someone for us on the comment that we might be back. They had even called reception to see if we were coming. After deciding that we may never see the driver from Holy Steak House, we ended up back at Le Mayflower where we had another wonderful meal. I had steamed shrimp in rice paper and a lemon tart. So full…..going to have to be very good tomorrow.

February 15, 2018

Wow….sun in my eyes this morning. Pete had been out swimming and told me I had to get my snorkeling gear and check out the coral in front of our hotel. Incredible fish everywhere. Don’t know why we bother driving halfway around the island to snorkel. We were supposed to be checked out by 10 am, so I was in the water by 8 am after getting most of the packing done. Incredible coral fish in less than 4′ of water. I just put my water sandals, mask and snorkel on and walked around sitting down or squatted down to see the fish.

Another little Yellow Box fish that was brave enough to leave the coral for a little way. Pete found him and let me know where he was hiding out. The fish below the Box fish is a Blenny, that is sitting up on his fins and pretending he wasn’t there.

This is my buddy that followed me everywhere, swimming between my legs, not sure if he was in it for the food I kicked up or he was just curious.
Our flight to Huahine was about 25 minutes. Huahine is a small very tropical island that is much less developed than the other islands we’ve visited so far. I’m thrilled to be off of the tourist trail.

Here is the main reception and dining room at the Royal Huahine.  We took a shuttle to a boat then traveled about 20 minutes by boat to this hotel that is tucked away in a private bay.