July 31, 2012
After a peaceful night’s sleep in this calm anchorage at the south end of Huahine, we pulled up our anchor and headed north, out of the bay. We hoped that heading north would be much less stressful as we could now follow the exact path we had taken down here using our chart plotter. Certainly retracing our steps would make it much easier.
It wasn’t easier at all! We headed over the same dark areas and coral, and it was just as unnerving as it was the first time. It didn’t help that the sky had become cloudy and the wind had picked up, making it hard to see into the water. Finally we made it back to the well-charted area, but that still involved some zig-zagging around coral heads. They were well-marked on the chart, but it was still nerve-wracking.
As we headed up, we could again enjoy the lush island, and the bright bands of blue and green water over the reef as waves pounded on the far edge. What made us uneasy now was the parade of squalls marching south between Huahine and Raiatea to the west. The sky was dramatic, with swirling gray, black and white cloud formations and long bands of falling rain. It looked like pictures I’ve seen in books labeled “weather phenomena.” We knew they weren’t coming our way, but seeing all that going on in the area we’d be crossing tomorrow made us nervous.
By the time we got back to our original anchorage, the winds had picked up to 15 to 20 knots and the sea was bouncy as we let out our anchor. Our guidebook specifically states: “This is not an all-weather anchorage!” They aren’t kidding. The holding isn’t that secure there, and the anchorage is close enough to the pass that the current comes in and sets boats sideways to the wind and swell. The problem is that there isn’t much choice of anchorages nearby. You can head down to an anchorage by the reef, but the area is narrow and too close to the reef for our comfort.
While we waited to see how the anchor held, there was no question that we would not be going into town that evening as planned. It was too rough to leave the boat. At this point, I was worried we might have to stay awake all night and keep anchor watch. Rich looked at the weather forecast and it predicted this little system would be over by midnight. A boat nearby pulled up his anchor and announced to us that this anchorage was really bad last night and he wasn’t going to suffer through another bad night here; he would go anchor by the reef. This made me appreciate Avea bay as we’d had a great night there. We thought about moving but decided to stay. The wind did die down by 10pm, and we ended up having a good night’s sleep.
With all the stress, there wasn’t much chance that Huahine would go down as a favorite spot. Rich wasn’t happy with the whole experience. I thought it had some very nice features, but if I had to do it again I’d stay put in our original anchorage and rent a car to see the island. Unfortunately, when one of our friends called us to see how we liked it (we were ahead of a few boats we knew and some would be making decisions based on what we told them), Rich told them he’d pass on it, but because of a bad radio connection was not able to go into the reasons why.
It would take some time to live down our reputation as the boat that didn’t like Huahine. There were people who loved it and couldn’t believe someone might not feel the same. With any cruising spot, it’s all a matter of personal taste, and what one person loves another might not like at all. When you talk about a place to someone behind you; it’s important to specify what you don’t like about the place, and (just as important) what you do.
-Cyndi
