Huahine consists of two main islands, Huahine Nui (“big
Huahine”) and Huahine Iti (“small Huahine”) surrounded by an atoll and many motus
(islets). It is quiet, agricultural (vanilla) and undeveloped with a population of only 6300.
I went diving with a little two-person shop run by
owner Annie Brunet and her assistant Didier. It was wonderful although a
little challenging. With few gaps in the atoll between the lagoon and the
ocean, tricky ever-changing currents result from the tidal ebb and flow. Joani
went snorkeling with the party crowd and saw much of the same things I caught
on my camera.
We saw lots of reef sharks like this Black Tip. There were also White Tips and a group of 30 Gray Reef Sharks that we watched for five minutes by holding onto rocks on the bottom so the currents didn’t move us somewhere else.
Huahine is known for its Blue-tipped White Anemone, pictured above and below with an Orangefin Anemonefish.
Similar to anemonefish and clownfish, damsel fish also play and hide in and around the anemone. Below are some Three Spot Damsel Fish and some little yellow Nemo Fish.
We saw Titan Triggerfish everywhere; they think they own the lagoon. Maybe they do.
Annie carefully picked up a Conch to show us.
And last but not least, we saw a brightly colored Butterfly Fish
Diving in French Polynesia continues to be amazing. Although I never got into bird watching and learning to identify different species, tropical fish are a different story. We never get tired seeing them. Joani is snorkeling twice tomorrow and I have another two-tank dive: more of the same in Rangiroa.
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