UNDERWAY27cruisingworld.comright, walking along the beach
as Paul showed off his home
island. He used a stick to
draw in the sand to show me
how the motus are formed
— the reef around a volcano
building up as the water level
rises and eventually becom-
ing sand around the volcano.
Over time, the ring is broken
into segments by the flowing
waters.
Then, it was charades time
as Paul told me about his life.
He stood on the beach and
raised his hand to shade his
eyes, looking out over the
ocean. He pantomimed spot-
ting a boat, and then running
to his outrigger and paddling
out to meet them.
As I am wont to do when
walking on a beach, I occa-
sionally stopped to look at or
pick up a shell. Paul caught on,
and as we walked, he found
me interesting shells: shiny
cowries, black-and-white
cone shells, even an opercu-
lum as big as my hand! When
I couldn’t hold any more sea-
shells, Paul found a coconut
shell to hold my souvenirs. Istopped to poke around the
tide pools and watch snake-
fish sea cucumbers filter the
sand for their food. Paul even
chased and caught a sand crab
for me to touch.
The end of the island has a
small tiki bar where the cruise
ships bring their guests for
an island experience. Luck-
ily, there was no cruise ship
in sight, and Paul and I had
the place to ourselves to look
out over the volcanic mass of
Huahine’s main island.
On the walk back along
the inside of the motu, Paul
pointed out his house and
the main house of the plan-
tation. He mimed gardening
and swept his hand over the
land surrounding the plan-
tation — I think he’s the
groundskeeper. As we walked
through the plantation, he
added to my keepsakes by
picking me more flowers,
plumeria and hibiscus.
Back on Starry Horizons, I
laid out my goodies, knowing Ihad to pare down the number
of shells I was keeping and
hunt through the flowers for
bugs. After picking out just a
few of my favorite shells, I put
the rest back and prepared
a gift for Paul of garden-
ing gloves and a T- shirt. I
stopped by Paul’s house with
my gift, and after a hug and a
wave, we were off to our next
destination.
Not only did we get a
wonderful experience with a
local, but this anchorage was
one of the most beautiful we
have seen in our 25,000 nau-
tical miles of sailing. While
a few boats came and went
around us for a few days, we
lucked out to have the clear
water and pristine sand all to
ourselves for one night.
David and I were loath to
move on, but the rest of the
Society Islands were calling.
We left Paul’s motu with the
memories of a kind man eager
to share his slice of paradise.
—Amy AltonThe author takes a break
from shell collecting to pose
for a photo with her new
friend, Paul (top), who gave
her a tour of his home island.