Anchorage at Motu Vaiorea, Huahini Ita

OK, I know I've said this before but... every anchorage keeps getting better. Each one we come to seems better than the last one. And so it goes for here. The sister islands of Huahini Hui and Huahini Ita are a sailors delight. Everything you've dreamed of is here.

Our anchorage is in crystal clear water 8 meters deep with the pounding surf on the outer reef just two hundred meters away. On the other side of us is a lush tropical jungle with white sand beaches and water so inviting to snorkel and dive in that you can stay the boat very long. The water temperature is 29.4c (85f) and, did I mention, it is crystal clear? The local people on the islands are so kind and nice to us. They came out to sell us some very fresh vanilla beans and gave us a number of young coconuts and some fresh banana too.

We discovered that the local fish love bananas so we bring some with us on each snorkel or dive and piece them out to float around the water. Clouds of reef fish come out to eat the bits and we are surrounded by a cloud of circling fish!

We visited the home of 'The Vanilla Man' who gave us a detailed walkthrough of process to hand germinate the vanilla plants into producing flowers that eventually turn into vanilla bean pods for the market. There is an enormous amount of time and effort to convince a vanilla plant to produce pods and once you learn of this process you can appreciate why they cost so much at the market.

There are also some nice hikes on the islands to take you to vistas that look out over the anchorage area and the contrast in colors from aquamarine to deep blue are amazing. Anyway, don't miss this place. It's the best so far and pure magic!!!