Haamene Bay

Haamene Bay is one of Conni's favorites, and long has been.  In the past, a few young men had made a habit of boarding visiting boats and stealing anything available.  Either they matured or the citizens convinced them to change their ways because they're open to visitors again.  Why does Conni like it so much?  It's lush, verdant tropical scenery at its finest.

This is a typical home in Haamene, with no doors or windows.

Lovely Conni walks in "downtown" Haamene, dry bag in hand.

This is the baguette bag from which the scores of fresh baguettes are delivered to the local store.  Masks are required.

This verdant growth thrives over sheer lava!  The wall that you see here is lava, cooled of course.

Wings seen from Haamene. 

Conni is toting our daily bread as we stroll along the Haamene shore.

This taken from a similar location but aimed at the walkway.  In Mexico, this would be a malecon.  The local school with its odd roofline is at right and at the end of the bay is the best restaurant in town.

This shows the Taha'a MaiTai restaurant with the two palm trees in front.  Look at this scenery!

This local was grabbing these mangoes.  I asked permission for the photo and she gave me the "thumbs up."

After filling a bucket with mangoes, our friend walked along this road through this scenery.

Conni, still dragging our baguette along, walks along a small short cut.

 

The shortcut leads to this interesting walkway across a small bay.

Bill gets into the picture here.  I'm hauling our other groceries and, as you can see, always wear a long-sleeved shirt and hat.  One melanoma is enough! 

And here's the walkway and the other side.  It's typical Haamene beauty.

From the walkway, we sot a photo of Wings, hanging on the one and only mooring.  She's in the middle, of course.

This is a closer look through those two palms at the beautiful hillside.

This is nice view back along the concrete walkway.

The large-leaved plant is taro, a staple here. Behind is a banana tree with fruit hanging.

This is also a view of Wings, just in front of the Taha'a MaiTai restuarant.

And this is vanilla cultivation.  Taha'a is the "Vanilla Island" of the country, and they have many small family-run operations.

This is another of the small, family-operated vanilla operations. Here we can see the trellis-works and open walks used for everything from weeding to hand-fertilizing the plants.

Lovely Conni walks along a beautiful roadside. 

This is one of my favorite photos of Haamene.  This small stream arises in the high mountains behind and sedately strolls to the bay.

Conni peruses the menu at Taha'a MaiTai. 

As an appetizer, Conni and I split poisson cru, the national dish of raw tuna in coconut milk and other crispy vegetables.

Taha'a MaiTai is known for their Mahimahi in vanilla sauce, one of Conni's favorites.  It was served with rice and a potato/vegetable gratin.  Her Taha'a Dream cocktail is at right.

My meal was a spicy pork with the same gratin.  Both meals were beautifully prepared.  My pork dish was redolent with allspice, a bit of clove, cardamon, ginger, and a few others.  It was very rich!

For dessert, we had their version of a creme puff:  almost a banana split with the creme puff pastry in the bottom.  Conni's smile tells the story!

This is the inside of the Hibiscus, a truly legendary restaurant.  Leo, the builder, owner, and manager, is an old friend, now, and wasn't doing well on our last visit.  We learned that he's doing OK. 

This is Conni sitting at the Hibiscus bar...where else?  They've got good free Wifi, too.

The Hibiscus has several moorings out front and one may use them if dining.  Wings, at her mooring, in front of the Hibiscus.

We were both somewhat starved or Internet, as Conni's concentration shows here.

These lovely chairs sit out front and we've enjoyed them when the sun has been down.  A cool cocktail, lovely scenery, and things are at least temporarily OK.

This is the full patio.  The view is toward the head of Haamene Bay.

Yes, Wings again, on her mooring and awaiting her crew to return.

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