Hotel Le Mahana Restaurant & Bar

The hotel has 33 Polynesian-style bungalows and a coral garden that you can reach from its pontoon. It invites passing sailors to drop anchor in front of the beach, tie the dinghy to its otherwise private dock and come up to the restaurant and bar. It also sells ice, takes orders for baguettes the day before, offers laundry and can supply water.

The chef and his team cook modern island food, with menus that follow the market and the day’s catch, and lobster and crab when they are in season. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are all served. At the bar, which stays open through the day, come for the sunset happy hour and a local cocktail, or an iced coconut in the afternoon.

Avea Bay has two anchoring areas, north and south, with room for five and ten yachts for up to 48 hours. Land by dinghy on the beach or at the hotel’s pier. To take on water, pick up the mooring buoy in front of the pier, which is not for berthing, and run the hotel’s hose out to the boat by dinghy. The hotel also accepts sorted rubbish.

Every Thursday evening there is dinner with a dance show, so book ahead that night. The restaurant line is answered at reception, and the reservations office keeps office hours. The excursion desk can arrange island tours, and a few handicraft shops and seafront snack bars stand nearby along the bay.