Tahiti

We had left the Tuamotus with heavy hearts but with Tahiti next on the itinerary, we couldn’t complain! The sail from Fakarava to Tahiti was a simple two night trip with no dramas. We arrived in Pape'ete early in the morning and made our way in to the new marina which was situated in the town centre. Our first Marina for months! It was quite some treat to be tied to a pontoon and have fresh water to clean the boat, fill our tanks and plug in to shore power to give the batteries a good charge. As ever - when arriving in a Marina after a long sail the first thing you want is a proper shower! We headed in and freshened up before wandering in to town for our first look about.

The town of Pape'ete was a little drab to be honest and not the first impression I was expecting from Tahiti. The people around town in contrast were extremely bright - friendly, laid back and typically Polynesian. The town had a mix of stores selling pearls and Polynesian carvings as well as an abundance of surf stores and fishing tackle stores. Damo and I were immediately attracted to the spear guns but common sense prevailed and we left the store empty handed…

With our outboard on it’s last legs we took it straight to the dealer and mechanic in town and Pete explained in his best French what problems we were having (to me it sounds as though we have a spanner rattling around in it…). With the engine finally with an expert we headed for a few beers and then took a walk along the sea front and through the park where the many Roulottes (food trucks) set up every night of the week and serve up Steak and chips, Chow Mein, Pizza, Crepes and various raw fish dishes. Despite the simple setting the Roulottes proved to be great quality and good tasting food (possibly the best pizza I’ve ever eaten) but as with everything else in French Polynesia - it wasn’t cheap. A burger from the back of a van at the side of the street costs around seven quid… It’s come as quite a shock after the Caribbean and South America!

One particular trip in the guide book had caught my eye and I had made the necessary calls and arranged a group excursion. We were going canyoning. For those that don't know - Canyoning involves hiking up mountains/hills and then making your way down one way or another - in this instance we would be rapelling... Not everyone in the group shared my enthusiasm for the trip but we all agreed to go and got on with it without hesitation or complaint. We were picked up early, loaded in to the back of a truck and driven in to the heart of the island. Our tour guide stopped off at a bend in the road, atop a hill to enable us to take in the spectacular view and tuck in to some fresh fruit. He entertained us with stories from his past and of the islands legends. We were advised that the local sailors hiked up Mount Orohena with a large calabash and when at the top opened up the calabash to capture the winds to use when on the seas! Back in the truck, the drive eventually came to a stop next to a small stream. We were each given wetsuits and harnesses and told to get in line and head in to the rain forest. To say we were off the beaten track would be an understatement. We were barely following a path and had to fight our way through trees and undergrowth to make our way to the head of the waterfalls. Once there the view across the valley was breathtaking. The view was quickly forgotten once we had seen the ropes which had been secured to the top of the waterfalls from which we would be rappelling… We have no idea how long they have been there and I wasn’t convinced they had been tested but we were clipped on, shuffled to the edge of the falls and told to lean back! One by one we made our way down, slipping and sliding as we went and trying not to look down! The day ended in the cold and fresh waters of the river back at the truck. We had survived and on the most part had thoroughly enjoyed it.

The only other active day we had took us to a dive centre within the Intercontinental Resort just down the coast from Pape'ete. After a number of very pleasant telephone conversations with a French lady at the centre Damo and I were booked in for a wreck dive to see the sunken sea plane “Catalina”. On arrival at the centre we met the French lady from the phone but the face to face experience was far from pleasant. Confusion reigned. The agreed discounts had gone out of the window and the word Catalina was causing much confusion with the dive master… Some words were exchanged in French and the dive master seemed to now understand. After drawn out discussions over the price with the manager we were shown on to a very busy dive boat and taken out to middle of the lagoon. Once in the water we dropped to just about 5m and headed off towards the wreck, sadly we’d been mislead. We were not diving on Catalina at all, we had taken a very shallow tourist dive on to a small two seater aircraft. Interesting to see but not what we had paid for. Other than the plane the dive was uninteresting, the bottom of the lagoon was barren and there was very little life to see. Our dive master did a great job of trying to keep us happy - playing with the sea cucumbers and the few shells and coral down there but it was far from the other dives we’d had in Fakarava and the Caribbean. A lesson learnt - I’ll certainly make sure I’m clear on what it is I want to see when I next go diving!

The following day we had to say goodbye to Pete as he was flying off to the states for an interview. Clodagh said her very teary goodbyes and put Pete in to a taxi to the airport. Damo and Clo spent the rest of the evening on board White Hawk with John and Lynette (an American couple we’d met in Takaroa)… Apparently many Margaritas were drunk and when I came up in the morning there was a very suspiciously shaped tequila bottle left in our cockpit! Neither of them have spoken much about that night and I don’t think I want to ask them what happened. Despite the hangovers, we were up at a good time and piling in to a hire car to drive down to Teahpoo as we’d been told about some very big surf coming in. We weren’t disappointed. On arrival we managed to pay for a ride in a fishing boat out to the surf and spent about an hour watching the pro surfers being towed in to the big waves by jet ski’s. We got some great pics and really enjoyed the spectacle. I was asking to move closer but Clo was quite adamant that we were already too close!

We had planned to move on the next day so we headed back to Pape'ete and bought some last minute essentials…Yes, spear guns were essential. Damo and I bit the bullet and invested. Bets have been placed on which one of us gets shot first… I’ve put my money on Damo getting a spear through the thigh ;)….Moorea is next!

Adam x