Society Islands, French Polynesia

One of the dive destinations which had been on my to-do list for a long time was French Polynesia. I had heard many good stories from a guy I dived with in Egypt and had put it my list of "someday...'s". When I saw a cheap flight advertised from Auckland to Tahiti I snapped it up without even thinking about it. The plan was to spend a few days in the Society Islands before heading to the Tuamotus for diving. It's not a long journey to French Polynesia from New Zealand although it really is far from anything. I had a great flight which started with a long chat to a Tahitian man of about my age. He gave me some insight into the culture and way of life and explained a bit about the different islands. We also swapped some travel stories. His best story was of a near death experience that he had in Auckland. He was nearly killed while sitting in a restaurant on Queen Street. A car came through the window, missing him by about a foot. The latter part of the journey was spent alternating between dozing and watching Where the Wild Things Are. I both loved and was scared by the book as a child so I couldn't resist checking out the movie. By the time I got to my pension it was 3 AM Papeete time (1 AM in NZ) and I was totally exhausted. I'd only had about 3 1/2 hours of sleep the previous night but oddly I couldn't sleep! I got maybe 2 hours of sleep before my alarm woke me up. The one cup of coffee provided with my included breakfast was nowhere near enough to shake the cobwebs.

Fortunately I didn't have to do much to start my day other than walk 100 metres and hop on a tour bus. I figured the best and easiest way to see the island of Tahiti was to do what they call a circle tour. I had booked a full day trip, but it ended up being closer to a half day tour as we skipped the Gaugain museum since his paintings had been temporarily removed. We also skipped lunch. Instead we stopped to check out the black sand beaches (created from volcanic ash like those in west Auckland), a lighthouse built by Robert Louis Stevenson's father, a gorgeous waterfall, a blowhole and a grotto. Since we finished the tour at about 2 PM and I didn't have to catch the ferry to Moorea until 5:45, I asked to be dropped at the market as I had heard it was a must-do in Papeete. The main floor is the fruit/veg/fish market for the locals and upstairs is mostly souvenirs for tourists. I spent ages looking at all the stuff and debating whether to buy anything. Eventually, after watching a guy in a wheelchair busy at work engraving mother of pearl, I ended up buying a necklace he had made. It was a shark with a black pearl, a perfect representation of this trip.

After the shopping and a bite to eat came the hard part. I had fully expected to be dropped off back at the pension after the tour so I hadn't brought a map. I vaguely knew where the pension was and oriented myself based on the ocean and the mountain. Fortunately I stumbled across an internet cafe in my wandering and since I still had lots of time until the ferry I popped in for a bit. Along with checking my e-mail and facebook, I looked up the pension and found a map on their website. Sweet! Nonetheless, in order for a map to be of any use, you have to know where you are. That was proving very difficult as very few roads actually had any signs. Sticking to my original navigation strategy, I used the mountain to guide me and I set off in what I hoped was the right direction. When I got to the next major road I asked someone which road it was and it was the one I thought it was. I was on the right track! From there I used my crudely drawn map and instinct to get me back to the pension. After picking up my bag I headed down to the ferry terminal. After buying my ticket I thought it was about time to try a Tahitian beer, a Hinano, at the snack (simple restaurant/cafe) by the ferry quay.

After the ferry, I hopped onto one of the waiting buses which meet the ferries. It was full of locals except for a handful of guys, one of who was obviously from South Africa based on his accent, and a few from somewhere in Europe but I wasn't sure where. I heard them mention that they were staying at the same place as I was and it sounded like at least one of them had been there before so I started to ask them some questions about Moorea. It turns out that they were yachties (yacht workers). The other three guys were Swedish. When we got to the pension at about 8 PM, the reception was closed. Some others that worked on the yacht had already arrived and one of them rang the pension number so someone would come to check us all in. Of course I ended up waiting for all 9 of them to check in first! By the time that all happened it was getting late and I was hungry. I basically dumped my stuff in my room, grabbed my handbag and started to head out to find some dinner.

As I was leaving, I had to pass by the dorms where the yachties were staying. They were all sprawled out on the grass with bottles of gin, vodka and wine. I was invited to join them for a drink and then go out to eat with them. Little did I know what I was getting myself into when I accepted! After a couple drinks most of us headed to a nearby caravan (common on roadsides and provide quick basic meals) and ordered some food. Meanwhile the drinks flowed and I met more of the group which included some Kiwis and English. The remaining few decided to wander a bit farther to eat at a nearby bar so they could stock up on some more bottles. The party then moved to the beach in front of our pension and was kicked off by the boys wrestling on the beach, an event I was only too happy to watch! Some splashing around in the ocean, several tequila shots, and then a few boys decided to climb a tree. For two of them it ended up being like a couple of cats stuck up a tree as they went up easily enough but then realised how high they were and had a heck of a time getting down because they were freaked out. It didn't seem to me that we were that loud, but at some point, what must have been the husband of the woman who had checked us in, came out shouting at us about the noise. This more or less shut the party down as we all headed to bed soon after.

I awoke at 7 AM to a whole lot of banging and shouting. When I got up and headed to the toilets, I saw a few of the yachties who told me that they were being tossed out and that they had been told the police were on the way. I watched them dash out of there and told them I would probably see them later on at the beach. When I went to pay for my room the woman told me that none of them were allowed back at the pension. She obviously knew that I had been hanging out with them, especially since one of them came to return a key and talked to me while I was paying my bill, but she did not kick me out. This was good, since unlike the yachties, I was planning on staying 2 nights. I ran into a few of them over breakfast at a nearby restaurant and after arranging a rental car for the following day I headed to Hotel Les Tipaniers where I met up with them.

It was going to be a relaxing beach day. Well, relaxing and swimming with sharks and stingrays. I watched some of the boys kitesurf for a bit, then I decided I was ready for some action myself. Nobody else was quite ready for snorkeling yet, so I geared up and headed out myself. It was maybe a 15 minute snorkel out to where the sharks and rays gather in chest deep water. I totally lucked out as when I got there as a boat with a couple people on it had just arrived and put a whole bucket of chum in the water. This brought in tons of blacktip reef sharks along with the stingrays. After awhile, when the numbers had dwindled, I started to swim back. Unfortunately as soon as I got back into the deeper water I realised just how strong the surface current was that had helped me to get there. I've never experienced anything like it before and it was really hard going. I certainly felt like I deserved the beer when I got back, even if it was only 11:30 AM.

A lazy couple of hours followed with lots of chatter and some lunch. One of the girls and I made a brief attempt to lie on the beach but it was like a sandstorm and was not worth the sand in your teeth. After eating, most of the yachties and I went back out to see the sharks and rays. A couple of the guys snorkeled, but after my earlier experience I opted to join the rest who were renting kayaks. We brought a bit of fish with us, and whether it was that, the larger group size, or the smaller number of sharks which were around, the stingrays were crazy! In the morning they had been content to just swim around. Now they were coming up to us and touching us, looking for food. It freaked us all out. One of the guys even jumped back onto his kayak. We were all screaming. Eventually I got a bit used to it and was able to touch them. You had no choice really as you quite often had to push them off of you. A few sharks swam around, but nowhere near the number that I had seen earlier. As we paddled back, Duvall and I were struggling to keep the kayak straight. Every stroke pretty much turned us backwards. The kayak was so full of water that I was practically submerged in the back seat. It was probably the worst bit of paddling I've ever done, but also the most amusing, and we got back eventually. The 2 girls apparently ended up going in circles for awhile and we started to wonder if they were ever coming back. Another beer on the deck of Les Tipaniers and it was time to say goodbye. The yachties had to catch a ferry back to Papeete as they had to work the next day.

I had seen enough sun for one day so I made my way back to my pension with a few stops along the way for some souvenirs and postcards. By the time I got back to the pension I was ready for another swim and then I sat on my terrace and watched the sun go down. It was not as spectacular as I had hoped as I had read that the sunsets from that beach were fabulous, but perhaps there were too many low clouds. A shower and pizza capped off the night. Finally, after three nights of 3-4 hours of sleep (packing, traveling, partying), I got a solid 9 hours!

The next morning I picked up a baguette and jam and my rental car - a Fiat of course! I drove back to the pension to grab my bag and check out. Then it was road trip time. There was just one small problem. I couldn't get the car to go in reverse! After several attempts to get it in gear and looking all over for some kind of magic button that would allow it to go in reverse, I finally asked a guy who was packing up his tent. He was French, surely if there were any tricks to French cars, he would know. Sure enough, there was a bit on the gearshift that you had to pull up in order to shift into reverse. Doh! I should have thought of that, but it didn't even cross my mind. Finally I hit the road. Where I had stayed was on the northwest corner of the island and the airport is in the northeast so I decided to first head most if the way across the north part of the island to see the beautiful Opohunu and Cook's Bays. With dramatic mountain peaks as a backdrop and the varied blue shades of the lagoon, the area is stunning. No wonder Captain Cook thought it worth stopping! I headed inland from Cook's Bay to check out the ruins of several marae. I also headed up to Belevedere Lookout which offers amazing views of the mountain peaks and both bays.

After descending through the Opohunu Valley with its pineapple plantations, I began to head back toward the west side of the island, making a stop at the unofficial information centre to ask about what to do on the remainder of my journey around the island. The woman, actually an artist who makes and sells black pearl jewelery, offers advice simply because there is no official tourist info centre. She suggested a snack to eat at and a good beach for swimming. She wasn't sure of how to get to the start of the trail to the waterfall I had thought of going to, but she figured that there wouldn't be much water in it anyway as it very much depended on rainfall. After a bite to eat, I continued my counter-clockwise journey, stopping every so often to take a photo or just to admire the scenery. I tried to find the waterfall trail, but could see no sign and there wasn't anybody around to ask so I decided my time would be best spent enjoying the beach. I continued on towards the Sofitel resort as there is a nice public beach just past it. The lady had told me that the access road was just after you came down from a hill after the resort. She didn't mention the amazing view from the top of the hill. Wow! You could see the over-water bungalows of the Sofitel atop the fantastically blue lagoon and the island of Tahiti as well. After a few photos I carried on to the beach where I spent a couple hours alternating between swimming and reading. Then it was time to head to the airport.

I was supposed to fill the car up with petrol, but the service station next to the airport was closed. When I got to the airport there was no sign of the man from Europcar who was supposed to meet me there so I went to the counter to check in. They asked me if I wanted to catch an earlier flight which was leaving in 5 minutes. Since I had a tight timeframe for catching the next flight (15 minutes), I said yes. I left the key for the rental car with the woman at the counter and headed out onto the tarmac to board. After a short 7 minute flight I was back in Papeete. The only problem? I didn't know where I was! I was at a tiny airport that wasn't familiar. It took a very lengthy and confusing conversation with the lady at the counter to work out that the airport I had expected to land at (and needed to catch my next flight at) was just next door. I had thought I might have had to catch a taxi or something. Even so, 15 minutes might not have been enough time to get my bag, walk to the next building and check in again. I suppose it is enough if you are on island time!