A Tahiti Tour

Our four week stay in Papeete, Tahiti was coming to a close and I can't say we weren't glad of it. As
mentioned in the last post the marina facilities were being torn down. Unfortunately, we were berthed very close to the construction site. Jackhammers, tile saws, cranes and earth moving equipment, along with their associated noise and dirt and dust clouds, were the order of the day, every day but
Sunday, starting at six a.m. The heat and humidity was oppressive, the sun beat down from a cloudless sky and there was  little wind to moderate the temperature, usually around 34C, dropping to the high twenties overnight. We were both suffering a severe case of 'heat lethargy'. I don't know if this a real medical condition (?) if not, it should be, it felt very real to us, doing anything at all felt like just way too much effort! We're hoping we'll acclimatize.

Papeete, despite our marina problems, is a vibrant, interesting place and we had managed to walk
around most of it (after dark, or, before seven a.m. when the heat was bearable). It seemed a bit behind the times, in a good way. The big activity for the many teenagers was doing bicycle 'wheelies' down the promenade while carrying very large, very loud 'boom boxes'. For boys, their dark hair was often streaked with a blonde Mohawk stripe which seemed at odds with the wearing of brightly coloured soccer knee socks, a different colour on each leg. It was an interesting look. There were excellent restaurants, in all price ranges. For locals the Sunday market, starting at 4 a.m. was a big event in their week, if the crowds were anything to go by. The freshest of fish, fruit and vegetables were on offer.

Despite Papeete's charms, here we were on the mythical island of Tahiti and we'd barely been out of the city.  We were very curious about the rest of the island and couldn't leave without seeing more of it.

Tahiti isn't a big island, only about 120km around and you don't need much more than a day for a complete tour. We could have rented a car, or, even rode the local bus, but, the temptation of a guided
tour in an air-conditioned vehicle was just too good to pass up. We booked on an eight hour group tour with Yota. On the day, it turned out we were the only clients and so got a private tour for the price of a group tour ticket, a nice bonus. Yota was a bit of a 'ham', but, a very nice young man from Japan. He's lived in Tahiti twelve years, he came for the surfing and never left. He took his guiding duties very seriously and obviously had put much time and effort into learning about Polynesian history.

Yota made the point, on numerous occasions, that even though Captain Cook always gets the credit
for the first European exploration of the South Pacific, he wasn't actually the first. The first in Tahiti was Samuel Wallis, another Englishman, the second was Bouganville, a Frenchman. Cook was actually the third explorer to visit. There was already a monument to Cook and recently, a Bouganville monument was also erected. The gorgeous Bouganvillea plant, that we all know and love, was named for him as he brought the first sample back to France.

We stopped for lunch which, unusually, was mediocre. Yota had wanted to take us to a nicer place right on the beach, but, when asked if there was anything we didn't want to eat, we said raw fish. Unfortunately, raw fish was the good restaurant's specialty and thus was out. We found that in most restaurants here, about half the menu is devoted to raw food: sashimi, tuna, carpaccio etc. and the local specialty is poisson cru, raw fish marinated in lemon juice and coconut milk.

 The tour was low-key and to be honest, there wasn't that much spectacular to see, however, it was a very enjoyable day out and we're glad we made the effort.