Today, I’ll try to fill in the gaps left by yesterday’s post.
I mentioned that we drove up into the hills above the hotel for a better look at our location, but I neglected a picture. So, the photo below shows the various buildings making up Le Meridien, with our room facing the ocean on the 5th floor of the main building, that one being the one showing the huge triangular opening to the lobby.
On our circuit of the island we noted very little agriculture and what we saw was in greenhouses. All habitation is very close to the coast, of course, as is the main highway, so you can’t really tell what’s going on behind homes and up into the hills unless you get on to someone’s property. In most places there is no room for anything but dwellings since the hills rise up so dramatically and close to the shore. This shot of Papeete shows some homes in the hills and that is true close to us as well, but this is not the norm around the island.
We’ve discovered that the great view we have from our room is actually of the neighbouring island of Moorea - apparently famous for their pineapples - which is a short distance off the north shore of Tahiti.
Also, Tahiti is shaped like a bloated number 8, with the large northern section known as “Nui” for big and the smaller section called “Iti” for, you guessed it, little. Iti has no road surrounding it, since it is largely dominated by Mt. Rooniu, its volcano. The centre of Tahiti Nui has three volcanoes, The Diademe, Mt. Orohena and Mt. Aorai. We hope they’re all extinct. The photo is of Iti’s Mt. Rooniu.
The main entrance to Le Meridien is adorned by numerous wood carvings of Tahitian Gods (?), I guess. This fellow appears to be the God of fertility. Dawn’s pretty sure that the penis is an add-on by some Tahitian hopeful.
As Tuesday morning began, we noticed a man climbing a cocoanut tree - actually the tree in Le Carre restaurant in which we ate last evening. Today it appeared was cocoanut harvest day. I guess it’s somewhat important to pick these things before they start boinking guests on the head.
The plan today was to hang out at the hotel and environs, so after a nice breakfast thanks to yesterday’s shopping expedition, we walked to the shopping area next to the hotel. There wasn’t much to buy, but we did get some beer and more goodies for tomorrow’s breakfast.
We also thought that we’d better get some photos of the variety of flowers blooming, so we headed back to the hotel grounds and became photo-botanists.
Then it was time to head down to the pool/ocean. Undaunted by yesterday’s interesting snorkeling outing, away I went again to capture some still pictures of the mighty beasts. In talking to our pool attendant, Jeremy, I discovered that the “snakes” are indeed NOT snakes and are bottom feeders with no mouths. They sure look like snakes! They are called something like “sangsu”, for which he didn’t know a translation, but they are greatly appreciated for cleaning up their environment. Each time I’ve collected my snorkel gear Jeremy has warned me about the current that runs along the beach and which I discovered that if you decide to just float, could pretty quickly send you to Papeete which is about 15 km away.
The sangsu disappear once the water deepens and the coral begins. The next 30 minutes of snorkeling provided me with what I believe is one of the most amazing experiences in my life. The variety of tropical fish, many brightly coloured and neon was astounding. At one point I swam into a school of around a thousand bright yellow fish. I followed them as long as I could, swimming between the coral reefs. Once again I only have video to prove this. It turns out that the GoPro does a much better job of video than still pics, which for something its size still blows my mind.
All of my snorkeling took place along one side of the picturesque tiki huts, which, along with the beach, provide many excellent photo ops.
There is a coral barrier about 200 metres off shore surrounding Tahiti where you see the constant breaking of truly impressive waves. I also need to mention that the ocean feels as warm as the air and in comparison, the hotel’s sand bottomed pool is notably cooler.
As lunch approached and we’d been lounging by the pool for a while, we decided to try a Tahitian cocktail specialty, the Mai Tai, which as it turns out is more Polynesian than Tahitian. We were just about finished our drinks when the tropics unleashed a rain storm. So, we retreated to our room to watch the rain for the next hour or so after which time, the sun came out and it was as hot as ever. No one ever seems to talk about the temperature here because it’s always the same and even though they are beginning autumn, it’s pretty clear that they have one season - HOT! The two photos below, show the ornamental pool beneath our room in the sun and rain.
The rest of the day was uneventful and we opted for a less opulent dinner in the dining room beneath the ornamental pool.
On our circuit of the island we noted very little agriculture and what we saw was in greenhouses. All habitation is very close to the coast, of course, as is the main highway, so you can’t really tell what’s going on behind homes and up into the hills unless you get on to someone’s property. In most places there is no room for anything but dwellings since the hills rise up so dramatically and close to the shore. This shot of Papeete shows some homes in the hills and that is true close to us as well, but this is not the norm around the island.
We’ve discovered that the great view we have from our room is actually of the neighbouring island of Moorea - apparently famous for their pineapples - which is a short distance off the north shore of Tahiti.
Also, Tahiti is shaped like a bloated number 8, with the large northern section known as “Nui” for big and the smaller section called “Iti” for, you guessed it, little. Iti has no road surrounding it, since it is largely dominated by Mt. Rooniu, its volcano. The centre of Tahiti Nui has three volcanoes, The Diademe, Mt. Orohena and Mt. Aorai. We hope they’re all extinct. The photo is of Iti’s Mt. Rooniu.
The main entrance to Le Meridien is adorned by numerous wood carvings of Tahitian Gods (?), I guess. This fellow appears to be the God of fertility. Dawn’s pretty sure that the penis is an add-on by some Tahitian hopeful.
As Tuesday morning began, we noticed a man climbing a cocoanut tree - actually the tree in Le Carre restaurant in which we ate last evening. Today it appeared was cocoanut harvest day. I guess it’s somewhat important to pick these things before they start boinking guests on the head.
The plan today was to hang out at the hotel and environs, so after a nice breakfast thanks to yesterday’s shopping expedition, we walked to the shopping area next to the hotel. There wasn’t much to buy, but we did get some beer and more goodies for tomorrow’s breakfast.
We also thought that we’d better get some photos of the variety of flowers blooming, so we headed back to the hotel grounds and became photo-botanists.
Then it was time to head down to the pool/ocean. Undaunted by yesterday’s interesting snorkeling outing, away I went again to capture some still pictures of the mighty beasts. In talking to our pool attendant, Jeremy, I discovered that the “snakes” are indeed NOT snakes and are bottom feeders with no mouths. They sure look like snakes! They are called something like “sangsu”, for which he didn’t know a translation, but they are greatly appreciated for cleaning up their environment. Each time I’ve collected my snorkel gear Jeremy has warned me about the current that runs along the beach and which I discovered that if you decide to just float, could pretty quickly send you to Papeete which is about 15 km away.
The sangsu disappear once the water deepens and the coral begins. The next 30 minutes of snorkeling provided me with what I believe is one of the most amazing experiences in my life. The variety of tropical fish, many brightly coloured and neon was astounding. At one point I swam into a school of around a thousand bright yellow fish. I followed them as long as I could, swimming between the coral reefs. Once again I only have video to prove this. It turns out that the GoPro does a much better job of video than still pics, which for something its size still blows my mind.
All of my snorkeling took place along one side of the picturesque tiki huts, which, along with the beach, provide many excellent photo ops.
There is a coral barrier about 200 metres off shore surrounding Tahiti where you see the constant breaking of truly impressive waves. I also need to mention that the ocean feels as warm as the air and in comparison, the hotel’s sand bottomed pool is notably cooler.
As lunch approached and we’d been lounging by the pool for a while, we decided to try a Tahitian cocktail specialty, the Mai Tai, which as it turns out is more Polynesian than Tahitian. We were just about finished our drinks when the tropics unleashed a rain storm. So, we retreated to our room to watch the rain for the next hour or so after which time, the sun came out and it was as hot as ever. No one ever seems to talk about the temperature here because it’s always the same and even though they are beginning autumn, it’s pretty clear that they have one season - HOT! The two photos below, show the ornamental pool beneath our room in the sun and rain.
The rest of the day was uneventful and we opted for a less opulent dinner in the dining room beneath the ornamental pool.
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