When I awoke this morning, it took only a split second to register that I was in some place exotic. There was an impressive cacophony of tropical birds that I have never heard. They wound up well before sunrise. Then there was the rustle of the palms in the warm South Pacific breeze along with the crashing of the surf a couple hundred metres from our room. Not a quiet beginning to the day, but idililic nonetheless. Yup, we’re not in Canada any more.
Our journey last night to Papeete, Tahiti was, once again gratefully uneventful. After a short layover in Los Angeles, our eight hour fifteen minute flight aboard Air Tahiti Nui was one of the smoothest we’ve ever been on, with, I have to add, the most attractive flight attendants garbed in Tahitian dresses with real flowers in their hair. In fact, all passengers were very quickly given their own small white flowers to wear behind their ears.
Unfortunately we landed at 10:00 p.m., so didn’t get a very good look at our new surroundings. We had arranged for the hotel to meet us, so after being bestowed with a lei of tropical flowers - Dawn’s was much prettier than mine - we took a fifteen minute drive to get to Le Meridien Tahiti.
Thanks to spectacular grounds lighting, we were immediately impressed and went for a drink in the bar. Our room didn’t disappoint either with its balcony view of the gardens and ocean, not to mention its spaciousness and well appointed bathroom with double sinks, shower and tub.
We started off our stay in Tahiti with actually no plans. Maybe we’d take a tour around the island. Maybe we’d rent a car and do it ourselves. Maybe we’d just walk a lot. Time would tell.
Since there are six hours difference between Tahiti and home, both of us - me in particular - were up way too early this morning. By the time we’d dressed and snacked it was 9:00 as we picked up a rental car for the day. I guess we decided not to walk. Actually our driver last night was saying that a cruise ship was expected in on Tuesday, so there’d be a lot more tourists milling about and generally cluttering paradise.
Our rental was a micro Hyundai Eon that, if you pedaled hard enough, made it up the steeper hills. Just like being in France, the rental companies want everyone to know that there are idiot tourists in their cars, so ours not only had the rental company sticker on it but also an orange dot - screaming “Beware Tourist” - on both front and rear bumpers.
It was suggested by our concierge that we tour Papeete first since late day traffic gets a little congested, so off we went on a clockwise circuit of the island.
Papeete was already congested by the way and parking was at a premium but we found a spot and explored the market and surroundings. The produce and greens were very unrecognizable and even the bananas were funky looking. The big consumer ticket here are the pearls, mostly dark in colour. But we escaped the first day with next to no tourist treasures.
It was late morning as we continued our drive around the island. It’s important to note that there are zero roads going through the interior, due to the extreme volcanic topography and lush rainforest.
So, we drove the periphery of about 120 kilometres with some photo stops along the way in around two and one half hours. On this route we passed several beaches where rookie surfers were making a valiant attempt to stay on their boards.
Our last stop was at a Carrefour for some wine, water and snacks. All of the French chains we’re familiar with are found here, including Geant, Super U, Champion and Casino. It ‘s certainly cheaper to buy our wine this way, but having said that, we’re finding prices here in the neighbourhood of 30-50% higher than at home, which I’m pretty sure is related to the remoteness of this locale.
So far, we have learned a few things about Tahiti. First, the native Tahitians are starting to grow the American physique - not sure why and I’m glad we didn’t have to sit beside any of them on the flight. Second, there are stray dogs roaming everywhere. Third, chickens really do cross the road - EVERYWHERE!
At Carrefour we discovered how the Polynesian ladies - and men too - keep the flowers behind their ears. It’s called plastic with a nice flexible ear wire.
After driving up into the hills to get a better view of the location of our hotel - and since the car wouldn’t deal with any gear other than 1st, Dawn was told to pedal harder on more than one occasion - we made a last stop at - you guessed it - another Carrefour, gassed up the rental car and headed for the hotel pool. Did I mention it was HOT?
I figured this was a great time to see how my GoPro would deal with underwater photography, so along with towels, I collected mask and fins from the pool boy and off I went. The hotel’s entry to the ocean is a particularly pretty one since ten tiki-hut guest rooms sit right off the shore.
As I headed out to snorkel in this area, I asked a fellow returning what there was to see. He mentioned he’d seen a white eel to which I responded, “Cool, I’ve got my GoPro.” So, off I go, camera running, when suddenly I see these 2 to 3 metre snakes lying on the bottom - first singly, then in groups, then in a lot of groups. The water is not too deep here, so my first reaction is not to disturb them. There were hundreds of them. They were chomping on greenery and I was hoping that’s where the chomping would end. I was actually having an Indiana Jones moment - “Snakes, why did it have to be snakes?”
Returning to the shore I commented to the guy that told me about the eel, “Hey, is there some reason you neglected to tell me about the snakes”, to which his female companion told me they were not snakes and not to worry about them. Had I just been scammed? Sorry, no pictures here, since I took only video - you’ll have to see the movie.
Dawn & I then moved to the pool - it’s got a sand bottom by the way and no snakes. There don’t appear to be many guests here at the moment so we pretty much had the run of the place.
Before long the sun was setting and I have to tell you that this is a highlight of the day. If you’ve ever noticed, the majority of pictures you see of French Polynesia are sunset shots and there is a good reason for this. I hope my picture does it justice.
We finished day one - or two, if you count arriving a 10:00 p.m. as day 1 - with a fabulous meal at the hotel’s beach restaurant called Le Carre - named after John, do you suppose? We knew this would likely be another of those wallet emptying episodes, but hey, we sat outside in the evening tropical heat, watched crabs dancing on the sand, listened to a lot of crazy birds and had a fabulous meal.
Our wine choice tonight was a 2008 Vacqueras, to remind us how important the “French” in Polynesia is. I had a starter of Thai soup, which Dawn sampled. Then Dawn had a Polynesian Bouillabaisse with Mahi Mahi, shrimp and langoustine while I stayed true to my past and had a “Culinary voyage of Duck.” Mine had a confit of duck, smoked duck, grilled foie gras and roasted duck served with creme brulee. Yeh, it was terrible. NOT!!! Finally Dawn had a Polynesian - that means pineapple and other tropical fruits - caramel meringue which I obligingly shared. Just as a point of reference, this meal was a tad under 20000 Polynesian Francs. I’ll let anyone who cares do the translation. Did I mention that we’ve found PARADISE?
Our journey last night to Papeete, Tahiti was, once again gratefully uneventful. After a short layover in Los Angeles, our eight hour fifteen minute flight aboard Air Tahiti Nui was one of the smoothest we’ve ever been on, with, I have to add, the most attractive flight attendants garbed in Tahitian dresses with real flowers in their hair. In fact, all passengers were very quickly given their own small white flowers to wear behind their ears.
We started off our stay in Tahiti with actually no plans. Maybe we’d take a tour around the island. Maybe we’d rent a car and do it ourselves. Maybe we’d just walk a lot. Time would tell.
Since there are six hours difference between Tahiti and home, both of us - me in particular - were up way too early this morning. By the time we’d dressed and snacked it was 9:00 as we picked up a rental car for the day. I guess we decided not to walk. Actually our driver last night was saying that a cruise ship was expected in on Tuesday, so there’d be a lot more tourists milling about and generally cluttering paradise.
Our rental was a micro Hyundai Eon that, if you pedaled hard enough, made it up the steeper hills. Just like being in France, the rental companies want everyone to know that there are idiot tourists in their cars, so ours not only had the rental company sticker on it but also an orange dot - screaming “Beware Tourist” - on both front and rear bumpers.
It was suggested by our concierge that we tour Papeete first since late day traffic gets a little congested, so off we went on a clockwise circuit of the island.
Papeete was already congested by the way and parking was at a premium but we found a spot and explored the market and surroundings. The produce and greens were very unrecognizable and even the bananas were funky looking. The big consumer ticket here are the pearls, mostly dark in colour. But we escaped the first day with next to no tourist treasures.
It was late morning as we continued our drive around the island. It’s important to note that there are zero roads going through the interior, due to the extreme volcanic topography and lush rainforest.
So, we drove the periphery of about 120 kilometres with some photo stops along the way in around two and one half hours. On this route we passed several beaches where rookie surfers were making a valiant attempt to stay on their boards.
Our last stop was at a Carrefour for some wine, water and snacks. All of the French chains we’re familiar with are found here, including Geant, Super U, Champion and Casino. It ‘s certainly cheaper to buy our wine this way, but having said that, we’re finding prices here in the neighbourhood of 30-50% higher than at home, which I’m pretty sure is related to the remoteness of this locale.
So far, we have learned a few things about Tahiti. First, the native Tahitians are starting to grow the American physique - not sure why and I’m glad we didn’t have to sit beside any of them on the flight. Second, there are stray dogs roaming everywhere. Third, chickens really do cross the road - EVERYWHERE!
At Carrefour we discovered how the Polynesian ladies - and men too - keep the flowers behind their ears. It’s called plastic with a nice flexible ear wire.
After driving up into the hills to get a better view of the location of our hotel - and since the car wouldn’t deal with any gear other than 1st, Dawn was told to pedal harder on more than one occasion - we made a last stop at - you guessed it - another Carrefour, gassed up the rental car and headed for the hotel pool. Did I mention it was HOT?
I figured this was a great time to see how my GoPro would deal with underwater photography, so along with towels, I collected mask and fins from the pool boy and off I went. The hotel’s entry to the ocean is a particularly pretty one since ten tiki-hut guest rooms sit right off the shore.
As I headed out to snorkel in this area, I asked a fellow returning what there was to see. He mentioned he’d seen a white eel to which I responded, “Cool, I’ve got my GoPro.” So, off I go, camera running, when suddenly I see these 2 to 3 metre snakes lying on the bottom - first singly, then in groups, then in a lot of groups. The water is not too deep here, so my first reaction is not to disturb them. There were hundreds of them. They were chomping on greenery and I was hoping that’s where the chomping would end. I was actually having an Indiana Jones moment - “Snakes, why did it have to be snakes?”
Returning to the shore I commented to the guy that told me about the eel, “Hey, is there some reason you neglected to tell me about the snakes”, to which his female companion told me they were not snakes and not to worry about them. Had I just been scammed? Sorry, no pictures here, since I took only video - you’ll have to see the movie.
Dawn & I then moved to the pool - it’s got a sand bottom by the way and no snakes. There don’t appear to be many guests here at the moment so we pretty much had the run of the place.
Before long the sun was setting and I have to tell you that this is a highlight of the day. If you’ve ever noticed, the majority of pictures you see of French Polynesia are sunset shots and there is a good reason for this. I hope my picture does it justice.
We finished day one - or two, if you count arriving a 10:00 p.m. as day 1 - with a fabulous meal at the hotel’s beach restaurant called Le Carre - named after John, do you suppose? We knew this would likely be another of those wallet emptying episodes, but hey, we sat outside in the evening tropical heat, watched crabs dancing on the sand, listened to a lot of crazy birds and had a fabulous meal.
Our wine choice tonight was a 2008 Vacqueras, to remind us how important the “French” in Polynesia is. I had a starter of Thai soup, which Dawn sampled. Then Dawn had a Polynesian Bouillabaisse with Mahi Mahi, shrimp and langoustine while I stayed true to my past and had a “Culinary voyage of Duck.” Mine had a confit of duck, smoked duck, grilled foie gras and roasted duck served with creme brulee. Yeh, it was terrible. NOT!!! Finally Dawn had a Polynesian - that means pineapple and other tropical fruits - caramel meringue which I obligingly shared. Just as a point of reference, this meal was a tad under 20000 Polynesian Francs. I’ll let anyone who cares do the translation. Did I mention that we’ve found PARADISE?
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