Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
26th July 2010
After 10+ months I gave in to the idea of laptop travelling. So I bought one in Auckland just a couple of days before I left. Waiting has been a bad idea since i ended up paying a much higher price than I would have in all my previous destinations. Nevermind!
I arrived in tahiti on the 26th July 2010 in the evening, around 21:00, having departed from Auckland on the 27th! It happened because we crossed the date change line above the pacific ocean. It feels sooooo weird I can assure you. The flight was smooth as always, leaving on time. I can barely remember the times of endless delays on the EUropean flights. I am getting spoilt!
The bad news are that it was the first place on my travel itinery I visited without ANY previous research, idea about cost, accommodation options and other travel necessities. To my peril. The tourist office was closed (not that a plane full of passengers had just arrived in their island complex, but more about french polynesian hospitality; or the lack of it! later). What to do? Buses were not running at that time to the centre and the taxi fare was prohitively high for my budget. I walked to the only hotel in the area, where again the room price was comparable to London! Luckily, I asked the receptionist if he knew a cheaper place in the area and to his merit he assisted me by giving me the name of a pension nearby.
Pension FIFI! Fifi is a middle aged obese polynesian woman suffering from severe lung problems so that she has to be 24/7 connectd to a machine. But the dorms she offers are clean and cheapish. Paid and offloaded my heavy rucksack and greeted the only other guest. David the Czech.
He seems a nice guy, it would be good to have some interesting company for a while. I am hungry so I start munching the chocolate i bought at the new zealand duty free. I exhange a few words of standard introduction with David and then I hit the bed, I feel exhausted and the time difference offers little help.
27 July 2010
It is the morning after, the sun shines (or so I hope) and I feel very tired. But my fellow friend has a different opinion! Wakey wakey Alex to go and explore the city. OK David, just give me a few minutes!
We take the bus to the centre. It is not a beautiful place. It feels poor and underdeveloped, despite being the capital of the region. There are over 160 islands in the FP and they are divided into the isles "below" and "under" the wind (for obvious reason!). We are trying to work out how to spend the next few days, where to go and what to do, only to realise that everything is fully booked up and expensive. After spending at least an hour or more on the public phone ringing around, we decide that we would leave for Moorea the next morning. This is the closest island, only 30mins away and has both good diving for me and trekking for David. On the spot I decide to shorten my stay on the island since I can sense it would blow my budget so I changed my flight and will leave 4 days before the original date. We go back quite early to catch the bus and go to the supermarket to buy some food for our dinner and next day's breakfast. This will become a routine in the days to come, since we need to save money!
We manage to catch the 9.15am catamaran to the island and then have a bus ride to the camping where we decided to stay, having established that the price is reasonable. I practice my french with the driver trying to confirm he (we also!) knows where we would like to be dropped off. Luckily it all worked out OK and here we are at the Nelson camping. We get a room the size of a matchbox, with one single fluorecent light and no plugs for more than 50euros. But we share it with "lovely and lively" neighbours, I will let you fill the gap here!
Action! What to do the following day. I inquire about diving, it looks promising, with a definite shark watching opportunity so even though 2 dives cost 100euros, I decide to go for it. David will rent a scooter and explore the island. Deal done.
28 July 2010
Tahiti and most of its islands are surrounded by reef. This acts like a natural wavebreaker hence you get the amazing phenomenon where there are high waves approaching the shore and yet only a splash reaches the beach. It also looks spectacular to see waves breaking far away from the beach, circling the shore. Have a look at my blog photos to see what I mean.
Today it's an early start, I have to be at the dive school at 8am. We get a dive pre briefing from the french-suisse instructor Graig and hop on the 200bhp engine aluminium motorboat. Hi class diving! The sea is rough and it's the first time I do a backwards water entry from the side of the boat. Successfully! Oh my god, how close are those sharks? And they look soooooooo peaceful swimming along gracefully. No threat felt whatsoever. I saw two types, the black tip and the lemon sharks. Again photos on my site. The most amazing thing for me though was when I saw numerous trigerfish. My nemesis in Koh Tao, where they often attack divers; only because many divers provoke them and poke them with sticks, here swim close to us without any sign of anger. Huraah. This shows yet again who is the worst predator on this planet. Correct answers will not be rewarded! I took my camera with me but unfortunately the photos from the first dive were not that good. I have some problems with my underwater housing. Luckily the second one was better. However, the worst thing was that I was partially blocked with a cold and dived which I knew it was not a good thing but I could not resist the temptation! So now my left ear is in agony as well; following the painful path of my right one which has been affected since Thailand.
<!-- @page { margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } -->
I forgot to mention before that the majority of the Tahitian people are obese, not just fat, but well tipping the scale. Of course you get the exceptions on both genders (usually on postcards!) but I was well and truly surprised. The queue at MC's was huge, that explains a lot.
30 July 2010
We decided to take it easy and rent a canoe for a few hours in order to visit some local places. We did and we were hopeless! Zero coordination and strong winds made our lives a misery.... However we managed to reach a bay where we snorkelled for some time and saw nice fish. We kind of explored the area, reached a beach where we sunbathed until they threw us out for being on a private land! Yeah, right! See ya...
The rest of the day was spent chatting to other people who were staying in the camping as well and cooking something easy and simple in the kitchen. Ah, and getting drunk on local beer. Easy times...
31 July 2010
Today we are going back to Papeete but it's Saturday so there is an early boat (out of the question!) and a later one at 13.30. So we have all morning to spend doing...nothing! After an hour of deep contemplation, I decided to go swimming. I am glad I did, since I saw a manta ray, it's huge! And 5 tahitian topless beauties partying on the beach (censored!) Damn, no photos of either, sorry!
We arrive at the port with plenty of time since I had misread the departure time! So time for a snack, an ice cream. I wished I had not eaten it. The sea was rough due to the winds and I had not know until then that I could get seasick. Apparently so... I leave the details out of this blog!
<!-- @page { margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } -->
Back in Papeete, we go back to our pansion and verified that the stuff we both left behind is still there... Relief! After this, we make our way to the supermarket to get some provisions. It has become a ritual since eating out at a restaurant is just not an option for budget's sake. An early night for both of us!
01 August 2010
Today is my last day in Tahiti and I have nothing planned for the day. It's Sunday though and as expected EVERYTHING is closed on the island! After breakfast and since there are not many sightseiing options we decide to hit the beach! We are in a tropical island after all.... Better though, we sneaked in the Intercontinental Resort private lake! Lush place, better when free! Swimming in a lake full of sea fish was a first for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Walking back towards the hostel, we realised that the supermarket was closed. I guess it's gonna have to be a sparce dinner with leftovers...
Tahiti was probably the only place on my travels that I did not lile. The people were not friendly, it was expensive and most definitely not a backpackers destination. The diving was nice though.
- comments