If you look at a map of Tahiti it’s sort of dumbbell shaped with Tahiti Nui in the north and Tahiti Iti in the south. Soon after Maya left we headed down to Teahupoo in the SW corner of Tahiti Iti to watch the Tahiti leg of the Billabong Pro Surf Championship. We anchored in a little key hole bay in front of the village, about a kilometre from the pass where all the surfing action was taking place. Unfortunately the swell was disappointing and the massive overhanging waves of water for which “Chopes” is famous did not really materialise. The competition started on schedule but after two days the waves died and they had to wait a week before there was enough surf to continue.

The weather was mostly overcast but we made the most of the days when it wasn’t raining. The road ends at Teahupoo so any further exploration is done on foot, bike or boat. Tahiti Iti is a pretty wild place with craggy mountains shrouded in mist carved up by steep forested valleys that look totally impenetrable. One day we took the dingy about 7km further down the coast to look for the Vaipoiri Cave. After several dead ends and inquiries with bemused locals we found the path and had a soggy walk through the dripping green jungle.

The cave was quite large and filled with water so, after a hot walk, we stripped off and leapt in. It was amazing swimming in the cool water in the pitch blackness, a bit spooky actually. You can imagine my horror when we heard a cough . . . and then another, and then voices. I was in the water completely naked and three guys were climbing down into the entrance to the cave. Then they decided to go for a swim! Definitely one of my more embarrassing moments!!!

We left Teahupoo before the end of the competition as the weather that was bringing the swell would also trap us in and we had to get back to Pape’ete. We needed to pick up Neil’s carte du sejour and we had also found out that, in order to arrive in Hawaii by boat, we needed to get a US visa. Unfortunately this required a trip back to Auckland to attend an interview at the US Consulate. This was a bit of a blow but we had no choice so we made arrangements to fly a couple of weeks later.

As we had a few weeks of hanging around we took a tour of Tahiti Nui with several friends from other boats. Our guide Patrick was very knowledgeable about the natural history of the area and was also entertaining company. He drove us up the Papenoo Valley into the interior on the north side of the island. We walked to a beautiful waterfall and swam in the plunge pool, the force of the water under the fall was enormous. We had a picnic beside the river and then drove through the caldera (the volcano is long since extinct) and higher up into the mountains then through a tunnel for a view of the west coast of the island.

So now we have just returned from our trip to New Zealand. We had our interviews and got our US visae, we bought a second hand mountain bike for me (to replace mine which was stolen in Pape’ete a few weeks previously) and we flew down to Nelson for a few days to see Maya and various friends. Sandy was kind enough to put us up so we had plenty of time to catch up on all her news. We had a couple of good walks and long lunches with Maya and Daphne and we caught up with other friends in the evenings. Also a big thanks to Tom for driving us around Auckland last Friday, we couldn’t have got it all done without you!!

Now we are back in Pape’ete for a week or so getting ourselves sorted out for our departure to the Tuamotus, the next archipelago lying to the east and NE of Tahiti. They are a series of low lying atolls 2-3 day sail from here depending upon which part of the island chain we head to. We are looking forward to getting out of the Society Islands and into a less populated part of French Polynesia.

More soon

Suzy and Neil