Having friends in places around the world is great. Calling on our new friend from Huka Ua, we met up with Elisabeth who showed us around. That weekend however, she was taking off to Bora Bora to met up with friends (Genieve, being one of them) for the 3 day holiday weekend, and to see some of the Heiva celebrations on another island. (The Heiva is a month long heritage festival celebated in different ways on all the islands in French Polynesia.) So, she lent us her car from Saturday until Wednesday morning when Brian had to pick her up from the airport, and left us with a list of activities/happens in Tahiti. Totally Awesome!
First day with the car, Brian, Liz and I took off towards Paparo to see the junior surf competition. We ended up not only see that, and going up to the Belvedere on Tahiti Iti, but driving around the entire island! Super fun and it gave us a good feeling of the place.
The next day we needed to move the boat into the repair dock on the other side of town which meant a 4 hour motor to this new shipyard. Once secured, Lydia got off the boat to go Couchsurfing & Liz went along for a couple of nights. As it turned out, Liz’s visa expired July 6th and she had to leave the country – no exceptions, no extensions! Totally bummed out – her and I, she left the boat for good as well. No more girls rule, it’s back to 3. Anyhow, Monday, Brian and I took off for a couple’s getaway since we had the car till Wednesday. This time going around the island the other direction and stopping at some of the places we didn’t get to the first time.
First up, a visit to the 3 cascades – waterfalls. After being shown where to go to find the road to the trailhead (some locals had to drive us there), we set off for a hike. I didn’t expect it to be so marked or close to the parking lot. Everything on the other islands was a trek, and completely unmarked. It was nice and all 3 falls were pretty big. Next, was the blowhole. This would not have been spectacular except for the fact it was coming out of the tunnel next to the road. So weird!
Inside the restaurant
Exploring the other side of Tahiti Iti (you can not drive all the way around it), we stopped in at this little Beach front restaurant called “La Plague de Maui”. What a find and the owner made some suggestions of things to do/see. We tried to obtain some accommodations at these very cool eco bungalows, but alas they were all booked up. However we did end up staying in this very swanky place that Elisabeth took us for sunset cocktails: http://www.spmhotels.com/resort/tahiti We enjoyed Maneva so much that we stayed another day. Then it was back to reality and the sailboat life. I just needed a little vacation.
