Day 7 — Saturday:

We were all exhausted from three busy days in a row. It took us until noon to get moving, and then we just went to Carrefour to get something to eat. After lunch, Keith and Eric went to the pool. At dinner time, none of us felt like cooking, so we went to a pizza restaurant inside the nearby Marina Tahina complex.

Before we ate, we strolled around the marina. At the far north end of the marina are two buildings that we are pretty sure are new. One looks like a laundry room on the ground floor with an apartment above it, and the other is a restaurant (maybe two restaurants sharing the building?) that has a new dinghy dock.

Other than that, the marina looks the same. Most of the boats are Mediterranean-moored, with passarelles to get on and off the dock. While we do remember the building that the pizza restaurant was in on the southern side of the marina, we don’t remember it being a restaurant. Here are a couple pictures:

Keith was the only one to order pizza, and he liked it. Christi got poisson cru and Eric got a salad. Both were happy with their meals. Rose ordered a steak. She found it to be mostly fat with little meat.

Sunday:

We decided to go back to Teahupoo. The weather forecast predicted afternoon rain, so we headed out relatively early. Today, Teahupoo was packed, and it looked like there were more local families than tourists. Here are some people body surfing, despite the fact that the seas were calm and the waves were small:

We had been hoping to take a small boat out beyond the reef to where the famous perfectly curved waves form and break. Whales are often seen out there, as well. Sadly, the tour boat operator didn’t seem to be there today. On our way into Tahiti Iti, we’d noticed that there was a cruise ship in port; we’re guessing that the tour boat was catering to the cruise ship guests. 

Teahupoo is literally the end of Tahiti It’s south road. We walked across the small foot bridge over the Tihari River, which created the break in the reef, and followed a small trail. Here are a some shots:

We passed several nice looking homes and a restaurant as we walked out to the small point at the southern tip of the small bay.

According to Lonely Planet, the foot path eventually leads to a cave called Vaipiori Cave, which is a two hour walk. We passed on the hike and decided to drive around the north side of Tahiti Iti, instead.

Keith fell asleep not long after we turned off onto the north road. This area looks more lush than the rest of the island, so we’re guessing it gets more rain. There were several nice looking beaches, and near the end of the road was Tatatua Park, with a nice playground and several kids. We would have stopped there had Keith had been awake. We saw three waterfalls from the massive cliffs. 

While there were some nice homes, many of the houses looked like they’d seen better days (such as the one above). This is definitely the poorest part of the island. And there were lots of churches even all the way out here.

The road ends suddenly at the northern point of Tautira Bay, where Spaniard Explorer Don Domingo de Boenechea landed in 1772 on the ship Aguilla. The ship left behind two missionaries who tried to create the first European settlement on the island. When the ship returned in 1775, the missionaries were anxious to get away from the terrifying “heathens.” Boenechea died before leaving Tahiti, and the Spaniards decided to give up reign over Tahiti. 

The rain started as we were on our way back to Tahiti Nui. At the junction where Tahiti Iti and Nui join, a French restaurant called La Manoa caught our eyes. The food was excellent; some of the best food we’ve had yet on the island. Christi ordered duck and reports that it may be the best duck she has ever eaten in her life. The rain poured down the entire meal. 

On our way back to the condo, we stopped at Keith’s favorite beach, Taharuu. The rain had stopped shortly before we pulled into the parking lot. The river that marked the southern border of Taharuu had been calm the last time we were here, but today, thanks to all the rain, it was roaring with muddy water.

Unfortunately, the rain resumed while we were on the beach. We actually didn’t mind getting wet, so we stayed for a few minutes so Keith could play in the waves… until we saw an ominous cloud in the distance that appeared to be heading straight for us. We decided the we should get back to the condo before that huge deluge hit the shore. Here is a pic of Keith at the northern end of the beach, which is protected from the waves and calm:

The big rain hit shortly after we returned to the condo. We laid low for the rest of the evening.