On the Road to Teahupoo

On September 9th we rented  a car from Eco Car in Papeete and did a self-drive tour of the more settled and placid West Coast of Tahiti (the leeward or non-windy side) with Patsy and Steve.  We like renting from Eco Car since 1) they are half the price of their competitors, 2) they include insurance, and 3) they deliver the car right to the marina. The only disconcerting thing was the exacting inspection of the car for minor dings (like where a bug committed suicide) that puts fear of God in you to bring the car back in one piece.

Mara Marae-Ta’Ata near Pa’ea.

Our first stop was the archeology site of Mara Marae-Ta’Ata near Pa’ea about seven miles down the coast from Papeete. A very well preserved site, it consists of three large rectangular stone marae (stone platforms) that were used mainly for ceremonial purposes. The marae’s were discovered by Europeans in 1925, and at the right most Marae C, several bodies were unearthed. They were most likely priests or chiefs and when they died their bones were laid out to dry. The skulls were then secreted away by family members and hidden to preserve the spirit. 

The caves at Grotto Marraa included pools that disappeared into the darkness of the cave. 

I dislike taking posed pictures but they are both so good looking that I just had to.

Our next stop was the Grotto of Maraa, a series of hillside caves with pools of shallow water at their entrances. Ironically Meryl and I had driven by these Grotto’s many times when we had the boat hauled out at Port Phaeton but never had time to stop.

A beautiful red protea.

If anyone knows the name of this flower please let us know. One of my favorites.

Another crowd pleaser, the heliconia.

A beautiful jade vine.

A little further down the road was a similar garden, called Grotto Teanateatea, with a wide variety of lily-covered ponds and waterfalls. We enjoyed the wide variety of exotic tropical flowers, including protea, ginger, heliconia, jade vine, and the Bird of Paradise.

Just before the town of Taravao we stopped at our old boatyard at Port Phaeton and found it just as packed with boats, covered with mud, and generally as messy as we remember it. I’m always amazed at the number of project boats sitting waiting for their owners to restore them to greatness and live out their dreams.

Somewhere out there is Teahupoo (actually way around to the left).

The obligatory Teahupoo tourist photo.

Great poster for what it's like during The Billabong Tahitian Pro surfing contest.

Another huge, carbo-loaded lunch fit for a Polynesian.

We continued on to the little attached “island” of Tahiti-iti in search of the famous big waves of Teahupoo. Called “Cho-poo” by the surfers, our tour guide of the previous day, Tracey, chastised the pronunciation saying the surfers were just to lazy to use the proper name. Teahupoo (remember to pronounce every vowel) is at the end of the road and it was very difficult to see any waves without binoculars, so we opted for a quick lunch before we explored further. The food was surprisingly good, even though I warned Patsy that the chicken sandwich with fries meant the fries were inside the huge baguette. Well, I guess the surfers need all the carbs they can get.

Hard to catch the glory of this famous surf spot. 

Looking back into the bay at Teahupoo.

We later walked across the bridge and out along the side of the bay to a point where you could see the famous wave, still a ways off in the distance. Most surfers hire “taxi boats” to take them out to the wave, which today was only about seven feet tall.  During the recent Billabong Pro Tahiti surfing championship veteran 38-year-old Kelly Slater added to his series of Teahupoo wins by taking the title from the much younger Jo Jo from Hawaii. We would have loved to watch the competition but we waited too long as it was completed in about six days, compared to the 20 some days allotted to waiting for good waves.

More than anything, we just enjoyed the companionship of good friends Patsy and Steve, whom we spent most of the day laughing at inconsequential things and having a good time. 

Thanks guys.