Monday, September 03, 2001.  6:55pm
Laying in bed at Sofitel Ia Ora on Moorea. 
(Our bodies still feel like it is 9:55pm!)

Tahiti

            We exited the plane in Papeete at around 6pm yesterday – the air was thick, and we could instantly feel the change in our lungs.  A little more work to breath and an instant shine on our foreheads… it was and IS very humid here.  (What can you expect from a tropical environment, Erik?)  It was really neat.  Just after finishing the last entry, we finally started seeing bits of water and land through the clouds.  We saw Rangiroa first – I recognized it from the photos in the books.  Landing at the Papeete airport was a very different experience – we could see kids standing in the fields next to the runway… and they waved at us as we screeched down the path.  There were no fences!  Nothing separated the airport from the ocean or the neighboring lands.  The land is so lush and green.  MANY new plants that we have never seen before.  A beautiful flower called a Tiare (reminiscent in smell to that of the Gardenia) is a major thing here in Tahiti.  Not only is it the logo for the airline, but it is also found everywhere on the island.  They make soaps, shampoos, and everything else with it.  We made our way off the plane, and headed into a VERY relaxed airport.  Three guys were playing stringed instruments as we entered the building.  We were given a Tiare to place above our left ear.  (Left means you are married, right means you are single!)  We headed through customs and located our luggage.  I cannot tell you how relaxed the airport was.  NOTHING like in the U.S.  We headed out to the front where we were greeted with GORGEOUS flower leis.  Mine was made from Tiare’s strung together and Tami’s was mixed beautifully from various Tahitian flowers. 

            Only the first of MANY that we have now seen throughout the islands.  We were transported via an eye-opening bus ride to our hotel.  I can’t believe the tight spaces this bus driver attempted to fit our rather enormous bus through.  We couldn’t have been more than two inches away from a building roof at one point.  Very brave drivers here in Tahiti – fast mini cars zipping everywhere… narrow lanes and odd turns.  Even some of the signs seem hand made.  We made it.  The hotel was nice.  It was getting a little dark already… apparently the days are shorter here.  It was only 6:30pm or so.  The warmth surrounding us did not change in the lobby… the elevator… or the hallway to our room.  VERY warm.  Our room was nice… tile floors and a huge sliding door leading out onto our 7^th story balcony.  Everything in the hotel feels so ethnic… thatch everything… bamboo decorations, sculptures everywhere.  Oh, and the flowers.  Flowers are everywhere.  Odd / neat things about the room:  The switches were different than I have ever seen, all the channels except for CNN were in French, the refrigerator keep things only about 5 degrees cooler than if they were outside, the toilet was odd-looking, the shower was attached to a DEEP tub, and we finally found the air conditioning controls a few hours before we were checking out of the room the next day.  We took a little walk this first evening.  We checked out the pool and made our way to the beach for the first time.  (We couldn’t see anything yet.)  A little hungry, we ventured out of the hotel.  Not much success, but we were out long enough to get sweaty again – it was quite dark, and it seemed that not much was near our hotel.  It is not clean here – it is beautiful, but it is not completely modern.  Palm trees… grass… greenery everywhere.   We trekked back to the room and went to bed early.  Thirsty as hell, but unable to find bottled water anywhere at the hotel, I trusted our book and DRANK TAP WATER!   By this time, it was 9pm Tahiti time.  (Midnight our normal time)  We awoke to a new world – now able to actually see our surroundings outside for the first time.  We were most definitely NOT in the states anymore.  It was beautiful.  The buildings are so primitive – but well constructed – a huge mixture of simplicity and culture in the surrounding structures.  Bright colors.  Thatched roofs on some – modern roofing on others.  Bamboo growing in patches.  We can’t wait to get out.  We take a shower, get ready, and then head downstairs for breakfast.  It wasn’t as bad as I was expecting.  It was like $17 each for a buffet breakfast.  Lots of decent food.  I even braved a glass of luke-warm milk.  It seems that refrigerators don’t work as good in Tahiti as in the rest of the world.  The milk was horrible, and I only took a couple small sips before giving in to the notion of not having milk for the next two weeks.  I make a kitten friend and make sure that he is happy by the end of our meal – if I am paying thirty to forty bucks for breakfast, I see no reason not to help a kitten in need at the same time.  Cute little guy with 6-7 toes on each foot.  The atmosphere is unreal.  Thatched roof on the beach front, flowers and everything exotic you have ever imagined is within our site.  The food is ok – we sneak out a few extra cheese packets for our room.  Tami and I both like them.  I already know that food is going to be a struggle for me on this trip, so I want to make sure I have some backup snacks.  I also know that I have tested the strength of my stomach now.  Tap water, odd-tasting milk, some meats and juice that were different tasting… and time was going to tell if I had made any mistakes.  (No probs so far!) 

            We headed out to the road in front of the hotel to catch “Le Truck” for a ride into the city.  Cool service.  A bunch of private owners driving around the island picking up people for 120cfp.  (about a dollar)  One drives you into the city, and another drives you back.  They are all over the place!  Not bad… and it sure beats paying $15-$20 for a taxi!  We explored Papeete – the market was great!  The handcrafts were amazing, and the display of flowers seemed unreal.  There were so many variations of flowers that we have never seen… It was SO warm and humid!  It was everything that I expected… the people are very friendly, and eager to greet you.  Most of them speak French here.  The further that you go from the main island the more Tahitian is apparently spoken.  A lot of people here speak 3 to 4 to 5 languages.  Kind of makes me feel ignorant to only speak one.  So far, we haven’t had much problem communicating – however, we are not on Bora Bora yet!  Cd’s cost about $30 or more here!  DVD’s are around $50!  We had a few good moments enjoying some of the foreign titles of American films.  Shanghai Noon is called Shanghai Kid here… a lot of the covers are way different than ours.  I didn’t buy any (!)   We checked out some clothing stores and ended up spending a little more time in the pharmacy than we expected.  They had the best air conditioning that we have experienced since arriving here.  It was a nice first two-hour glance at the “city life” of Tahiti, but we were both excited about starting the REAL portion of our vacation: getting to our remote islands and REAL rooms.  We headed back to the hotel to prepare for our flight to Moorea.  (You can see Moorea from Tahiti – it is just across the ocean a bit) 

Moorea

            The flight was interesting.  (It is amazing how relaxed the inner island airports are.  A small boy was even running around the terminal with a toy gun!)  A small plane that sat only 12 people – it felt almost like a toy.  Hot as HELL in the plane.  Only a ten-minute flight, but a WORLD apart from Tahiti!  The land is SO lush here!  Ramond (“Rah-Monde”)– a VERY charismatic Frenchman who has lived on Moorea for five years, greeted us.  He introduced us to the island, sold us a tour for Tuesday, and then chauffeured us to our hotel.  He stopped at a cliff overlooking our hotel and let us take our first photos on the island… Wow.  THIS is what I expected to see here – the hotel is just perfect.  Everything is exactly what you picture when thinking of the South Pacific.  A large burly – but genuinely friendly – Tahitian man checked us in.  (I just remembered to enter his name on 9/9/01.  It was Charlie.  He said it with the coolest accent.  “Cha-lee”) He spoke fairly good broken English, but he was so native.  He was sweating profusely.  I suppose we were too… but I didn’t really care.  We were in paradise, and we couldn’t wait to see our room.  We headed there directly after checking in.  A native man wearing only a Pareo (A very Tahitian wrap-around skirt worn by men and women) brought over our luggage.  I said a few things to him, but he didn’t reply.  I don’t think he understood.  He took off as quickly as he appeared.  The Bungalow sat in the perfect spot.  We are the closest to the beach, and we sit right next to the pool, bar, and snack/restaurant.  Our door opens onto the beach.  We opened the door to enter our home for the next 5 days.  Wow again!  It was SO perfect!!!  It was large, totally Tahitian, had a gorgeous bathroom with shell fixtures and an open door shower, a large bed with mosquito net surrounding, bamboo furniture, and everything was just perfect.  THIS is why we came here.  We quickly unpacked, both extremely eager to get into the gorgeous water outside our door.  We grabbed our snorkeling gear and rushed outside like two kids going outside to play.  The water was a little cooler than expected, but it really didn’t matter.  It was beautiful.  It is SO shallow here.  We were yards away from shore, but still able to touch bottom at times.  Other times, I would dive 10 feet down.  Off in the distance you could see where the waves were hitting the outlying reef barriers – the reason why the water within is so mellow.  I have never seen water so pure – so utterly clear.  I could see almost as good underwater as I could above.  We felt like we were diving in an aquarium.  The fish.  There were so many colorful variations… everywhere.  We stayed out in the water for over an hour, and traveled WAY out into the ocean.  We finished an entire roll of film snapping shots at the various gorgeous fish that we could chase.  The coral was beautiful.  We saw several giant clams (I played with one), tons of healthy sea cucumbers, a few colorful parrotfish, and the largest thing we saw on this trip was a 2-foot titan triggerfish.  There was a group of tiny blue fish that would come right up to our fingers… it was really neat.  My first experience with anything like this.  I never dreamt that I would do this kind of thing… and I did so without hesitance.  (My new so-called “waterproof” watch that was rated to 120ft didn’t last past 10 feet!) Our first aquatic journey ended, and we threw our gear back in the hut.  We headed over to rent a pedal boat.  It was fun at first, but we won’t be doing that again.  While we were out, I did a little more snorkeling and gathered a few shells.  However, we were quickly drifting with the tide – and found ourselves forced to pedal hard and long to get back.  We couldn’t stop to rest or we’d drift away again.  Needless to say, we were both exhausted by the time we got back and couldn’t wait to get off.  We headed back to the room and washed up a bit, then went to the main office.  We reserved two motor scooters for Wednesday.  That is going to be a lot of fun!  We also discovered that my new watch ISN’T as waterproof as they said, and it is no longer working right.  When I wear it now, it fogs up on the inside.  DAMN!  I bought it specifically for this trip.  One other thing of note: My fingers are so swollen by the warm weather that my ring fits tight.  So does Tami’s. 

            After reserving the scooters, we started over to the restaurant for something to eat.  On the way, we passed the SCUBA center for the hotel and scheduled our first of five dives for tomorrow afternoon.  We are actually going to do it!!!  So, we have our island 4x4 tour from 8am to 12:30pm, and then our first dive at 1:45pm.  It is going to be a great day!  Dinner was an $11 dollar hamburger and fries for me, and a $7 ham, mushroom, and olive pizza for Tam.  It was VERY good food, and I am glad they are close to us.  We ate at the snack place instead of the dinner restaurant.  It was cheaper, and dinner wasn’t supposed to start until 8pm anyway.  We were tired, and crashed at 7:30.  We are still a bit off with the time – I was up at 5am their time.  I started typing here again while Tam slept a bit more.  We are going to force ourselves to stay up late tonight so that we can get on schedule.  When we turned on our lights this morning a Gecko was on our wall – not the lizards of home, but an actual gecko.  I moved away some of the furniture to try to say “hi” to it, but it was too quick.  That is all for now.  It is now 6:30am here, and we are going to relax a bit before our adventurous day ahead.  I am sure that I will have a lot to add tonight!