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Published: November 25th 2006
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Time for a surf Story!!!!
I arrived in Tahiti early in the morning. Kendal was to arrive later that night. I had a day to kills so with swell forecast for rather large surf at what is considered to be one of the worlds most dangerous waves, and with my new acquaintances in tow, a couple from South Australia, that was exactly where we headed. I hired a little open top 4WD headed to the wave at the end of the Road: The notorious wave of Teahupoo.
With my little reef experience this was an interesting proposition.
After a number of surf checks along the way we discovered that the swell wasn't quite so large. But none the less we waxed up and paddled the 30 minute mission out to the wave. There were quite a few dolphins cruising around the lagoon. We were later told this is a sign that there was a large swell on the way. Two guys passed us with out a word on their way in and left the line up empty. Was kinda hoping they would stick around and show us how it was done. A few weeks earlier some won rode the
biggest wave ever ridden at Teahupoo - over 20 foot.
Luckily for us the surf was clean 3-5 foot, the swell sweeps in and wraps around this horse shoe shape reef and just heaves these gnarly barrels. This was the first time I had ridden my new Rusty board. Sat wide for a while as this wave has a reputation for freak sets to come through pick you up and drive you straight into the razor sharp reef and drag you along keeping chunks of your flesh as souvenirs. I soon realised I wasn’t going to catch any waves doing this as you really need to take off behind the section as the wave is breaking. Once I got my head around this I caught a few waves. It was so peaceful and beautiful out there with set waves only coming through every 5 minutes or so I got a bit complacent. I chased a smaller one around 3 foot, didn’t catch it, turned around to see 2 five footers looming just beyond range of paddling over before the break leaving me doomed to the impact zone. Tried to duck dive the first 1, but as I was only
in 2 to 3 foot of water, I hit reef and was picked up and pole driven backwards headfirst into the reef. Wore the next wave as well and was dragged back along the razor sharp, live coral reef. I resurfaced with an egg sized lump on the back of my head and some nice scrapes on my shoulder and back. Was pretty bummed about all this and was ready for the mission paddle back to shore. Luckily I stuck around for 1 more wave which was sick and made my day!!!!
On the way back to Papeete we picked up some lime and washed out my wounds. Hot Tip: Reef cuts can get nasty infections. The lime had me healing within days. Dropped my new friends in town headed to the airport to await the arrival of Kendal.
While I was waiting I noticed that allot of people were being welcomed with a lay and name card. So that was my mission. I acquired a lay and fashioned myself a "Kendal Baby" name card.
Kendal arrived to her warm reception and we cruised into Papeete town where I turned on the extravagance and took Kendal to Macca’s
drive through after giving her a tour of the town, inadvertently cruising the red light district which consisted of 3 attractive Tahitian girls and two young pimps in Adidas track suites.
Returned hire car to the airport where we were picked up by a representative from Pension Bonjouir which was to be our home for the next week.
We were taken to sleep on a terrace house just out of town as the Pension can only be accessed by boat during day light.
Next morning we were up early and driven to the town of Teahupoo, stopping for photos along the way. Tahiti is incredibly beautiful, rugged terrain and dense rainforest water falls gushing out of side of the mountain on the side of the road.
Outside Papeete the streets were clean, lined with lush flowering plants and trees.
Shortly after boarding our boat transfer to Pension Bonjouir we were greeted by whales. After stopping to take photos and checking out “the wave” we arrived to be shown to our fantastic Beach Shack right on the water which we shared with a few geckos.
Out side, dogs and horses roamed the grounds and at night the
whole house would shake from what we later discovered was one of the horses rubbing up against it having a bit of a scratch.
The staff were friendly and the dinners were impressive seafood dishes. There were photo albums and stories of famous surfers who have stayed there including Kelly Slater and Andy Irons. Check out http://www.bonjouir.com/
We filled our days with surf trips, snorkelling, an epic Jurassic Park style trek in search of an amazing waterfall. We were going to go alone, but fortunately we had a guide volunteer, who with out we would surely still be lost out there somewhere.
We were rained in for a few days and before we knew it was time to head to Moreau an small island north of Tahiti. Here we snorkelled, canoed and dined in the floating restaurant.
After a few days of this we returned to Papeete. What day is it????? Woops we had both missed our respective flights by a day 😊
This left us with a day to kill which we spent hanging out with Daniel Bobker a Hollywood movie producer who was staying on at our hotel. We spent a fun day dining on Italian cuisine,
hitting the local market, drinking, attending a hip hop concert. After we saw him off at the airport we checked into the Airport Hotel.
Spent a rather dull Sunday in Papeete. Everything was shut so we hung out at the airport until Kendal’s departure. I spent the Night in a cheap hostel opposite the airport .................didn't know wether I was going to get on a flight as they only went out a couple of times a week and the Air New Zealand Office wasn't open on the weekend. After some misdirection by some unhelpful staff, I found the office and the lady there was very helpful and everything was sorted out in no time.
Links :
http://www.wannasurf.com/spot/Australia_Pacific/Polynesia/Tahiti/
http://www.wannasurf.com/spot/Australia_Pacific/Polynesia/Moorea/index.html
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