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             Our trip to Tahiti and Bora Bora ! (June, '22)



             TABLE OF CONTENTS

Skip right to the fun surfing video.
Introduction
The Panorama
The People
Surfing and the Ocean
Bora Bora
Our Hilton Hotel
Our Vanira Hotel
The Necessary Gear
Bonus Media


pic of map




pic of map
                                                                                                                    
(Click On Any Picture Below)



Tahiti is BLUE

Tahiti is WHITE

Tahiti is GREEN




Introduction

In June of 2022, My wife, Barrie, and I went to Tahiti, and then Bora Bora. Here in my account of that trip.
We're in our mid seventies. Recently, we both realized that "some day" was last week.
So we decided it was time to run with the devil, in order to get to what's real. Like, the road is our bride. So we booked an international flight from LAX to Tahiti.

Day of Departure: LAX is like a broken-down, super-sized FedEx hub for people, crammed inside Hell's First Circle (Limbo.) So you must be LAX-ready. You memorize the whole itinerary. But when you enter the beast, you're confronted with a labyrinthine vastness that eats away at your will to retain information.

Someone in a uniform looked at our tickets and said 'Go that way and wait.' So we went there and sat on bolted chairs, with others who had also succumbed to the narcosis of vastness. And we waited. Occasionally, an agent would sprint past us, looking down and not hearing us. We scanned the horizon for agents, like hunter-gatherers.

But then, magically, an agent wearing a bright red jacket appeared. 'Lemme see your tickets.' Then he grabbed us and said, 'Follow me.' We ran through the maze of buildings for LOCAL flights, from station to station, filling out forms and getting things stamped. Then we ran through the INTERNATIONAL one. More stations. We scuttled through a topologically mind-bending aluminum jet bridge like fat mice. Then found ourselves running up aluminum steps and ONTO THE PLANE!

We had just barely made it. With our heads down, we found our seats and clipped on our belts. We felt like safe crackers just barely escaping with the jewels. The only practical advice I can give is Look for agents wearing red jackets.

After we landed at little old Tahiti airport, we came to rest. We just stood there, soaking it all in- the cute little car rental booths and snack bars. Even the kiosks were quaint. Someone told us that LAX had lost our luggage. But I only got a little mad. I hardly yelled at Barrie at all. Silently, the vacation had already started.

The first leg of our trip was two weeks at The Vanira Lodge. For the first four days of that, we luxuriated horizontally. Then we puttered around at nothing. Finally, we walked all around the terrain, which entailed a lot of walking up and down as well. There were many tiny mountains. They looked like green chocolate kisses. Their peaks resembled sharped granite spikes. The terrain looked like a thin, dense blanket of exotic flora, draped over the spikes like a circus tent. (See pics 14 and 15 in Sec 1, The Panorama.)

It rained half the time. A very good thing. The rain was calmly thrilling. We sat on the porch and just listened to the silence. (Don't get me wrong, I also liked trying to scare away the roosters and exotic birds- "Hey! Hey! HEY!"). We made lots of side trips in the car, including a four hour trip all the way around the island. Almost daily, we "drove into town" and bought things at Carrefour (Section 7.)

Then ten days at the Tahiti Hilton. Which was too many.

For the last four days, Bora Bora. (see above maps.)




                          Section 1 - The Panorama






(1) A recurring green divide into the interior.
As we sped past various radial paths, like this one, Barrie tried to snap a glimpse through the car window. She timed this one just right.

(2) People look better when they're obscured, and backed up by nature.

(3) Extraordinary hues show up late in The Pacific day. Stretching away from your feet is the rinkled skin of a purple sea. On the other side are jutting peaks, wearing smoke hats. Behind them is a fissioning Los Alamos sky, where pink smothers yellow.

(4) Foolish attempt to capture "all" of the sky and sea. Look for yourself.

(5) Our Hilton Hotel's pool (with the South Pacific as a decorative back mural.)

(6) This scene will be perfect, but the sun has almost set. It's your last chance to shoot! Then your sweaty hands start sliding all over the slippery goddamn metal camera. Now it's your last last chance! But you catch it anyway, because the sun waits for you here.

(11) Our Vanira Lodge jungle bungalow.

(12) The really big ones are about a mile offshore.

(14) Mount Ronui in Tahiti Iti.

(15) Our Vanira Lodge Bungalo as seen from Teahupo'o.

1. Staring through a crack into Paradise
1. Staring through a crack into Paradise
2. Sky ocean pier
2. Sky ocean pier
3. Just another Tahitian sunset
3. Just another Tahitian sunset
4. Vast sky above, sea below, you're in between
4. Vast sky above, sea below, you're in between
5. Hilton Hotel Pool
5. Hilton Hotel Pool
6. Too lovely not to include
6. Too lovely not to include
7. Bora Bora painted sky
7. Bora Bora painted sky
8. Bora Bora water huts
8. Bora Bora water huts
9. Bora Bora Bay
9. Bora Bora Bay
10. Fish Market in Papete
10. Fish Market in Papete
11. Our Vanira Bungalow
11. Our Vanira Bungalow
12. The big ones are mile offshore
12. The big ones are mile offshore
14. Mount Ronui in Tahiti Iti
14. Mount Ronui in Tahiti Iti
15. Our bungalo as seen from Teahupo-o
15. Our bungalo as seen from Teahupo-o

TIP:                          Don't get lost in the Boondocks!

On the way back to our hotel, the Hilton, I took a few wrong turns, and we soon found ourselves way up in some rural hills. How to get down? All roads seemed to lead up. U-turns were impossible, so I had to find an up road that finally went down. And there were none, I swear. Were in an Escher drawing. We had to ask for help. We would see people, and roll down the window. "Do you folks know the way to the Hilton Hotel?" (like they'd know.)

They would just stare. So we added pantomiming. (In the absence of GPS, what else could we do?)

Our hotel was near their capital, Papeete. So with the next folks, I just yelled out "Papeete." They just looked at one another like meercats. Next group, meercats. Finally, a group of folks who all pointed in the same direction. That did it. I guess they weren't groups of surfers.




                          Section 2 - THE PEOPLE




(1) Universal Dudes.

(2) Satisfied. Maybe a little too satisfied.

(3) The air is full of just plain happy.

(4) The women are happy to smile for you. (The men seemed really shy.)

(5) Our Vanira Lodge hostess.

(6) Down and out in Papete.

(7),(8),&(9) Gang members telegraphing their next hit.

(11) A little installation of kids' rides, in the center of Papeete's downtown market.

(12) Not everyone is happy here.

1. U dudes
1. U dudes
2. 8 fingers up
2. 8 fingers up
3. more happy Polynesians
3. more happy Polynesians
4. Bora Bora hotel lady
4. Bora Bora hotel lady
5. our Vanira Lodge hostess
5. our Vanira Lodge hostess
6. down and out in Papeete
6. down and out in Papeete
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10. The next Napolean
10. The next Napolean
11. bumper cars
11. bumper cars
12. Boo-hoo
12. Boo-hoo
13. shot pool w/ in Papeete
13. shot pool w/ in Papeete
14. random people
14. random people
Ukulele Lady


TIP:                          Bring a good language translating device

such as DoDoDuck. DON'T rely on your cell phone, as most tourists do. CELL PHONES CAN'T DO IT ALL! We were thrilled with our DoDoDuck 1 Plus, which we'd gotten off of Amazon. There's a crude picture of our DoDoDuck in Section 7, image 1. It has high quality speech generation, as well as speech recognition.

You can type into it (in your language), "What is your best fish plate tonight?" Or, "Are there any surf shops in town?" Then you store these pre-canned phrases. When you need to voice one in their language, you just click on it. You can also converse on the fly.

Best of all- its languages are stored and processed LOCALLY, in the device. DoDoDuck doesn't need to consult servers on the internet. And it doesn't depend on WIFI.

DoDoDuck comes with four or five pre-loaded languages. One was French, the official language. But I couldn't converse in Polynesian, the native language. It wasn't supported. I believe you can replace one of your downloaded languages with a new one, via internet.




             Section 3 - SURFING AND THE OCEAN




Wave Surfing Montage



(4) You just expect to see a guy like this.

(5) To surf, you start here. Then you reserve a seat on a taxi-boat.

(6) Drive to end of road, then walk over this bridge to the marina.

(7) As your boat heads to the breakers, it passes this,

(8) and then this.

(9) Breakers still way out there.

(10) The edge of a box of water (let me explain.)

After a big wave would pass under us, the boat would get lifted straight up, on a rising slab of water. But then it seemed to hold us there, atop this unmoving box of water. With edges.

(12),(13),(14) On your way to the breakers, you pass these errie, inexplicable "mirages".

(15) Near the bridge is this great Japanese restaurant. It also happened to be the cheapest restaurant on the whole island. Also the coolest. Note the young clientel.

(16) My attempt at surfing. I used a good styrofoam body board. My aging muscles just couldn't do it. No other surfer was anywhere near my age (74.) When 25-yr-olds actually stop their rapturous surfing in order to say, "Sir? Are you all right?", you're not all right.

1. the surfer's office
1. the surfer's office
2. backside of a misty wave
2. backside of a misty wave
3. looks like a whale coming up for air
3. looks like a whale coming up for air
4. "native" surfer
4. "native" surfer
5. taxi boat signs all along road
5. taxi boat signs all along road
6. this way to the action
6. this way to the action
7. from the boat youll C this ----
7. from the boat youll C this ----
8. and this
8. and this
9. theyre way out there
9. theyre way out there
10. sitting on a box of water
10. sitting on a box of water
11. our boat
11. our boat
12. mirage #1
12. mirage #1
13. mirage #2
13. mirage #2
14. mirage #3
14. mirage #3
15. Japanese restaurant
15. Japanese restaurant
16. Cape of Embarrasment
16. Cape of Embarrasment



                          Section 4 - Bora Bora




Bora Bora consists of naturally ocurring craftworks, made of pink sand, green water, and blue sky. If Tahiti is opium, Bora Bora is heroin. As soon as we got there, my senses were smacked. The mountains on the far side of a coral lagoon seemed to be floating on helium. Their peaks looked like sharpened emerald spikes. It made me relaxed and intense at the same time. Everything smelled salty and felt velvety. It turned me into a tactile gawker.



360 degree pan of Bora Bora



(1) Our Bora Bora Hotel - The Maitai.

(2) A lessor "path into the interior".

(3) In front of the hotel.

(4) A "drive-by" photo.

(5) Shore front is behind palms.

(6) Steep Jungle right behind our hotel.

(7) The always-happy Maitai lady.

(8) a repeat.

(10) Bora Bora painted sky.

(11) The excitement of a coming storm- caused by the sudden buildup of positive ions in the air.

1. Hotel Maitai
1. Hotel Maitai
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2.
3.
3.
4. drive by
4. drive by
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5.
6. inclined patch of jungle
6. inclined patch of jungle
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7.
8. a repeat
8. a repeat
9. monochrome sky
9. monochrome sky
10. Bora Bora painted sky
10. Bora Bora painted sky
11.
11.
12. horizon on fire
12. horizon on fire



                          Section 5 - The Hilton Hotel




Slow pan of the Pacific, from the Hilton



(1) errie lighting.

(2) Our plane being shot down by a space-launched hydrogen missile.

(This was taken in daytime. Effect is caused by cloudiness,
being way above water, plus lens flare.)

(3) Playground of the Pretty Well Off.

(4) PPWO at night.

(5) Even the airplane has a spiritual look.

(6-8) It was fun eating great food along side of the ocean.

(9) I finally figured out how to get Hilton's WIFI to provide Youtube videos. Now we were getting old TV shows on our laptop! So we're laying in bed after a hard day of room service, looking between our pedicured toes, watching Green Acres and thinking, now it's clear why Tahiti is called "The Land of Paradise" .

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9. land of paradise
9. land of paradise



                          Section 6 - The Vanira Lodge




This was the first place we stayed at. We were there about fourteen days. Our particular cabin, or bunglalow, was huge, meant for four people. So we rearranged things a lot (see pictures 3,4, & 5.)

The Vanira Hotel is owned and run by Tahitians. It's look and feel is wonderful, and very distinct from, eg, The Hilton. They served dinner every night. All meals were extra.

We ate there so much we had lots of repeat meals, which we individualized with desserts.


Sped-up walk thru of Vanira Lodge Complex



(1) Our Tehau bungalow, from below.

(2) Our Tehau bungalow, from the side.

(3),(4),(5) Inside our Tehau bungalow. It was ok, just too big.

It's really for four people, but we got a good deal on it.

FOUR PEOPLE COULD REALLY MAKE OUT IN THIS PLACE.

(6) Our irrepressibly boyant Vanira hostess.

(7) This is what the good bungaloes look like. (None were available.)

(8) Same, closeup.

(9) Same, pulled back.

(10) Hotel Vanira's bookings, a few weeks before we arrived. Note, everything is almost taken (month of June).

We had to reserve 2 different, but consecutive blue slots, weeks before departing. We had to negociate back and forth with we-were-never-sure-who (French Polynesian Officials, somewhere.) And you have to communicate by text. Yes, that's right, BY TEXT! Then you give your money to a number. At least we weren't dealing with hotels.com, expedia, etc. It all worked out.

(11) The hotel menu.

(12) The hotel activities.

(13),(14),(15) Paintings on front desk wall.

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General Tips
Bring a good head-rest for the eight hour flight. I got the one that looks like a hollow felt cube with various holes in it. It's bulky, but it works fantastically (whereas cushions do not.) It's as close to your bed as you can get at sixty thousand feet.

If you're our age (mid seventies,) it's very easy to lose things. Be vigilent. We've left things at some of the finest hotels in the world. For example, take our last day: I was driving directly from The Hilton to the airport, and lost my dream headrest on the way.

The waves are so amazing, with or without surfers on them.

Tahiti has no widely available GPS! You have to rely on local WIFI networks. There seemed to be enough WIFI networks inside most major businesses/hotels. But not outside, on the road, where tourists have to navigate. Here, all drivers have to rely on pre-loaded, static google maps.

Meals were fairly expensive. And, believe it or not, they didn't have that much variety, particularly in the fish catagory. But they always had good tuna. There's a GREAT Japanese restaurant in Tahiti Iti (see Section 3, pic 15.) It was the best, and cheapest, restaurant we found. It's strategically located behind the silly blue surfing statue (Sec 3, pic 11), AND, on the trail to the big waves.

The wheels of society are slow there. It took five weeks for some of my postcards to make it to their destinations!




                          Section 7 - The Necessary Gear




Behold, my cache of travel devices. I claim all this stuff is necessary.

The first thing you must think about is electrical power. The electrical standard in Tahiti, French Polynesia is 220 volts and 60 hertz (Hz) alternating current (AC). North America and parts of South America use 110V. If most of your appliances plug into a 110V socket, you will need a GOOD power adapter. Some laptops are switchable between 110 and 220. Look at the gray 110-220v power adapter in picture 1, below. It's a big, HEAVY chunck of metal. There is no alternative. Notice the 2 round pins coming out of it at the top. They plug into a wall. That's what every plug there must look like. But the pins are usually too small, and easily slip out of the corrosponding 2 holes in the wall socket! Note my solution by tape, which itself is also a necessary item.

Look at the 2 setups I have in pics 2 and 3. I have to have the white and gray adapter anvil hanging off the wall by its 2 pins, and off of must hang the power supply for our laptop (anvil #2.) This setup always seemed to necessarily end up in the worst configuration possible: maximum stick-out-of-wall-ness. If you're appliances are based on the 110 volt standard, you will need one where ever you stay in Tahiti or Bora Bora, where their electrical standard is 220V.

Mind you, I liked this adapter itself. It was just all the infrastructural delivery aparatus that brought me down, man. The cords, plugs, sockets, outlets, pins, etc, seemed amateurish. But this adapter was a lot better than the first one I bought there, which was twice as heavy as the good one (See "crappy, locally-bought adapter.") We were really lucky to find the 2nd one, which I got it at Carrefor super store.

For us, a USB fan is very useful. We both tend to get hot on a long flight, and those ceiling fans aren't enough. You can plug it into the usb port in front of your seat. Never bring any battery-powered appliance on a trip if you don't have to.

Note, don't forget to pack all the LITTLE THINGS. For me/us, these are: extra iPhone chargers/cables, scotch tape, rubber tape, a small stapler, gummed labels, extra zip lock bags, a lighter, and extra batteries for all your electronic gadgets. Naturally, I'd forgotten to pack half of these things. Thank you, Carrefour.



(1) All our gear on the bed.

(2) My power setup when we were at the restaurant, which I sort of secretly installed. I never went anywhere without a roll of decent tape.

(3) The same, for our room.

(4) Carrefour, the main supermarket serving Tahiti Iti (the big part. see map.) We spent A LOT of time there.

Almost daily we would drive there (20 min from H Vanira.) We bought: scotch and rubber tape, a little stapler, extra iPhone chargers and cables, crackers, cookees, cheeses, cereal, instant coffee (we easily ran out of the hotels' daily packets), ice cream, meat, soda, and juices. And most importantly, ICE (and an ice chest.)

(5) A good airplane headrest is an absolute MUST.

1. The gear we take with us when we travel internationally
1. The gear we take with us when we travel internationally
2. power setup at restaurant- hidden behind our table
2. power setup at restaurant- hidden behind our table
3. power setup in our room
3. power setup in our room
4. Carrefor - the main supermarket serving Tahiti Iti
4. Carrefor - the main supermarket serving Tahiti Iti
5. airplane head rest
5. airplane head rest




                                       Section 8 - Bonus Media



hey, hey, hey


1. Illustrious Fellow Seeker
1. Illustrious Fellow Seeker


                                       END OF ALL SECTIONS



A little history
This trip was born when I started "browsing for breakers." I've always been insanely attached to giant ocean breakers. They can be seen in the sport called Big Wave Surfing. You have to see it to believe it. See Pinky Link below. The year before this trip, we had spent three weeks in Nazaré, Portugal, the site of the biggest waves in the world, surfed or otherwise. I stood at the top of the iconic red lighthouse and watched them for six hours one day. Still, it wasn't enough.




(Pinky Links)

The most remarkable waves!
The SPECTACULAR Art of the Wave. (hi speed Phantom camera.)
Vanira Lodge. Teahupo'o, Tahiti
Nazare, Portugal. The trip that led to this trip.










                                                                    some            gif            files

gif of a breaker gif of a breaker gif of a breaker gif of a breaker gif of a breaker gif of a breaker