Everything in Tahiti is big; the people, the mountains, the waves, the fruit, the geckos (think crocodile size), and the bank notes (think 2 x normal wallet size). I woke up this morning, after arriving in the dark last night, and tried taking it all in. It was too much. From the thousands of pictures of Tahiti I thought I would know what to expect. I was wrong. It’s all just a sensory overload at the moment, pretty surreal. And I’ve hardly even begun to scratch the surface. Lucky I’ve got some time. Taharuu surf lodge is awesome, and it’s about 3 mins walk from Papara Beach, a black sand beach (not like The Med which claims black but is actually brown, real black). The surf spot is there is a pretty sick beach/reef break. After establishing myself at at the lodge this morning, with the help of lodge manager Julien, I helped out a bit and then headed down for some wave action. I bodyboarded into the dark this evening (See below for the story). The lodge also has more avocados than anyone knows what to do with, which is pretty sweet. Two bucket list items I’ve managed to tick off so far: wake up in Tahiti and ride waves in the Pacific Ocean.
For now I’m just going to post these random shots from the journey here and one photo from this morning. I haven’t really taken photo’s yet. THE BAD NEWS : My most prized possession, my Canon g12, which I was so amped to use for underwater and in-water surf photo’s, decided to give up the ghost just before I left. Repair is financially nonviable – so holla back if you know anyone keen to get rid of one! A g10 or 11 would do too, they’ll fit the housing I have! I’ve borrowed a replacement camera for the terrestrial stuff (shot mom!), but it’s not the same.
Hermosa Beach, LA. How classic is this setup? That’s actually The Hoff with his back to the camera.
Air Tahiti Nui!
Getting used to the new camera – some mementos from home
Getting used to the new camera – my Africa key chain attached to my backpack.
When I woke up this morning, this was my first view of daylight Tahiti ever.
Surf session 1: Papara. A short walk from the lodge this spot was pretty good this evening. I made my first Pacific barrel and stuck a few small maneuvers. The locals are insaaane. Firstly, at 6’2 (maybe ‘1), I wouldn’t consider myself particularly small (or big). In the fairly crowded lineup today though, besides the groms, I was by far the smallest human being out there. All the Tahitians are ripped, hardcore, huge, beasts. And I’d say the average air is the backflip. The standard of riding is crazy high. Lucky the spot itself, which wedges off the outside reef, has a ton of peaks so there is plenty to go around. Also the vibe in the water was pretty disciplined which makes it easier. Generally the waves were a bit bigger than head-high. It was a good time. Being my first surf here I pushed it a bit long after sunset. Barely being able to see, the three of still surfing were caught on the inside by two double-overhead, ink-black, truck-sized barrels. I managed to get under the first one but the second wave sucked all the water off the reef on its way in. I duckdived straight into the reef, my board got sucked out from under me and then it was tickets. I slammed the bottom pretty hard but nothing serious. If that’s what Papara was like today, I can only imagine what places like Teahupoo would have been doing. For now that remains on the bucket list.
The road to the end of the road 