DEPARTURE TO MANIHI

I woke up at 06:15am. Shower, clothing and breakfast.

Today I went to the atoll of Manihi. I had to go first to Rangiroa to change plane (Tikehau –> Rangiroa = flight time 20mn and Rangiroa –> Manihi = flight time 35mn). The take off was scheduled at 11:05am and the arrival at Manihi at 12:40pm.

I was very happy to leave Tikehau because I didn’t like this atoll very much (except the Birds Island) and I was not very comfy with a constant headache.

The plane took off 20mn late. I forgot how it was to be stressed out... I needed not to miss the connection!

So, when I arrived at Rangiroa, I directly got on the plane to Manihi, without coming inside the airport. So, I didn’t have the opportunity to see maybe Norbert and his family again.

I immediately felt a good feeling when I arrived at Manihi. The woman from Pension Nanihi Paradise and her 9-year-old daughter went to pick me up in their boat! Actually the Pension was located at about 15mn of the airport by boat. It was a very beautiful place, isolated at the other side of the atoll. Philippe, the owner of the Pension, went to welcome me and showed me my bungalow. It was very clean. It was not the case in Tikehau! Nanihi, the girl, stayed with me all afternoon long. We went canoeing, we swam, we played the explorers, we ate fresh coconut and we talked a lot with each other. She needed someone who paid attention to her and she considered me as her friend.

At 5:00pm, I took a shower, a rest and some pictures until dinner time at 7:00pm.

The menu of the dinner tonight was: vegetables salad, grilled fish with sorrel sauce and for dessert a caramel cream. Philippe was a cook and his food was delicious. There was another couple at the Pension. They were finishing their 4-year contract in Tahiti and will go back to France next July. The first name of Philippe’s wife was Vaïana.

I went to bed at 8:30pm.