VISIT OF PUNAAUIA

7:30am: departure for my group for a quite difficult hike at the Lava Tubes of Hitiaa (natural conduits through which lava travels beneath the surface of a lava flow, expelled by a volcano during an eruption). Their return was scheduled around 4:00pm/5:00pm because there was a long drive to go to (about 1h30 driving one way).

As for me, I was very happy because I was in TAHITI and I could enjoy all the day by myself
Punaauia, where was located the Pension of the Beach, is the third town of Tahiti, just after Papeete and Faa’a.

Actually I asked Vincent, the manager of the Pension of the Beach, to book a cab for me to go to Papeete, at 15km from the Pension. He advised me to stay here, in Punaauia and visit the beautiful white sand beeach just facing the Pension and then to go to the Museum of Tahiti and its islands which is very interesting to know.

I thought it was a very good idee and I went to my room to take my camera, change clothes and go for this visit... And I wasn’t disappointed at all...

No sooner had I crossed the road to the beach that a Tahitian man, rather handsome but a little bit oafish, came to tell me hello and ask me a lot of questions. He showed me some of his tattoos (it is a big pride for them) and asked me whether I would like to come back later to speak with him. I thanked him politely and kept going...

Then, I found a dream beach, with a direct view on Moorea, the sister island of Tahiti...

I had been enjoying the site for a very long time. I sat on a rock to look at Moorea. I love its shape. This island has its own charm like each island of Polynesia.

I kept going looking for the Museum of Tahiti and its islands which I finally found. The visit was very interesting: there were the collections of the Oceanian heritage. There are some explanations about the formation of the islands, the fauna, the flora and we can see a lot of Oceanian objects and traditions.

At the end of the morning, I went back to the Pension of the Beach to have lunch. Eric, my guide, brought me my lunch in the morning and put it in the fridge. So I had lunch at the Pension and I spent the afternoon there listening to music and taking a nap.

My group came back at 5:00pm. Actually, on the other side of Tahiti, the weather was really bad (contrary to the side where I was and where the weather was very nice and hot – about 30C). The bad weather prevented the group from hiking a lot in the Lava Tubes. They only had a short hike there because the rain was too heavy and the Lava Tubes might overflow. So the group visited also a small botanic garden on their way back.

In short, I was very happy of my day!

In the evening, we had dinner and as usually the meal cooked by the cooks of the Pension of the Beach was delicious.

Then, I went to bed very early! In fact we adopted the Polynesian pace: from now on we go to bed at 9:00/9:30pm and we woke up at 5:00am. We sleep many hours and we are in peak form in the morning and always ready for a new day!