So, one of the things that we love about Tahiti is how very green it is; it’s also what we love about the UK. It has every green that Mother Nature’s palette can offer. Unfortunately, this week we truly discovered the common ingredient behind these two verdant landscapes………rain, rain and yet more rain. We deliberately chose this time of year because it’s meant to be hot and dry. Now either we are incredibly unlucky or the local meteorologists are on a bung from the Tahitian tourist board. Either way we haven’t had any rain-clear days and some have been just downright miserable. Of course a bit of rain isn’t going to stop us and we have still managed to get some snorkeling in, with a midweek trip to a recommended spot, Toaroto beach. The snorkeling was great as there was an incredibly strong current flowing parallel to the beach, which meant you could get in at the top and just float all the way along without effort. You did have to remember to turn into the shore in time to avoid being pushed out of the reef and into the arms of larger prey fish of course. This spot was also quite unusual and in some ways quite sad. It appears that it was once a posh hotel, with the customary over the water bungalows, which has since closed. It looked recently abandoned, so we are guessing a victim of the pandemic. Perversely though we could bob about by the bungalows and pretend we were on honeymoon and paying $2000 a night for the pleasure. The idea of sneaking into one of the huts for a night’s stay was quickly squashed however when the largest security guard in the Pacific made an appearance and we were forced to scadadal.

Security seems to be a bit of thing in Tahiti and behind the warm welcome and beautiful smiles we have suspicion all isn’t quite what it seems. One of the things that we will remember about this island is the dogs. We are not just talking poodles here but breeds that could really do some damage and almost everyone seems to have one. Most houses have high electrically operated gates with equally high fences and many of the dogs are kept behind them. However, there many more are just wandering around and on occasions meeting up with some mates to form packs of 3 or 4. Now in reality whilst many of these dogs look aggressive they seem to be quite well socialised but why the need? We took ourselves down the cheaper end of our nearest town and even they were taking huge security precautions to ensure their properties are protected against intruders with some even having razor wire on top of their fences. It’s really odd because if you look online then Tahiti is one of the safest places to visit in the world…..but then September is also hot and dry !!!!!

There is another animal that will leave us with a strong memory of this island, the humble chicken. Like dogs they are absolutely everywhere. They are all cockerels so we can only assume that any chickens not used for the laying of eggs or the laying of females (and you only need one of those) get kicked out of the house and left to fend for themselves. It does mean however that all we can hear throughout the day is them doodle-doing to each other. They also have no understanding of when dawn is, as they seem to start making a racket at about 4am.

Tahiti consists of two islands, the larger one is Tahiti Nui and its connected to its companion, Tahiti Ini by a narrow istmus. As the weather wasn’t great we did a complete circumnavigation of Tahiti Nui this week. Apart from driving on the wrong side of the road (blame the French) getting around is very easy being that there is only one road. The traffic near Papette is like the M25 on a Friday rush hour but the further away you get the quieter it becomes. They do a great thing with hazard warning lights and where we would flash to let someone know they can cross the road or pull out of a junction, they will put their hazards on. They always do it at zebra crossings to let both the person waiting to cross and the car behind know they will be stopping, it’s really quite a good idea. Maybe it’s done elsewhere but we certainly haven’t seen it before.

Another reason we have had a bit of a slow week is because Fran has been ill again with what we can only assume was food poisoning based on violent way it went through her system. However we both ate the same food and whilst Stuart is quite well known for his cast iron stomach even he can’t avoid being sick with food poisoning so the other possibility is bananas. She ate half of a very green banana and apparently the increased levels of pectin can cause digestive distress in some people. She’s all better now thankfully as we are rapidly running out of the whole trip’s supply of Imodium.

Anyway, next week Moorea, so let’s hope we stay illness free and that the weather improves as Stuart has threatened to go swimming with sharks.