So, this week has us back on Tahiti. It was a quiet week with us both catching up on work and personnel admin. We did however do something Stuart had been looking forward to for some time….big game fishing. Now it’s a bit of a family joke that we have not had a lot of success fishing in the past. We have even failed in places where the marketing has clearly stated “impossible not to net”. So, at great expense we contacted a company called “Tahiti Fish in a Barrel” and hired a boat. With a name like that we were both anxious and excited about a day full of adrenalin pumped battles with huge fish from the depths. Our skipper was a French professional fisherman called Patrice who’d lived in Tahiti for over a decade and really knew the waters. Four hours later we returned to port with Patrice scratching his head and wondering whether “El Nineo” was the reason for the total lack of so much as a nibble on the line….we of course knew the real reason!! On the positive side we had some more amazing encounters with the humpback and we thanked him for an amazing, albeit expensive whale watching tour.

Because Tahiti is essentially part of France, there are no restrictions on French people coming and working, as demonstrated by our fisherman friend Patrice. However, from our admittedly limited exposure to the islands it appears that the result is that the native Polynesian’s and their culture are rapidly disappearing. This was no more apparent than when we tried to find some “traditional” Polynesian music and dancing to watch, resorting to the Intercontinental Hotel complex for “Te U’I Tapairu” dinner show. Despite the fact that we felt more like we were on a cruise ship than deeply immersed in Tahitian culture, it was a fun night with the highlight being an invasion of flying ants looking for a new home. Whilst Fran was uncharacteristically reluctant to get on stage and learn the dance moves when volunteers were requested, she did make friends with a huge Tahitian that looked liked he’d just returned from dispatching Captain Cook.

As we have mentioned before there is a lot of rain in Tahiti and whilst not always great for beach days, it does mean they have some amazing waterfalls and so before we left, we went hiking up the trails in search of some. We weren’t disappointed, with one amazing trail punctuated by three huge waterfalls that crashed through the rain forest. There is so much beauty in these islands but ironically most of it is away from the iconic beach settings. We have loved our time in French Polynesia but reluctantly it’s time to move on and so we said goodbye to our fantastic mountain Airbnb and headed for the airport, where we head from one of the smallest islands to the largest…Australia and a long overdue visit to see Lottie!!

Footnote: Stuart has heard it’s a great place to fish and a national pastime so he’s already booking his trips. He can’t fail this time surely…………