World Quest 2013: Tahiti

Murphy’s Law says that if something can go wrong, it will. Well, today was the day.

We arrived in Papeete at 8am. Today was THE day to go to the beach. I have been to French Polynesia before and have never touched the water, and today was the day. I am rubbing my hands together and licking my chops, ready to dive into that beautiful aquamarine blue water and lay on the white sand beach.

The trick was to find a place to go. So Michael talks to the excursion director, John, and gives him our requirements. As I mentioned before, there are no public beaches. John says we should go to the Intercontinental Hotel Resort. We have to pay $60 per person for beach access, but it includes lunch and a towel. So we decide to bite the bullet and pay for this. Hanita and Morrey went with us.

We pay $25 for a taxi ride to the resort, only to find that the charge was $75 per person. Grumble, grumble – but whatcha gonna do. I whip out my Visa card and it is denied. Before we left on the trip, I forgot to call Visa and let them know we would be going out of the country – grrrrr. Michael then gives them another card (we learned from our last trip to always carry different credit cards and an ATM card – smart, we remembered to do this). Anyway, the $150 charge was gnawing away at Michael, but he let it go.

The hotel is beautiful. The pool is beautiful. The ocean is beautiful. We get down to the pool cabana to get our towels and ask directions to the beach. Pool attendant points to a sandy blob in the middle of the pool! THERE IS NO FREAKIN’ BEACH!!!!!!!!

See sandy blob in middle of pool

Pool in foreground fresh water; pool in background salt water

Beverly, Michael, Hanita, Morrey

There were some sandy areas around the pool, and large lava rocks along the edge. After much discussion among the four of us, we decided to stay. The pool we selected was actually salt water and had fish in it. It was good for snorkeling, so Morrey took off with his gear and carefully climbed over the rocks and got in the water. By this time, I was roasting, so I decided to get in. I climbed over the rocks and slid in the water. It was very pleasant, and very salty. Michael sat on a chaise being petulant. I guess the heat got to him, because he finally got in the water. I got out and noticed blood dripping down my shin. I cut myself on a rock while getting into the water. It was a small cut, only about one inch long.

We moved to this spot so we could get in the pool.

This concerned me because a friend of ours (Neil) got cut on a rock in Viet Nam and wound up in the hospital for 3 weeks with a very serious infection that almost cost him his life. Hanita got one of the pool attendants to come over and put some Betadine (sp) on it. I hope there were no cooties on that rock. We finally moved to another area that had easier access to the water.

Everyone now is mellow and we are enjoying ourselves, taking pictures and chatting away. By this time, several hours had passed and it was time to feed again. The hotel has a beautiful restaurant, open to the view, with many ceiling fans to move the hot and humid air around. We ordered our lunch and waited, and waited, and waited. Finally, I hailed some waiter and complained. Then another waiter, and finally the manager. By this time, I had gotten my lunch but Hanita got something she didn’t order. It was a big mess. I got so hot sitting there, that I excused myself and went for a dunk in the pool – Hanita joined me. After wasting time at lunch, which by the way, was very good, we finally left to go check out the “other” pool.

Now, this was more like it. Apparently, there are no “real” beaches close by on the island of Tahiti. This infinity pool had sand all around and you walked into a FRESH water pool that HAD SAND ON THE BOTTOM. That’s right, the bottom of the pool was SAND! It was like being at the beach. The edge of the pool went right to the breakwater so you felt like you were in the ocean. In the background, we could see the island of Moorea and Bali Hai.