Laura Dawn - French Polynesia Log 11: Teahupoo

We rode the wave at Teahupoo!! Well kind of: we were on Coco's small taxi boat that took us to the edge of the wave, riding over the swell literally at the end of the reef and the wave. We managed to hit the only body-board competition this year being held and were so close we had competitors in the water next to the boat waiting to go out and coming in. Awesome,(and totally terrifying for the first couple of waves!). But Coco was an expert in getting us into position for a front row view of the action. Dougal and Val adopted us for the day on their drive around the island and we called in at the 3 cascades (incredible waterfall) and the blowhole in the north. The blowhole was great fun: so loud and so fierce, but only maybe a foot wide. The blast of air coming up, accompanied by a huge roar made for a lot of fun taking turns to stand in front of it. We also got to Venus Point, the landing point for Captain Cook, an amazing place with a beautiful beach, the lighthouse, and rays in the water right be the shoreline. A great day and so stoked that we got to the most dangerous wave in the world (and survived)!

We had been in Teahupoo on Sunday but the competition had been postponed as the waves were only 4 meters - too small! So we had already had an awesome day with Marc and El mooching about seeing a bit of Tahiti, a super bonus that we got to go back and go out to the edge of the wave. The viewpoint between Tahiti-Iti and Tahiti-Nui was fantastic (after a few wrong turns we managed to find it - not due to Jacks driving.. not much is sign-posted!), looking back over Tahiti you could really see the coastline and the reefs. Surf beaches abound and we also found some great caves and water gardens to explore.

I think its safe to say we are loving Tahiti. But back to work now.. a few jobs to do..

17 35 10S 149 37 03W

LD: 27th April 2017