A Tahiti moto circumnavigation

Our anchorage looking west to Moorea
Papenoo surf spot


Birthday sundowners turned into Birthday dinner on board "Mr John" and it was a lovely night. Plans were laid for the next day's adventure, a moto (car) circumnavigating Tahiti. An early start was needed!


On the dock by 6 am and off to the Airport for our little rental car, a Hyundi Getz 2 door! Trust me if we could have afforded a 4 door we would have got one!! We headed north through the centre of bustling busy Papeete (even at 6.45am there was traffic jams!) Then our first stop was up a beautiful valley into the mountains called Belevedere. Beautiful scenery, though the 2200 metre mountain peaks were in misty clouds. After that we drove along the rugged black sand coast to another famous surf spot "Papenoo" as seen in the photo above. Dragging Geoff away, who probably wished he had his surfboard on top of the car, we headed across the top of the island and down the east coast. It was around here that we noticed that the no wind on the west coast was not exactly true. The east coast was blowing about 20 knots and the seas looked rough and choppy. Phew, glad we are in!!

It was a lovely drive going south along the east coast, past local homes and green lush, mountains. It became duller as we went further south and then started a light rain. By the time we crossed the isimuth to the smaller Tahiti iti, it was very drizzly. We took a while to find our way up to the du Plateau. A lush green grazing area, sort of like Beechmont or Maleny. Thanks to Paula and John (who was driving) we found this peaceful, not one other tourist, spot for a picnic lunch. Baguettes, Brie, local tomatoes and lettuce. Just perfect, with a view north showing both the east and west coasts of the isimuth.

Heading home via the west coast we passed lots of waterfalls and tried hard to venture inland to find the closest positions to their bases. But the rough, wet potholed roads proved too much and we often had to turn back before we became part of the scenery!! It was around 5 pm by the time we hit the area near Taina, where are boats are anchored. A fabulous day, thanks again to the "Mr John's" My keenest memories though may be that this is an island of Church's and speed bumps! :)