Day 2 of our trip. We awoke in Tahiti around 6 am, which will be a trend for the entire trip, but not a problem. I was definitely ready to go check out the beach. I suspected it was a black sand beach from what I could see from the balcony, and I had never been on a black sand beach before.
Breakfast was a smorgasboard of choices, and I’m suprised I wasn’t sick after eating so many different things. Rolls, croissants, jams, fruit, fish, salamis and cheeses, fruit juice and coffee. Sweets and savorys. The croissants were great with this coconut puree that I never could find in a store (I should have stolen some from the hotel).
After breakfast, we took a quick walk on the beach. It was neat, but I couldn’t wait to get to Manihi and see the crystal clear water. So back to the room to grab our suitcases and head back to the airport. This morning the tour peeps were waiting for us — Angel and her driver. Angel gave us some history lessons on the island, as well as talked a little politics, language lessons, and tips on buying pearls in Manihi. One of my favorite people I met on the trip, we covered a lot on that 10 minute ride to the airport.
No problems at the airport — we checked in, checked our luggage, and wondered around a bit. One thing I regret is not getting pictures of the locals shipping their products out at the airport — lots of produce, etc. It was an area we stumbled upon when we were walking around, and I almost felt as if I shouldn’t be there, so we headed back to our gate.
Though the flight to Manihi was short (only a little over an hour) I was squirmy today. Day 4 on a plane was too much. We passed over some other atolls as we made our way to Manihi — it’s amazing that there is life out here in the middle of so much ocean.
Finally, we are descending and before I know it we are on the ground. As we come to a screeching halt on the runway and start to turn, I see there is no room for error here. If we hadn’t stopped exactly where we did, we’d be in the ocean right now. We deplane at the Manihi Airport:
