“Where can you go on the island?”
“You can take the road — left or right.”

I’ve been wanting to ride a bike since February. Now if we could just get the bikes before the Frowning French Foursome (just kidding, but the one couple just looked so unhappy the entire trip).

One morning after our snorkel and breakfast, we managed to grab a couple of bikes. Off we went – with my white, cotton miniskirt billowing in the wind. I felt I should have some bread in the front basket or something. We rode back down to the palm groves near the airport, where the crabs darted out in front of us every few seconds. Then, we turned and went the other way — that would be the right way.

We passed a small boutique, which we rode out to on the way back (I wish I had bought that keshi necklace — it was pretty on me). We continued riding and saw some of the roosters that I had heard from the hotel. We rode some more, bouncing around on the rocky road like a couple of kids, until we were in this weird, barren piece of land as far as the eye could see. Just rocks to the left, rocks to the right, and ocean beyond. You could look back and see signs of life, palm trees, etc. and you could look forward and see a little oasis of palm trees, but both seemed so far away. So we decided to turn back, as we were sweaty, and it was getting hotter out.

We rode a few more times during the trip, but the first time was by far the most fun. Now I definitely need to buy a bike, even a cheap one, so I can be transported back to childhood anytime.

Filed under:
French Polynesia by Courtney

Who would have guessed some free bread would entertain us for hours? It did, and that’s no exaggeration.

We made friends with these fishies, to the point that we could just splash our hands in the water and they would come over. But it was awesome with the bread, because we even managed to get some of the larger ones won over as well.

Raju and I spent the better part of a day sitting on the beach and feeding the fish. He got brave and stuck a piece of bread between his toes. As the fish dove for the bread, they tickled his legs (freak!).

As we got up to head back to the room, we walked over the bridge next to where we had been. I looked down and saw a snake that looked something like this:

Holy crap! I watched it swirl it’s way through the water… I was a bit mortified.

“Look,” I said, pointing. “That’s a sea snake — and it’s somewhat pretty. That means it’s probably really, really poisonous, right?”

“Yep.”

Just a few minutes ago my feet were in there! I’m not sure if the snake pictured above is the exact type of snake or not. It was black and white striped. Raju said it also had a little dot in each white stripe, which I don’t remember. However, a quick google search and I found this snake, who is indigenous to the South Pacific. Apparently their venom can kill a person within 5 minutes, but they aren’t inclined to attack or come around when people are splashing in the water.

We took the rest of our bread back to our room, and fed the fish from the coffee table. Truly amazing how quickly they make it over when they hear/smell food plopping in the water (can fish smell?).

Filed under:
French Polynesia by Courtney

While sitting on the deck one afternoon, I noticed a stretch of beach a distance away and thought we should go check it out. I had decided we could easily wade through the water at the places the beach seemed to disappear.

So off we went, towel and sunscreen in hand and flip flops on. Wading through the water wasn’t bad at first, but then I realized I had brought the wrong flops for the job. I had thought this through, the flip flops I wore yesterday in the water to wade to the motu didn’t dry quickly — they absorbed water (then proceeded to stink, which I will figure out in another day or so). So today I decided to wear the black flippers, the water should shed right off.

And it did! It made them slick and slippery. So I’m trying to wade across the coral and not cut my feet, but my feet keep slipping off the flip flops. So I ended up cutting my foot, but not too bad. At least I was wading in salt water, which would be good for the wound.

We make it to the area above, which was a little over the halfway point to the beach. The image above is a natural pool that had formed right off the lagoon. Basically a big drop-off all the way around. We’re not sure how deep this one was, because both of us were too chicken to jump in. This is the first time I have ever uttered the words, “I can’t see the bottom. I’m scared to get in there…”. Jumping in Boone Lake is one thing — the worst that might happen is a fish nibbles at your toes. The South Pacific has lots of poisonous and sharp-toothed sea life.

So we didn’t get in this pool, and we were sidetracked in our mission to go to the beach. Behind us was a road, which we followed:

(This is a picture looking back at the road and the lagoon after we had traveled on it a little ways.)

There were lots of crabs scuttling across the road, and a few days from now when I rode my bike down through here I almost flattened two or three of them (ironically, I’m making crab salad today for lunch). They would hear my bike and scuttle across in front of me, like they were trying to commit suicide.

Back to the original story — we follow this road only to discover we are back at the airport, just in time to watch the new arrivals step off the plane. The bag boys came flying in on their tractor, and the golf carts were there, ready to shuttle the new inductees down the palm covered road…

Filed under:
French Polynesia by Courtney

The rest of the days in Manihi sort of blurred together. They were fun, to be sure. We moved from spot to spot sunning, making fun of the French that looked as if it were such a bother for them to be in this paradise. So, for now I’ll just focus on some of the activities, then recap the last day.

One of the things that filled our days was snorkeling off of our balcony. Part of the reason we didn’t mind waking up at 6 am every morning (we never did adjust to the time) was because it was by far the best time to snorkel. The waters were calm, no one was out, and the fish were feeding. It’s a great way to wake up — go jump in the water.

There were so many colorful fish — the bannerfish and the picasso fish (my favorite) were two that were plentiful around our bungalow. Along with larger versions of these guys, which we never did find out what they were called:

One morning, while I was watching from the deck, Raju got a very closeup view of the bannerfish. They swarmed around his face, the entire school, not more than 6 inches away. I decided they thought he might be one of them since his mask was yellow and black. I unfortunately didn’t have my camera with me at the time, and I didn’t want to miss watching that to run in and get it. So, no pictures of the bannerfish, but you can see some on Google images.

Another bit of interesting sea life were the mollusks — I suppose sea scallops maybe? They had white, wavy shells, but what was really cool was the area between the shells, where their mouths were, were brilliant colors of jade green, electric blue, and hot pink. The mollusks would also bury deep into the coral. I had to do a double-take as I swam past one piece, because the mollusk had burried in so deep that it matched the coral’s color (no brilliant colors) and it looked like a mouth on the coral that was talking to me!

But, the scariest of all things we saw — sharks! We saw quite a few different kinds. From the deck we spotted what was either a lemon shark or a nurse shark. It was a light rust-color and about 5 feet long. That thing could move fast! It looked like it was just leisurely swimming (i.e. not after anything), and it was booking it.

I’ve decided what I saw while snorkeling was a blacktip reef shark. Seeing him definitely got my heart started, but he seemed to be just chillin’ a ways off, and he didn’t pay any attention to me. So, while I was slightly freaked out, I decided it was okay.

However, the next day, I ran into Fric and Frac. If you look really close in the image below you can see one just left of center, and the other above him, near the top towards the right.

These guys scared me, although they were only a foot and a half long. If my heartrate was elevated before, now it was racing. Fric and Frac were a team, and I swam directly into their faces. They were very interested in me, every time I turned around they were right there, swimming towards me then darting away, like they were trying to test me. On this day, I ended up not staying in the water very long. I checked out an awesome site of bannerfish feeding on some coral (tons of them, it was neat), then I booked it back to the ladder and got the heck out of the water. This was on Tuesday (we left on Wednesday). It was my last time in the water, because Fric and Frac kept hanging out around our bungalow. I must have smelled tasty.

It was either Tuesday or Wednesday when I was feeding fish that I realized how fast these things are. Fric and Frac were still hanging around, and they decided to get in on the action. If they were around when I dropped bread, they had it. They were lightning fast and could whip their bodies around in a fraction of a second. It made me realize that if that reef shark had decided he wanted to try a bite of me, it wouldn’t have mattered that he was dead still and 10 feet away. He could have been to me in 2 seconds flat — probably less.

We never have figured out what type of sharks Fric and Frac are. They had some odd ridges across their head, but they were definitely of the shark family. We’ve searched the internet fiendishly since being back, but neither of us have come up with the answer.

Filed under:
French Polynesia by Courtney

Let’s see, where was I… Oh yes! The Manihi Airport! Day 2 of our travels.

So we land, and all we see is a small almost-hut. It’s a shady spot with some thatching over it and a couple of benches. So, to recap, hut, mini-runway strip next to ocean, and a fire truck that says Aerodrome. Oh, and the baggage cart — which is a tractor with a small trailer behind it.

There are also hotel peeps waiting with golf carts. Thing is, they expected us a couple of weeks ago (uh-oh). But, they’ll take us to the hotel so we can get this all worked out. We both get lei’d and we’re on our way.

When we arrive, we are seated at the bar next to the pool and given fruit juices with an amazingly artistic garnish consisting of palm leaves, flowers, pineapples and cherries. The hotel staff seem confused about us being here, but “That is not your problem to worry about.” They seem confused about how long we are staying, but I guess that’s not our problem either. We enjoy our drinks, and then we are taken to our overwater bungalow, #49, the one on the end (yay!).

It’s smooth sailing from here. Noel delivers our bags and tells us he will be dancing and singing tonight at the restaurant. We wouldn’t miss that for the world! (There’s no where else to eat 🙂 )

We noticed throughout the trip that most of the employees seemed to have multiple jobs. For example, Noel delivered bags, danced, played the ukulele in the band, and cleaned the pool (in a wetsuit!). The woman who worked in the spa giving massages, wraps and facials also worked the cash register at the store.

The dinner show was fantastic. Dancing ladies, dancing men, dancing kids. The kids were precious, watching the other dancers intently to figure out what they should be doing. Not much is cheap on this island, but like California, the wine is extremely inexpensive.

Filed under:
French Polynesia by Courtney