Tahiti

[batoes]

Anyone surfed Tahiti - and if so, what was your experience? Could you find any budget accommodation?

A mate has won two return flights and has asked me - but it's looking really expensive and i can't find too much info on the net for the budget traveler.

[steve shearer]

There are some less expensive option and in fact Tahiti has been becoming steadily less expensive, particularly wrt Aussie Dollar.

You can stay in front of Haapiti on Moorea for not that much and you can stay with families or a small pensione house at Teahupoo for a very reasonable price.

It's a tropical island, food is cheap if you buy from local sources.

[batoes]

Thanks Steve - will explore both options. Maybe try five days each at those locations. Do you think a surf guide is necessary?

[steve shearer]

I wouldn't think so, but it would'nt hurt.

Waves are easy to find. A boat would be the more useful tool.

Anything can be organised.

When are you thinking of going?

[batoes]

No idea - it has all come out of nowhere and i don't know anybody who's been, so i've been reading the net, but there is a lot of contradictory info (go figure...). Would you recommend anywhere in particular? I know Teahupoo has several breaks around it, but we may have to go in Jan and apparently that is when all the North swell comes through.

[steve shearer]

January is a different beast with the North Pac swells.
Carroll knows a lot, he might chime in.

There's waves on north side of Moorea.

Tons of surf all round.

Pls go, its the most beautiful place on Earth.

[batoes]

Thanks Steve

Hopefully Nick will chime in - am hoping to surf all around the place, but would love to know where to set-up base. North swells may not wrap into Teahupoo and the south though? Your tip on the family guest houses has already taken the price down significantly!

I'm certainly going - i'm not missing out on this. Better start the surf training

[PeepeelaPew]

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[batoes]

G'day legion - my mate won some tickets a few years back and instead of taking his wife, he took me. My experience was this.
Three days of surf and then eleven of wind blown shit. Chopes was excellent. Big, gnarly, not overly crowded and an excellent atmosphere. Quite a paddle out and an expensive boat ride if you want to do it that way. Around the corner is a spot called Vairao - long left, much easier than Chopes. We had a great surf there with some frenchies, until a few locals came out and the snaking started. We tried Papara a few times - it has a pass (reef break) and a beach break - but it is the most crowded spot i've ever surfed. And i've surfed a lot of spots in twenty-five years....aggro locals (bodyboarders) and a bad vibe in the carpark. We tried a few other spots - Sappinas and some other passes - but all really crowded and only one take-off zone.
We went over to Mo-orea to surf haapiti. Disaster. Winds and bad weather smashed everything! We tried several times but no luck. If you want to stay with a character - go to Mark's place. He's the Norman Bates of the Island. We chased surf everywhere, but the wind was killing it. We nearly paddled out to Club Med (lefts and rights) but we decided to forgo the twenty minute paddle and honeymooned instead. Whale watching, swimming with sharks and dolphins, eating cheese in speedos. Quality.

Not a great surf holiday - but still bloody good fun. We got told off by a Tahitian dwarf.

Positives: Beautiful. Jurassic Park beauty. Friendly locals - wonderful people. Great food. Great swimming.
Negatives: crowds. local surfers (not all - some were cool). expensive. Mark. French people.

Hope that helps

[PeepeelaPew]

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[batoes]

Thing is, Moorea is beautiful and if Haapiti works, it could be awesome, apparently it was going off a week before we arrived...decisions decision - hope you get some waves mate!

[PeepeelaPew]

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