There acrually are some cool bars in Papeete-but one needs to find them. Most of Papeete is pretty poverished -at least the two times I've been there.
And then there is Rangiroa is the largest atoll of the Islands of Tahiti, and the second-largest atoll in the world. Can't recall but I think it was like a 30 minute flight out of Papeete. If your lucky enough to make friends with a local the polynesians will take you out on their small boats and you can dive with them as they spear fish for the local restaurants. Just need to follow your boatman cause there are tons of sharks that know the routine. They are all around but as soon as they hear the trigger of a speargun go off they become your "closest friend". At least that was 20 yrs ago.
And if you want an adventure take the small boat across a 20 mile passage to the other side of the atoll and there you can camp with a french man and his wife. They call it "Savage". Again 20 yrs ago. No electricity-just lanterns, campfires and lots of raw fish and rum !. Only has room for like 6 visitors. I wonder if it is still there ???
Savage is where I had my knee lanced in the light of a laturn and camp fire under many rum drinks after making worse a diving injury by continuing to play in the water with harmless black fin sharks. It was the summer there and the french nurse who did the procedure was quite attractive and wore very, very, very little, clothing-if any. One of my happiest drunken memories. Somewhere, somewhere, in my house I have an old VHS from my underwater camera of the procedure on my knee that I took while in absolutely no pain !
I have lots of stories about "Rangi".
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/2023 05:07PM by waterfield.