Tag Archives: konis

Sunken Tiki Garden

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A beautiful recreation of an underwater tiki garden can be found right by the Opunohu anchorage.  Many Tahitian tikis were thrown in the ocean when the missionaries were converting the French Polynesia islands.  In protest, many locals tossed their own tikis in shallow waters as a sign of respect and preservation.  The tikis we found were placed underwater about 25 years ago.  There are 8-12 tikis which can be found in less than 2 meters of water.

Not sure if we found all 12, but we found a lot.  There has been a tremendous amount of growth around the tikis, even since our last visit.  The boys humor me by posing with the tikis.  This first one has 4 different faces.

This tiki had weird bubbly eyes.  Well, probably not eyes, but that is what I am going with.

This tiki looked like a mermaid to me with her tail curling up around her.  She had a lot of growth on the sunny side which had a lot of sea life. 

This is a mother and daughter tiki or two sisters.  Different interpretations.

My favorite tiki us almost unrecognizable.  He has so much growth by his head that you can’t tell it is a king sitting on his thrown with his hands on his lap.  Cameron is trying to look him in the eye to tell him it’s ok.

Is this a turtle tiki?

The boys decided they needed to stick their head inside the tiki.

Manutea Tahiti: Rotui Juice Factory and Distillery

Konis family loved, loved the Rotui mixed juice that I was buying so we decided to visit the factory located on Mo’orea.  Manutea Tahiti aka Rotui Juice Factory and Distillery.

Unfortunately for us they were painting the actual distillery so we could not go in and see it.  But fortunately for us their tasting room was open!  So, we enjoyed sips of all their juices, wines, Champaign, liquors!

And man o man are they fabulous!  We walked out with 2 boxes of goodies and had to rush back to Sugar Shack as we had invited a few cruiser friends over for Happy Hour.  We had Rachel and Josh from Agape, Brian and Sue from Sea Rose, and Jan from Hannah.

In our next blog we visit Vaiare Bay.  Did you miss our play time at Coco Beach on a private island? – check it out.

Events from this blog post occurred during the first week of August, 2021.  Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind our adventures.

Coco Beach: Mo’orea

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We needed a beach day to decompress from all of our activities.  But a beach day for the Konis family is anything but relaxing on a beach.  Love them!  We head to Coco Beach which is located on a small motu called Tiahura just off of Mo’orea.

The restaurant is located on a heavenly islet. Hidden in the trees and on the sand are dozens and dozens of tables and benches. You rest your toes in the sand as you enjoy their tasty morsels.  Service can be a little slow but not surprising when you see the dozens of tables.  Right as you enter the eatery you are met with a very humorous sign.

We take every opportunity we can for photo ops:

Sisters, the very best of friends.

The Konis’s and Mitchell’s

Of course, there was loads of volleyball

An amazing lunch to go along with the bevy of cocktails

And loads of swimming to cool off from the hot sun. I love the shameless branding photo with Cole.

In our next blog we explore an underwater tiki garden, a juice factory, and introduce my family to some of our cruiser friends.  In our last blog the boys learned how to foil and we did a transparent kayak tour. – check it out.

Events from this blog post occurred during the first week of August, 2021.  Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind our adventures.

Translucent Kayak and Foiling

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Lagoon Explorer offered lagoon tours around Opunohu Bay in transparent kayaks.  The website and the idea sounded super cool.  Get a tour and explanation of cool sights seen through your see-through kayak.  We thought we would get explanations of sea life around the bay and or a chatter about Mo’orea.

Unfortunately, that is not what we got.  We were in deed situated in tub-shaped transparent kayaks.  But our tour guide never explained anything.  Little disappointing as we could have seen and done everything in our dinghy for free.  But we made the best of it.

Troy took one for the team and manned his own kayak.  Kimberly and I were in one and Cole and Cameron were in another.  We started out against the current and wind which made it challenging for Kimberly and I to keep up. 

On the way back we switched it up.  Cole went with Kimberly and Cameron came with me.  A lot easier and to be honest more fun :).

But we made it to the first stop – sting ray city. Our guide encouraged the rays to hang out by feeding them. Although he swears, he didn’t feed them.

Foiling For the First time

Our friends Ryan and Nicole on Kiapa Nui are huge kite boarders.  They recently acquired a new foil board and were trying it out while anchored near Sugar Shac.  They were kind enough to teach the boys how to foil!  You can check out Kiapa Nui’s YouTube channel “Adventures of Two Afloat.”

Cole was the first one to try it out.  He is a surfer and had a little advantage on balance.  But we had no idea he would pop up and immediately foil on his first try!  He was spectacular!

Cameron missed the training session, but received a quick overview from Cole.  He struggled a little more than Cole, but still managed to get up and foil after a few tries.  He had great air and speed and did an amazing job.  Check him out holding on with one hand!

In our next blog we visit Coco Beach on a remote Motu called Tiahura.  In our last blog we visited Te Mana O’ Te Moana a sea turtle sanctuary – check it out.

Events from this blog post occurred during the first week of August, 2021.  Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind our adventures.