January 30th - Vendredi – Teahupoo

So here is the scene. I’m writing this from the verandah of the parish house of the Teahupoo’s St. Benoit catholic church, where I will be staying for the next six days. What you have to picture is a building of which 1/3 forms a large open space that opens directly to the sea. And I do mean directly, as there is but a ten-foot strip of gravelly sand between the balustrade and the water. Some half-mile distant is the reef, with the famous Teahupoo surf break about a mile away to the left. Behind the house and less than half a mile away start the deep eroded slopes of the ancient volcano that formed this island, now covered in the exuberant
lush greens of the Tahitian landscape. To say this place is gorgeous seems inadequate.

I just came back from the first outing, this with Jean Sulpis who is a local spear fisherman. Actually he is not making his living from spear fishing, but like many people around town he puts a lot of the food on the table by his spear gun. And did I mention his is good at it?


I had never really seen spear fishing first hand, and the term “fishing” here seems a misnomer. It really is hunting more than anything else, creeping on the bottom, using ledges and coral boulders for camouflage, waiting for the fish to come within reach. While holding your breath, of course… We got up at 0430 (in the dark), had a bite to eat and then paddled the va’a (outrigger canoe) to the reef cut. I ask Jean which way we are headed and he responds by gesturing primarily upward. This is followed by a brief stop during which he prays. I assume this is for a good catch, but combined by the previous gesturing and getting a good look at the surf on the Teahupoo pass, I increasingly dread it is simply for a safe return.


We slip into the water as the rising sun is casting its first rays over the mountains of Tahiti Iti. Jean immediately begins fishing, approaching the reef break from the shallow water to peek over the edge. He lies on the bottom motionless, at times using his hand to creep forward - the spear gun pointing forward and at the ready. I am so focused on him that I completely fail to see the fish his first shot hits – an Uhu, or parrotfish some 30cm in length. He kills the fish at the surface by a quick stab of the tip of the spear just behind the eye to the brain. He then threads the fish on a stout nylon line around his waist, and proceeds to go after the next one. Fish are scarce this morning apparently, and, before long, we have swum some distance from the anchored canoe. Jean motions me to go fetch it and tow it behind, emphasizing the motions with “la pirogue, la pirogue” (the canoe, the canoe). I sprint back, happy to be of some use.

At this point Jean abandons the reef edge and starts fishing almost in the surf. I guess I should mention something about the surf to those who, like me, know next to nothing about surfing. See, this is quite possibly the most famous surfing spot in the world right now. It is hard to appreciate it this early morning when the sea seems pretty placid. There is something about the reef near the pass, gently curving to an almost South-North orientation, that forms an almighty wave when the long swell from the distant Southern Ocean storms roll in. After all, there is naught but water between us and Antarctica (all right, some small islands I’ll be visiting later…) so the swell can travel long distances without disturbance. The Teahupoo wave, at its highest reaches well over 7-8 m I’m told, and is one of the places where the top surfers in the world gather every May to establish the rightful pecking order of surfing stardom.

Back to fishing, however! This monster wave leaves its mark underwater as well, flattening pretty much all growth forms of coral toward the reef crest, and scouring deep drainage channels into the reef matrix, running perpendicular to the reef crest toward deep water. It is these sheer-walled channels some one to two meters in depth that Jean is now fishing. Alas, he is doing it so close to the reef crest that even the present gentle 1 to 2 meter swell occasionally breaks right over him. I remain further seaward in deeper water with the canoe in tow, visions of the canoe catching a wave and being deposited in bits over the reef crest – with yours truly in tow – helping to enforce a respectful distance.


Jean’s fish count is now up to about 7 or 8, and we have swum a good mile down the reef. He comes to the canoe; we pile in and start paddling further south, toward the next pass and into the building wind and waves. I am proud to report that my watery education that commenced at an early age in rowing boats of the Savo-district in Finland comes handy, and I can produce a controlled movement forward in the canoe all by myself as Jean bails. I can only assume this is how he has always done things, but the canoe begins to feel more like those James Bond two-seater micro-subs, albeit man-powered, than a proper Archimedean vessel of conveyance. I paddle, he bails and we inch along the reef finally reaching the next pass and scoot in behind the reef. He makes some noises of relief and, with an international gesture, mops his brow with his forearm. I’m sensing he’s perhaps trying to impress me just a bit and this might not be his average day’s fishing journey.

He fishes the edge of the pass, approaching the very abrupt fall-off of the reef from about 2 meters depth to goodness knows how deep. I’ve never been a particularly good free-diver as a restricted eustachian tube means I can’t equalize the pressure in my ear fast enough to make it very deep. Jean, however, is truly impressive. He gracefully glides down and vanishes into the blue for almost two minutes at a time. He is from Ua Pou in the Marquesas Islands, and says over there they fish even deeper.

Eventually the sun gets high enough to put an end to his efforts – the height of day is not good for fishing. This time we are running with the wind in the protection of the reef and the paddle back to the house is a positive joy. We get back around 11:00 and sit down for a Tahitian breakfast of papaya (with some lime), avocado, baguette, coffee and fried fish. Not a bad start for the day!