Last - the beach

Finally, we wound up at Plaga de la Pointe Venus. This is Venus Point, the Northernmost tip of our island. This is a black sand beach. It has lots of crabs, a lighthouse, more greenery and not a lot of people.

Some of the details our tour guide gave us were that there is one road that goes around the island and one that goes through the middle. Next time (if there is a next time), I am going with Erik 4x4 on the road that goes through the middle. He said there is a lake in the center that feeds a lot of the waterfalls. The water chestnut tree and rubber trees are considered sacred. There are no poisonous snakes or spiders on the island. There are 170,000 people that live on the island and it's the most populated of them in French Polynesian (~113 islands). Politically, it has 57 districts. The double lane road only goes for 15km. The extra lane splits depending on the time of day. The biggest industries are: tourism, pearls, vanilla beans, and manufacturing some of the flowers for tamanu oils. 2/3 of the support comes directly from the French government. The French military and the President have a partnership to make decisions. The oranges here cost anywhere from $5-$15. Wild. Meth apparently is called ice and they have a huge problem with it.Read more