We made it!

Greetings from French Polynesia! This is a picture of the Faaa airport on the island of Tahiti, where we landed at approximately 5:45am local time after an 8-hour flight from LAX. At Faaa (PPT airport for the aeronautically inclined... i.e. Dad), the runway is literally 5 feet from the ocean and at an elevation of about 2 feet above sea level. It was built over two old reefs that they filled in to make one long landing strip, so it's pretty picturesque/unnerving when it's time to land.

After we landed and successfully made it through security/passport check, we lugged all our belongings to a bus, which took us to the ferry at the Papeete harbor, where we unloaded and then reloaded onto large luggage carts for the ferry. When we made it to Moorea harbor, it was time once again to unload and reload onto the Gump Station's trucks.


Between the 25-ish people, each of whom can have only 3 bags, we had over three truckloads of luggage and research gear, but we made it!


This is a view from the trucks on one of the first turns out of the harbor area. There is only one road in Moorea, which runs around the perimeter of the island for a total of 37 miles. Everything is small here - tiny cars, tiny road, tiny shops everywhere. It's really laid-back and the people are awesome.


This is a view from my dorm room window. Note the kayaks in the foreground, ocean in the back (it's only about 20 feet away from my window, and I can hear it now). We got the the Gump Station at around 9:30am local time (assume from here on out that all times are local from here on out - we're 3 hours behind Pacific Standard). After an orientation and lunch, a few of us went kayaking and then we all went snorkeling in the reef that runs along the station's beach. I didn't take the camera with me this time, but I plan to tomorrow - we're taking a grand tour of the whole island and looking at all the different types of habitats that it has.

And with that, goodnight to all - I've been up for quite a while now, so it's time for bed. Even if it is only 8:30.