The "Favorites"

With less than 200 miles to go, we should arrive in New Zealand tomorrow! Woo hoo! Not that this passage has been bad, in fact I think it has been one of the easiest on the whole trip. Ironic, no? But it will be freaking sweet to be on land again, to have refrigerated foods again, to be able to walk around again, and, oh yeah, to be in New Zealand. Yes, it really is the little things in life.

Seeing as how I have nothing better to do, I will take this time to reflect on our voyage thus far. Someday I intend to post a map with our route on it, or some snazzy Google Earth interactive map or something, but in the meantime, use your imagination.

People always ask (and I am guilty of this too), "What was your favorite place?" This is an unfair question. Most places we have gone hold some sort of "favorite" for me. There was not one place that was head and shoulders above the rest. Of course there are places we visited that I liked more than others, but for the most part they were all pretty damn awesome. Let me list a few favorites:

Favorite surf: Punta de Mita and Putna Burros, Mexico and Irirru Pass, Raiatea (Society Islands). The beaches in Tahiti were good too.

Favorite food: A bomb-ass meal from Hotel Coral after surfing Punta de Mita all day, i.e. Mexican food. Polynesian food is definitely not my favorite.

Favorite snorkeling: West pass of Makemo, Tuamotus. Ha'ano island in the Ha'apai group of Tonga was pretty epic too. As was Perfect Reef in Suwarrow.

Favorite dive: Split Rock, Vava'u, Tonga.

Favorite stargazing: Out in the middle of the Pacific ocean with no land or lights around for 1,000 miles.

Favorite busses/drivers: American Samoa - particularly one bus driver who, when he pulled over to do a little shopping at a mini-mart along the route, bought Lars and me beers to drink along the way.

Favorite pineapple: Picked fresh from the pineapple farms in Moorea. I swear they were watered with sugar water or something.

Favorite mangoes: picked fresh from the side of the road in the Marquesas.

Favorite hike: the hike to the waterfall in Daniel's Bay, Marquesas. (This is ignoring the fact that I was eaten alive by no-nos and mosquitos.)

Favorite party: hmmmmm... this one is a toughy. I would have to say one of the parties on Slow Dance, although the Pub Crawl in Vava'u during the regatta week was super fun. The St. Patrick day party with the rock band and the giant trampolines in Mexico was sweet too.

Favorite rainbow: the most epic rainbow I have ever seen in the Bay of Virgins, Fatu Hiva, Marquesas.

Favorite coconut experience: with John and James on Suwarrow. Thanks to them I can pick a coconut, husk it, crack it open, and enjoy.

Favorite shark encounter: diving with the lemon sharks in Bora Bora.

Ok, I could go on and on, but I think that is sufficient for now. You get the picture. There are great things about every place we have visited. I feel like I should go on to describe a few of my least favorite experiences, just to balance things out, but maybe I will save that for a later post. I would also like to post a picture corresponding to every "favorite", but we will have to see how good the internet is in NZ (and how ambitious I am).

And so, next time, from Kiwiland!!
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At 10/26/2011 9:49 PM (utc) Rutea's position was 32°22.42'S 176°14.86'E

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