Rain, rain, go away!

From the photos you see of Tahiti, you would think the sun shines every day of the year - but you don't get lush foliage and spectacular rain forests without rain.

The beauty of Tahiti is that the rain often leaves as soon as it arrives, leaving everything clean and refreshed, or it is a welcome relief from the incredible heat and humidity of the wet season. Tahiti also gets is fair share of storms, although village destroying cyclones are thankfully not frequent.

My last trip to Tahiti was toward the end of the dry season, whereas I had previously visited in the wet season when it can be uncomfortably hot. What I didn't expect was torrential rain AND cool temperatures. El Nino had landed a large storm cell over most of French Polynesia, and as we were moving around fairly slowly on a cruise ship and wherever we went, the storm cell seemed to hover.

I had been in storms in Tahiti, and I snorkeled in rain so hard and heavy in Moorea that it left marks on my back, but for the first time ever I actually felt cold. Despite the predicted temperature of 19 degrees, we set out on Marc's Motu Picnic with high hopes. As we snorkeled inside the reef, our guide spotted a whale breaching, so we jumped back in the boat searching for our cetacean friend. Unfortunately we missed our chance and started to head back to the black pearl farm.

Suddenly the skies opened up, the winds increased, and we all huddled in our boat hiding under weather proof jackets! We expected the storm to pass as it had on other days, but no - this time the nasty weather was here to stay. The rain brought a special camaraderie to those on the tour. While people are usually out swimming, or hanging around the motu, on this day there was a battle for the BBQ! Tourists usually only hang out near the BBQ to see what's on the menu, but on this day we were all huddled around as the huge flames from the burning coconut husks reached for the sky.

For the first time ever, every single person on the tour declined to go out for the second snorkel - a long drift snorkel straight down the pass. It is very rare that I will knock back an opportunity to snorkel, and it was probably warmer in the water than out of it, but I too was keen to stay as dry and as warm as possible. We had an absolutely gorgeous honeymoon couple on the tour, and the photo below says it all.

The moral of this story is to make sure you pack a light but warm rain jacket when travelling to Tahiti. The weather can come up out of nowhere, and although it isn't often as cold as the day we were in Huahine, it is a good idea to have a wind break and something to keep you reasonably dry.