I know this will sound ridiculous, but it’s the honest‐to‐goodness truth — a boat full of French tourists applauded and cheered for me after I rode my first wave at Teahupoo.
What’s also true is that I chickened out on more than half a dozen perfectly ridable waves beforehand at the world‐famous Tahitian surf break, paddling furiously right up until the point where I needed to commit and then deciding at the very last moment the steep drop beneath me was just far, far too frightening.
The waves were not especially large on my first visit to Teahupoo, where so many breathtaking photos and videos have captured tremendous surfers riding under the punishing lip of absurdly mountainous caverns of ocean.
How to Surf Teahupoo
Tour operator Teahupoo Tahiti Surfari, a company that takes individuals and groups on half‐ and full‐day surfing and snorkeling excursions around Tahiti’s south shore, picked me up on a breezy afternoon during my visit last year, when most of the waves were just shoulder‐high — although head‐high sets did pop up occasionally.
Matehau Tetopata, who grew up on Tahiti and is one Teahupoo’s most respected surfers, rode out on the boat that afternoon, too, paddling into the lineup with me later and helping get me in the right spot while offering all sorts of terrific advice and smiling encouragement.
You can see the mountains when you’re in the barrel. And there’s just this huge whoosh when the wave spits.
"Paddle straight,” he told me with a grin after I pulled back at the last second on an early wave. "Just paddle straight with the wave. Don’t turn.”
If you Google Tetopata, some of the first entries that appear are links to YouTube videos of him riding massive waves at Teahupoo, dropping down the impossibly steep faces of fast‐moving walls of blue water before riding expertly into these yawning tubes of twisting ocean. Some of those rides earned Tetopata nominations for one of professional surfing’s highest honors — The World Surf League’s Big Wave Ride of the Year award.
And while those are not accomplishments Tetopata is likely to bring up himself, when I asked him later what it’s like to be in the barrel at Teahupoo — or riding in one of the signature tubes the Tahitian wave so famously creates — his eyes lit up.
Teahupoo surfers are surrounded by mountains.
Credit: 2022 Yohan Lafond/stock.adobe.com
“You can see the mountains when you’re in the barrel,” he said, pointing back toward shore and the jagged green angles of Tahiti’s skyline. “And there’s just this huge whoosh when the wave spits.”
Where to Stay in Teahupoo
Hitinui Levy grew up in Teahupoo, and he and his wife, Aimatarii, now operate a homestay there, welcoming guests looking to overnight in the small community at the end of the road on Tahiti’s southwestern coast.
"It’s a simple life,” Hitinui told me during my stay with his family last year. “For us, there is everything here. We have the sea, we have the mountains, we have the river. … I’m happy with that. I don’t need many more things.”
Children jump off a bridge at the end of the road in Teahupoo, a remote community on Tahiti’s southern shore.
Credit: 2020 Tahiti TourismeThe Levys, who are of Tahitian descent, built their four‐bedroom Teahupoo home in 2017, using it initially on weekends or for vacations away from their busy lives in the French Polynesian capital city of Papeete, which is about 90 minutes away by car. But when French Polynesia closed its borders to international visitors in 2020 due to the COVID‐19 pandemic, Hitinui left his job, and he and his wife and two daughters started living full-time in Teahupoo, where there is just one little store and no hotels.
"We gave our homestay a Tahitian name — A Hio To Moua,” Aimatarii explained. “If you translate that [directly], it means, ‘Look at the mountains.’ But it’s an old Tahitian saying from our ancestors that means, ‘You can go out and travel, but don’t forget where you’re from.’”
The Levy family has been welcoming guests to stay with them for more than three years, and they frequently rent out the lower three bedrooms in their Teahupoo home to international travelers who book via Airbnb.
For us, there is everything here. We have the sea, we have the mountains, we have the river. … I’m happy with that.
U.S. vacationers overnight frequently, according to Aimatarii, who noted she also works with travel advisors and pays commissions.
I spent two nights in one of the home’s comfortably appointed bedrooms, which featured an ensuite bathroom and a showstopping view of Tahiti’s iconic mountains. The house is located just across the street from the ocean on land owned by Hitinui’s family for decades, and guests are encouraged to explore the nearby river and lush valley, where I fed the Levys’ horses guava right off the tree during an afternoon stroll with Hitinui and his two dogs.
Tremendous food is most definitely a perk of any stay at A Hio To Moua, where Aimatarii served up so many wonderful fresh fish and seafood dishes along with deliciously prepared, locally grown veggies and fruit. And the caramel banana dessert she treated me to one night after dinner was splendid.
A Hio to Moua is a homestay located in Teahupoo.
Credit: 2022 A Hio to Moua
"For many people, Tahiti is just white sand and coconut trees,” Hitinui told me. “People who stay with us share our simple way of life, and we maybe show them some things they’ve never heard of. We want to share with them what makes this place special for us.”
What Else to Do in Teahupoo
Laurel Louderback, who owns True Tahiti Vacation in Redondo Beach, Calif., lived in French Polynesia for 20 years and has been selling the destination since 2002, and while she’ll be the first to tell you Teahupoo is not for all of her clients, she will not hesitate to send the right folks down to the end of the road.
"For those who have the time, they absolutely love the experience,” Louderback said of Teahupoo. “It’s so wild and savage. … It’s incredibly gorgeous nature at its absolute finest.”
Commissionable excursions with Teahupoo Tahiti Surfari are Louderback’s most frequently booked option to the region, and she said she likes to use the tour operator because they will take vacationers out to the pristine and extraordinarily remote Te Pari cliffs preserve at the southeastern tip of the island.
It’s incredibly gorgeous nature at its absolute finest.
Hitinui and Aimatarii Levy joined me last year on a half‐day Teahupoo Tahiti Surfari boat tour to Te Pari, where we stopped to snorkel over some extraordinarily vibrant reef ecosystems and later hiked along the stunning lava-rock ocean cliffs. We also swam in a freshwater pool along the way and spent a few chilly moments under the cold rush of a hidden waterfall.
Louderback has not yet booked any of her clients at the Levys’ A Hio To Moua homestay, but she said she knows several people who’ve stayed there.
"They love it,” Louderback said. “For people who are really looking for an immersive experience, it’s great.”
For clients with a passion for surfing, Teahupoo is a dream destination.
Credit: 2022 Maiko Mou/stock.adobe.com
Conceding that many of the clients she books on French Polynesia vacations are especially eager to travel on to their outer‐island resort accommodations after landing at the international airport in Papeete, Louderback was quick to note that she does occasionally work with people interested in dedicating a couple days to Tahiti.
"I always encourage [those clients] to head down to Teahupoo because it’s an authentic Tahitian experience,” she said, offering a noteworthy caveat. “But usually, the people who really want to go there have some connection to or passion for surfing.”
The Olympics Come to Teahupoo
Organizers of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games have announced plans to hold the event’s international surfing competition at Teahupoo, in an effort to spread the games across France and its overseas departments.
The world‐famous wave has been home to one of professional surfing’s most prestigious events for more than two decades now, but the last time the World Surf League’s Tahiti Pro competition took place was in August of 2019, due to the pandemic.
Kelly Slater catches a wave during the Tahiti Pro contest held each August at Teahupoo, which will host the 2024 Olympic surf competition.
Credit: 2020 Tahiti Tourisme/Steve DickinsonAccording to Hitinui Levy, that annual pro surf contest has elevated awareness about Teahupoo exponentially over the years, and while he said that’s been positive for the region in many ways, it has changed the place some.
Hitinui told me he was excited when he first heard the 2024 Olympic surfing contest would be held in Teahupoo, but he also has some apprehension about how the increased international spotlight may impact the sleepy little community where he grew up.
"We’re afraid it’s going to change,” he told me last year, “and maybe not for the best.”
Hitinui and his oldest daughter were in the water with Matehau Tetopata and me when I finally caught my first wave at Teahupoo, wobbling down the steep face and managing to awkwardly regain my balance in time to make a few turns before kicking out into the channel, where the boat full of French vacationers cheered as I paddled back toward Hitinui.
“They’re happy to see [somebody] actually get one,” he said to me in the water with a big grin.
Later that night after dinner in his home, Hitinui spoke about surfing as a teenager in big waves at Teahupoo with only a few friends around, long before there was ever a pro contest at the break.
"I don’t mind seeing people in the water,” he said. “When we see foreigners, we like to encourage them to take some good waves and give good waves to them. That’s what we do. … But the people from here, they need to have good waves, too.”
The Details
A Hio To Moua Homestay
Teahupoo Tahiti Surfari
