Hey y'all,

It looks like this is where we'll be living for the next few years. Has anyone been there? The info available online is scarce (which in itself says a lot). We won't be able to go visit and look for a house to rent until late June. I'm specifically curious if they have a dance school, as I'm currently taking Tahitian dance lessons here (and if any of you will be here in May, you can come see me in my recital!) Any info is appreciated.

WOW!! What an adventure! How is it that you're going to be living there??

The woman who runs a pensione there on Tubai might be a nice resource for you...I'll look through my research from a few years ago and see if I can find. I did the research while planning our trip to the Australs but we limited our time to Rurutu. A dance association from Rurutu won the Heiva that year and their dancers and drummers were INCREDIBLE!! They came back to Rurutu and performed their winning dance (more like a Polynesian epic!) at their village...what an experience.

Poehere lived on Rurutu for 6-9 months several years ago and YosemiteGirl2 just returned from her 2nd trip there but no one I know has posted on Tubuai. I do know that the Australs have cooler weather than the Societies.

Good luck at your recital in May.......post photos or a video PLEASE!

Poehere will be very helpful, I think, when she gets back from her vacation!

I thought about Poehere, so I'm be interested in what she has to say.

@Vaitape, my husband is a teacher here, and since he's what you'd call a civil servant of sorts and therefore has to go where the gov't sends him/us for a certain amount of time, plus the fact that I work as a musician and wasn't committed to a full-time career in a company, is what led me move to Tahiti last September. Sorry for that run-on sentence; I promise I'm more articulate in real life, haha!

It has been quite the adventure here, although I'm homesick at the moment. I'm really glad I took up dance here, and hopefully it will be something I can continue with down there. It's going to be exciting to live on another island; I don't know many people my age who have the opportunity to do what I've done, but it's difficult to be so far away from my family and friends, and it's obviously very expensive to visit.

I will take photos and I believe there's going to be a professional video taken. We're supposed to dance in the Heiva, but I don't think it's official yet.

And the weather--yes, we're going "home" this summer, and I'm bringing back some sweaters. It can get down in the 50's at night there.

What an incredible life experience! I expect you could get dance lessons anywhere in FP even if they aren't "formal" lessons in a class. The dances might be different on Tubuai, but so authentic. Someone would be able to teach you, I'm sure.

Wow! We dislike Los Angeles but dats why we love all of Tahiti******FP4LIFE*******

I'm so excited for you, Nat. We have been looking at Tubuai for a little while now (since the whales go there too!). I will be very interested to learn more about the island through you -- please post more when you are out there researching (or when you've settled in).

This might sound kind of ridiculous, but if I were you, I would write to the proprietor of the Manotel on Rurutu, Yves Gentilhomme. He is an incredible person who knows _everyone_ on the island. I am sure that he will either know quite a bit about Tubuai, or (more likely) he will refer you to someone on Tubuai who does. Yves is French but married a Rurutu local, and chances are he has in-laws, or friends, or friends-of-friends on Tubuai. Connections between people are very strong out there so I think networking is a good plan.

PS: If there is no a dance school on Tubuai, Yves will undoubtedly suggest you attempt to organise a music/dance association. Yves is that kind of guy -- he gets a great idea, and makes it happen, and he encourages others to do the same. :o)

Thank you for that great info. I will definitely get to work on that. My husband returns to work next week, and there's a teacher that works with him that is from Tubuai, so I'm curious about what info he has as well.

We're probably going to go there in late June to look at houses for rent, etc., so I might have some info to post then. I did know about whale watching, so I'm really interested to learn more. I think there are lots of turtles there, as well.

I'm thinking of starting a blog when we move, so I'll make sure to share that if I do. My mother in law said, "there will be so much for you to do, because there's nothing to do." Lol, I love it :)

I think a blog is a GREAT idea. Be sure to give us a link to it! And your mother in law is absolutely correct! :-)

Yes, I'd love to read your blog, too. What a neat adventure! My soon-to-be-28-yr-old daughter is moving to a town in British Columbia (Canada) and I thought that was an adventure. But yours is way, way cooler (well, to me at least!).