01-05-2025
Adventure—And Quiet—Awaits At The End Of The Road In Tahiti
At the end of the road on Tahiti Iti, the smaller island of Tahiti that hangs from Tahiti Nui like the tail of a fish, lies a singular kind of getaway. Aimatarii and Hitinui Levy's airy guesthouse is built on land that Hitinui's family has owned for generations. Called A Hi'o To Mou'a, its back porch looks out on soaring jungled peaks and sea birds diving on shrimp ponds. The front porch, with its long breakfast table where Aimatarii serves her guests fresh fruit, juice, eggs, and Tahitian donuts, offers glimpses of the ocean across the road. It's the kind of place that invites a slowing down, island style.
Teahupo'o sits on the shores of a calm lagoon.
Just a year ago, Teahup'o, where the Levy's live, was buzzing with excitement. This sleepy rural town had blasted onto the international map as the site of the 2024 Olympic surf competition. Now it's quiet: the little beach on the lagoon is empty save for the dogs that wander Teahup'o's streets, a chicken or two, and some locals alternating between socializing and offering the handful of tourists boat rides past the reef to see the famous wave. The roar of it can be heard breaking on the outer reef. It's a fitting soundtrack for the monuments to Tahiti's surfing lore that line the new waterfront bridge put in for the Olympics. The Levys not only had front-row seats to the competition; their family hosted Team USA for it.
Nods to surfing lore are everywhere around Teahupo'o's waterfront.
Hitinui grew up in the house across the street on the ocean, surfing, rowing, and fishing. He moved to the capital, Papeete, and worked an office job for years. But he wanted to live closer to the natural world again, and a few years ago, came back home and built the guest house. He became a hiking guide to take guests and other tourists on adventure outings along Tahiti's wild southern coast, and Aimatarii took on running A Hi'o To Mou'a. Guests here get their own spacious, white-tiled room and bathroom full of tropical plants, and a private slice of patio with a jaw-dropping view of the mountains.
While guests can join Hitinui for a guided hike—an option highly recommended to get to spots difficult for tourists to access on their own, and to hear his stories of this place—DIY adventure options abound here, too. Just across the bridge, friendly reef snorkeling offers a swim around bright coral, electric blue clams, rays, eels, and a dazzling array of fish. The Levys have a glass-bottomed kayak guests can take out paddling when the lagoon is calm. And a path on their property leads up toward the mountains, through a riot of flowering trees and a herd of white horses that Hitinui's mother tends, to a high tumbling waterfall.
The A Hi'o To Mou'a guest house backs up to high jungled mountains.
The Levys built A Hi'o To Mou'a with an enormous open kitchen in the center of the house; they both love cooking. Hitinui offers cooking lessons in the French-influenced Polynesian dishes that make the food here internationally famous—complete with foraging for faa'a, akin to wild spinach, and teaching guests how to shuck, halve, and grate coconuts. He makes shucking a coconut, on a spike in the front yard, look easy. But for the uninitiated, it's an almost comically difficult and lengthy process. Hitinui can do it in ten seconds flat. And then both Aimatarii and Hitinui are generous with sharing both their company and their stories while guests eat their meal on the covered porch with its flash of the sea.
If you're looking for a slice of Tahiti that's peaceful, welcoming, with just the right amount of adventure of your choosing, it's here at the end of the road in Teahopo'o.
The Levys on the patio of their guest house in Teahupo'o.
