Big storms and high temperatures
Everything's wet and everyone's sick.
I missed my missive last week as I was battling a fever that turned out to be dengue. Fun times!
We’ve had a full week of massive storms, torrential rain, and crazy winds. Apparently the ferries that go between Tahiti and Mo’orea have been tossed around on the waves like a cork. Emile said one woman was hysterically trying to convince the boat to turn around as they bounced their way out of the pass.
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
It’s big, impressive weather best viewed from the safety and comfort of a cosy house. We were all rugged up in jumpers, socks and slippers while the wind ripped down trees in the mountain and the rain fell like someone upstairs had tipped over a giant bucket.
The roof leaked a bit and we slipped and slid over the wet tiles as we placed pots and pans to catch the drips. At night, the wind would blow rain through the open window onto our faces. Martin kept visiting the boat to bail the water and would arrive back soaked to the bone.
And I listened to it roaring and raging outside while I lay in bed and sweated out a fever. Turns out there’s something of a dengue fever epidemic at the moment, and I have been the unlucky recipient of an infected mosquito bite.
Cue body aches, headaches, fever, loss of appetite. And then, right at the end, bright red burning prickling hands and feet that kept me awake an entire night.
This week, the weather is sunny again, like the big storms never happened. The ground thirstily absorbed all the excess water. My dengue symptoms have eased (although I’m still feeling a little tired!) and we’re back to business as usual.
I thought we’d missed the big rains while we were in Australia, but we got our little taste of rainy season after all.
If you’re travelling to Tahiti or Mo’orea during rainy season, here are my tips for mosquito management and here are my tips for what you should do if it’s absolutely pissing it down when you arrive.
February free download - Makatea cliffs
I recently wrote about our adventure to Makatea, the only atoll in French Polynesia with cliffs.
So for our free download for the month, I have the painting I did on the beach of the famous cliffs and the reef which was a gorgeous red-brown colour. In the sunset, everything turned pink!
If you’d like access to this print, consider becoming a paid subscriber:
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Lisette Charlotte to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.