Rei Lei, Rock climbing in the South Pacific

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Its almost sounding repetitive. More beautiful scenery. More wonderful people. More great weather. Gosh. Its like its almost becoming boring, but not quite. Rei Lei beach can only be reached by long tail boat, which is an amazing contraption with a diesel engine large enough to power a long haul truck mounted not in the bilge or even below the water line, but topside above the stern. The entire engine is mounted on a swivel plate, enabling them to swivel the prop forward about ½ way up either the starboard or leeward side and effectively pivot the boat. The sea is wonderfully warm and shallow, so these long tail boats have flat bottoms that they just run up ashore.

You can just make out the rooms where we stayed on the right. We decided to go over the top and got the $70/night ones. Our most expensive of the trip!
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The sheer granite cliffs make for great rock climbing, so I’m told. Personally Lily and I opted for fruity drinks with umbrellas on the beach and dutifully watched as the rock climbers carried their ropes and carbiners to and fro. The local kids played soccer in the sand as lovers watched the sun sink into the ocean.

Easy to understand why this place has become a tourist destination. We were the only Americans that we noticed. Most of the others were from Germany or Australia. Some folks I talked with bemoaned how things had changed since the tragic tsunami four years prior. The small local beach front shacks were all gone replaced by $200/night resorts for the faring. But, for us the scenery was lovely, the fish was fresh, and our few days on the beach were perfect.