Teahupoo is the name of the town and the name of the famous surf spot out on the reef, but there are other reefs and other spots in the neighborhood. There are seven spots within five miles of each other, all breaking on different swells and winds, so its bound to be good somewhere.

Teahupoo is world renowned as the heaviest wave in the world, but it has  moods other than tyrannical, allowing all competent surfers to claim they got barreled at Chopes. Under ten feet, the wave offers decent surfers an amazing ride: a non-threatening bowl section and rippable shoulder. It’s the most consistent spot around, breaking from two feet to as large as you can handle it.

For years until the discovery of Teahupoo, the Grande Pass was known as Tahiti's premier wave. It’s a very long left for intermediate to expert surfers, and handles up to double-overhead surf.

For regular foots jonesing to face the face, there are two Semi-Secret Rights very close to Teahupoo which range in difficulty from novice to advanced.

The next left just down from Teahupoo is No Pass Left. It's a soft-breaking left and quite long as well. A great wave for novice to experts.

The very next pass is Small Pass, which has a short punchy right. It's mechanical and a wave magnet. It breaks up to six feet and is for intermediate to expert level surfers.

There is another left just beyond the Grande Pass called Miti Rapa which is a very hollow, hard breaking left at sizes up to 15 feet for expert level surfers only.

There is a ton of surf within short range of Blackwater Lodge, and the truth about this side of Tahiti Iti is that the Teahupoo circus is here only a couple of times a year, during the ASP contest or when surf forecasters predict a massive south swell. The rest of the time, even during prime season, the land is quiet and empty, and so is the surf.