I stayed 3 days and 3 nights in French Polynesia on my way to Argentina from New Zealand. For any senseful human being, staying such a short time in Polynesia is a non-sense, after all this is barely more than a crew layover ! But nonetheless, despite the short stay there and about 2 years after visiting this place, my head is still filled with beautiful pictures !
To begin with, I should mention that the choice of 3 days there was firstly because of the airline schedules : As written on my previous post, there is only one weekly flight between New Caledonia and Tahiti and while there is almost one daily flight from Papeete to Los Angeles, I wanted business class for this (night) leg and availability using miles was quite scarce on that route. But I eventually got lucky and scored one award ticket on the tuesday night flight to LAX. The next possible option was one week later, and that would not have left me enough time to enjoy the Argentinian part of this adventure (Remember, I had to be in Ushuaia on Feb. 24th !) But more on that later...
Mentioning French Polynesia triggers to many people some sparkles in their eyes. (My girlfirend to begin with, as 2 years later, she is still pissed that I went there without her :-) But more on that later too...). My father is also one of them, but for another reason : In the Early 1980's, when he was in his early twenties, and military service was still mandatory in France, he got (very) lucky and scored his 9-month assignment in the French Navy in French Polynesia. Back then, his military aircraft had to stop twice to refuel on the way to Papeete and the journey took almost 2 days. Despite that, he was still the lucky one of the family - his cousin, of the same age, was hoping to get the same thing and ended up in a winter assignment in the hills of Belfort, right next to Switzerland and Germany, that was a different style for sure !
So going back to my dad's experience in Polynesia, when I was starting to share the idea of stopping there during my round-the-world trip, he immediately started to talk about his personal experience, how he learned to scuba dive and water-ski, how the Club Med Bora-Bora buffet was tasty and how he got his driving licence, compliments of the French armed forces, for several types of land or sea vehicles free of charge. When I mentioned I would stay there only 3 days, and only thinking to remain on the main island of Tahiti, it was a bit of a shock for him, but he immediately advised me to head to Moorea, the island in front of Tahiti, about 45 minutes of ferry crossing away from the Port of Papeete. And since I am a good kid, I followed his advice on the first morning of my arrival... :-)
When you look at the map of French Polynesia, Moorea is clearly the closest island from Tahiti, and a lot of residents of Papeete and its area are going on "weekend trips" there.
Map of French Polynesia, which is almost the same size of the European Union. But unlike in the EU, Air Tahiti has the monopoly of air transportation between the islands. A weekend trip gets therefore very, very expensive ! (Credits : Air Tahiti)
Zoom-in on Tahiti (the main island of Polynesia). The options in a 100km radius are : Moorea, Tetiaora and Maiao. Moorea is the closest island from Papeete. Tetiaora is the private island where the luxury resort "The Brando" is located and Maiao is a forbidden island for outsiders.
After a restful night at the airport hotel of Faa'a, and a light breakfast, I booked a taxi to get to the port of Papeete to take the Aremiti ferry to Moorea. Since I did not have a car, I did not need to prebook tickets in advance and got the tickets at the port directly. There were, when I visited the island, about 5 departures daily, and the crossing takes about 45 minutes, dock to dock.
Note that I was not initially planning to carry my entire luggage since I was going to Moorea for 2 nights only, but for whatever reason, the airport hotel refuses to keep luggage after checking-out (before checking-in is ok), so I carried both luggage with me to Moorea.
View of Faa'a airport from the hotel.
Air Tahiti's ATR fleet here.
I stayed during the entire crossing on the upper deck, where I met a couple of American tourists who were heading for 5 nights at the Hilton Moorea (they managed to get a reservation with points - lucky them!)
Leaving Tahiti
Moorea is in sight
On board the Aremiti 5
Approaching Moorea
Right after disembarking in Moorea, I picked up the small rental car I hired at the local Avis station. They did not joke with the description of "small car", and one should not expect any status upgrade there and like in most fields in polynesia, competition is very limited and prices pretty high. But like everywhere in the islands, the staff was very friendly and I got the keys in no time (It actually took more time to find a way to fit both luggage in the car :-))
BYD, A (Chinese?) brand I never heard of, with the engine of a lawnmower... But it did the job for my two days on the island of Moorea !
It's almost impossible to get lost on the road in Moorea : There is only one main road around the island, which forks at some point to go towards the center of the island at the Belvedere. Going off-road was indeed out of question with my ride !
The hotel I booked for those 2 nights on the island was almost at the other side of the island (Moorea sunset beach resort, next to the Tripaniers beach and not far from the former Club Med Moorea). It was not one of the overwater bengalow resorts (there are only 4 in Moorea : The Hilton, the Sofitel, the Manava and the Intercontinental, latter which has closed for good recently), but the location was nice, with direct access of the beautiful and semi-private Plage des Tripaniers, the accomodation comfortable and mostly competitively priced (about 300 Euros for 2 nights).
The drive was very scenic on the island's circular road and going along the 2 main inner bays of Cook and Opunohu.
Along the main road...
My home for the next couple nights
The washing machine next to the bathrooom was a convenient addition to the room !
Private access to the beach
Plage des Tripaniers
After settling my stuff in the room I went for lunch in the neighbouring village and had a delicious fish sandwich. The owner of this little food truck on the side of the road was a metropolitan who fell in love with the island 30 years ago. I was listening to the discussion he had with a couple of other customers, some guys in their early 20s from the mainland who wanted to settle on the island and were looking for a job to which he replied while grilling some fish: "Polynesia is a paradise, it's not for working"...
Delicious local fish sandwich for lunch
After this brief stop, I continued driving on the circular road to go to the Lycée Agricole in center of this island and to the Belvedere, as one of my friends who went in Moorea the year before recommended me to see.
I had my "digestive walk" in the backyard of the Lycée agricole (The local agricultural high school, which is also open to the general public and has a small snack-bar with delicious ice creams btw), where many plantations or pinapples, bananas and other local plants could be seen and continued later on the Monoi road up to the Belvedère, the high point of the island accessible by car. At this moment, the first drops of rain showed up, which is very common in this low touristic season (it rains eery hour or so and then the sun shines again...)
Moorea's backyard
Pineapples. You could buy some at the high-school snack-bar. Simply delicious !
Belvédère under the clouds. The conditions were fortunately better the next day ! Cook bay on the right side and Opunohu bay on the left
After stocking some breakfast supplies and snacks at the local supermarket I headed back to the hotel and spent the late afternoon on the beach until sunset. I am definitely not a beach guy, and although I love being near the ocean, I only enjoy it when I am along it, not inside ! This time was very different though, the water was warm, almost hot, the atmosphere lovely, and seeing all those coral fishes was very nice.
Relaxing evening...
Plage des tripaniers
You don't need to go far to see those small fishes
Sunset on the tripaniers beach
For dinner, I enjoyed a delicious piece of fish at a restaurant nearby and then headed back home for dessert. I was actually quite drained that evening so I went to bed early to enjoy the early hours of the morning the next day...
Tiahura restaurant. The kind of places I would rather be with the family or friends. But the food was very good !
Pineapple and coconut cake for dessert, in front of the French news. Funny to see that Europe was freezing while I was enjoying tropical weather !
The next morning, I decided to wake up early to see the sunrise, but at 6.30, it was already too late. I enjoyed a morning swim almost alone on the beach before breakfast and then went back to play a bit with the drone.
Good morning
It's only 6.30 !
Plage des Tripaniers, just for me !
View on Motu Fareone and Motu Tiahura
Looks like I was not alone in the bungalow !
Playing with the drone after breakfast : View on Motu Fareone (left) and Motu Tiahura (right). Next time, I will go there !
View on Motu Fareone (left) and Motu Tiahura (right).
Coral barrier
Almost alone !
I took the car afterwards to complete the tour of the island and stopped whenever I felt like it along the way. I eventually went back to the Belvédère in the afternoon to get better pictures and discover a bit the area walking in the forest.
One church per village - even the smallest !
South side of Moorea
Sofitel Moorea
Temae beach, went there, but was too crowded, I preferred the Tripaniers beach which felt more private...
Panoramic view of Temae and Sofitel Moorea
Sofitel Moorea with the drone
Hilton Moorea overwater bungalows
Hilton Moorea overwater bungalows
Opunohu bay
Piha'ena from above
Panoramic view from the Belvedère, sunnier than the previous day !
Belvedère view.
I went back for sunset on my private beach :-) and this time it was a bit busier than in the morning.
Small hike in Moorea's countryside
Back to the plage des Tripaniers for my last evening on the island.
Busier... but not crowded !
I enjoyed my last dinner in Moorea at the restaurant les Tripaniers right next to the hotel. Simply delicious, with friendly staff. (I have to say that everyone in Polynesia was very friendly. The fact the "tutoiement" is the norm in the island definitively helps to have friendlier discussions. (Tutoiement is the fact of using "tu" for "you" in French, which is usually reserved for your family or friends. When interacting with someone you do not know already, with someone older, or in professional discussions, "le vouvoyement" is usual : Vous will be used to say "you". The same exists in spanish with "usted", and in Dutch for instance with "Je/jij" and "uw" - and in many other languages I presume too...)
The next morning I went for a last dip in the ocean before packing my stuff and head back to the port. My flight to LAX being aroud midnight, I planned to spend my last day in Polynesia visiting the main island of Tahiti. But that's for the next post, the girlfriend is now calling me for dinner :-)