Our second last stop in the South Pacific or let’s say our last “pearl” of the South Pacific. We both where always curious about French Polynesia as it the place of the famous island Bora Bora and its Honeymoon tourism. How will it be? Is it comparable to all the islands we’ve been or is just the most beautiful place in the South Pacific? This we wanted to find out.
We preplanned our French Polynesia trip a few weeks before. We were told that the holiday season starts at the time of our arrival and we didn’t want to leave everything up to coincidence especially who knows if out of the sudden everything is booked out especially on Bora Bora.
Tour de French Polynesia
We decided to stay first for a week in Tahiti, the main island where the most tourists just use as a hub to fly to the next islands. Mostly, you read that Tahiti is not a nice place and without any character, but we decided that first we wanted to explore the main island, the culture, the people as the most of them live on Tahiti. To be honest, the main reason was that we planned to take surf lessons in the north, Mahina, which has beach breaks and are perfect for us as beginners. If the time allows us to visit Moorea we may will visit the island as a day trip. Moorea is accessible from Tahiti by a 30min ferry ride.
Our next stop will be the famous island of Bora Bora. The home of the overpriced resorts with their famous overwater bungalows. Beside of that, it is famous for the blue lagoon and the sea life and let’s call it the “honeymooner” island. A must visit if you are in French Polynesia.
Tahiti, Moorea, Bora Bora, all these islands are part of the so-called Society Islands. We wanted to see another island group as well and decided to go to Rangiroa. Rangiroa which is next to Tikehau or Fakarava is one of the biggest atolls in the world. It is part of the so-called Tuamotu Islands (Tuamotu Archipelago). With two main islands, Avatoru and Tiputa, and about 415 motus it has a population of around 2500 people spread on almost 80 km2. The main reason why we chosen Rangiroa is its famous places to dive, the Tiputa and Avatoru pass.
Arriving in Tahiti
With all these plans set up, we landed in Papeete, Tahiti on a Saturday, 14th of July arriving from Rangiroa, Cook Islands. As this is our second “French” South Pacific island, we hope that we will have a better experience. With that said, as soon as we arrived, the Tahitian island vibe swooped over to us and we felt welcomed. Especially, this time we had no issue to get any fair priced SIM cards. The car pick-up was just a quick formality and we got the keys for a small Chinese BYD car which we named “little chicken nugget”. We had to drive up north approx. 30min until we arrived in Mahina. We booked an Airbnb apartment which is slightly attached to the main house of our host Carole. After a few flooded side streets, we arrived at their place directly at the beach. We couldn’t ask for more. Carole was a great host, showed us around and we felt a bit like home in our little apartment.
Carole helped us finding a surf school which was able and willing to take two additional beginners in their group. We booked for 4 days with Aloha Surf School Tahiti.
Surfing in Tahiti
Johann and Romain welcomed us the next morning at 8am at the beach just around the corner of our Airbnb. Through these guys we were told that Carole is the mother of one of the best surfer on the island, Teiki Charles. How small the world is, we thought ????.
The surf group was split by a big kids group and group of a few adults. All with a mixed level but mainly beginners. After a short introduction and a few tips for the start, we got our board and went into the water. The first day we had small waves, a good start for our surf week. The weather was overall mixed, after a few raindrops the sun came up, but it remained windy. Anyway, nothing that would influence our decision of keeping the surf pace.
We both caught a cold as soon as we arrived in Tahiti, the sunny/rainy/windy weather made it happen. Anyway, as the surf lesson was always in the morning, we used the afternoon to relax.
The next day, Tuesday, the waves got a big stronger due to the weather change. This allowed us to improve our skills after a day of “beginner” waves. Especially, as I was now able too to stand up nearly on every wave I caught. I tried to keep up with Alisha, but I am not there yet ???? This means practise, practise, practise.
The waves were more challenging, but this was the thrill. Even if the waves were breaking in front of you and created a scary feeling, we didn’t give up. It was another good day of practise.
The following afternoon we decided to make a tour de Tahiti, this means driving once around the island with our “little chicken nugget”. The weather was quite moody and so we had different weather impressions throughout our road trip. After 2-3h, we were back in Mahina and used the rest of the time to relax as usual.
On our 3rd and 4th day, the waves got a bit rough. Nothing to be concerned about but it needed a bit more caution. Romain and Johann were starting to push us into bigger waves. Especially Johann was trying to teach us the next steps. Fast on the board and turning into the wave depending if it is a left or right breaking wave. Surfing is fun, but if there is no learning curve and you always just get pushed into the waves without any focus or guidance, it can get boring.
Johann gave us some guidance and I would say we made some good progress within these days. I would say I was able to get close to Alisha’s level, but I am not sure if she would agree to that ????
Bora Bora
After our surf week in Mahina, staying at Carole’s place and enjoying having our own apartment and to have the possibility to cook for ourselves, it was time for the next island.
Next stop Bora Bora, from the main island Tahiti where we focused on surfing to Bora Bora the honeymoon island. We found a little resort with good reviews for their overwater bungalow and a competitive price. We were able to book that place for three nights only. All the days before and after were sold out. We wanted to stay for one more night on Bora Bora. Therefore, we booked an apartment for the first night.
Our trip to Bora Bora started at the airport in Tahiti on Friday, 20th of July at around noon. We checked in at Air Tahiti and as all flights have no numbered seats, first come first serve, we queued up early that we get a good view from the plane. The flight was not a direct one, we had a quick stop in Moorea. The views of the islands were stunning. We had a beautiful view of the turquoise-blue reefs and lagoons and of all the islands Moorea, Huahine, Tahaa and Raiatea which were on our way to Bora Bora. Finally, we were able to catch a view of Bora Bora through the small plane window. A beautiful island with blue lagoons and the stunning overwater bungalow resorts which cannot be overlooked.
Finally arrived in Bora Bora, we followed the usual island procedure. First, checking in at the hotel, second getting somehow a transport vehicle, preferred a scooter. No sooner said than done, and we had a scooter from the AVIS rental shop next door. The day ended with a quick tour to the south of Bora Bora for a first view of the sunset at the Matira beach.
The next day it was time to move to our well-deserved overwater bungalow at Oa Oa Lodge. Secretly, we were looking forward to this moment since a while, especially Alisha but I have to say me as much as her.
Our main goal for Bora Bora was mainly to relax and to enjoy our overwater bungalow to the fullest. Beside of that we were keen on finding good fish restaurants and to attend a few activities.
Activities in Bora Bora
French Polynesia is not only famous for the crystal-clear water and the gorgeous islands, it is one of the best dive spots in the world. French Polynesia has a sea life diversity which makes them to one of the best dive spots. As certified divers, it is a must for us to explore that on our own.
French Polynesia has a great system with dive passes that are valid all around the islands. On one hand, you can decide to buy a dive pass with Topdive or the Te Moana dive pass (minimum 10 dives) which is a cooperation of different dive shops. I decided to go with the Te Moana pass. I booked with the Eleuthera Diving Center in Matira, in the south of Bora Bora.
The next day, I went for two dives in the morning. First dive was in the open water, outside the lagoon. The dive spot was called Tapu Nui. From the coral drop-off, we met lemon sharks, black tip sharks, humphead maori wrasses, moray eels and lion fishes. The lemon & black tip sharks were impressive, and we saw plenty of black tip sharks and a few shy lemon sharks which didn’t come close.
The second dive was at the dive site Anau well known for it to be a Manta ray site. The visibility was not that good, a lot of plankton but this is exactly where you will find the Manta rays and we did. Huge but elegant creatures with 4-5m wingspan. They floated really close past us. It was breathtaking.
Another activity that we didn’t want to miss was the blue lagoon tour. We have chosen a group tour. Our first stop was a snorkel site outside the lagoon where we were able to see black tip & lemon sharks. This time from the surface perspective. All the black tip sharks and fishes came really close but as you can imagine it was because they threw food into the water. Attracts the fishes and the tourists, as I would say. Nevertheless, it was amazing what swims around in French Polynesia. Our next stop was inside the lagoon. You are able to find plenty of stingrays in the lagoon and that was our next target. Of course, again they used food to attract the stingrays. First of all, I always thought that stingrays are dangerous if you come to close and especially if you touch the “sting”. But as they were handling these animals, grab them, pushed them towards the tourists, let them swim and bump into us, it was a bit scary and special at the same time. Also, after my question if that is not a bit dangerous the answer was, no not at all. Alright, maybe better not to scare the tourists but something went wrong with the Australian “Crocodile Hunter” Steven Irwin who got stabbed by a stingray into his heart and died immediately.
Anyway, the tour was interesting but again, it was a bit a tourist attraction “trap” in a sense that they feed wildlife animals to be able to show it to hundreds of tourists daily. Again, this is discussable, and we normally don’t prefer such actions but unfortunately you never know that in advance.
Our Bora Bora trip was ending after 4 days and it was time to enter the plane again and fly to Rangiroa.
Rangiroa – One of the biggest atolls in the world
After a two-hour flight from Bora Bora and being able to see the stunning Tikehau and Rangiroa atoll from the plane, we landed on the main island of Rangiroa called Avatoru. The island strip was just wide enough for a runway and a normal street.
We stayed for a night in Avatoru at Chez Olga’s place. We got picked up and she had a few bicycles that we were able to use for free to get around Avatoru. Unfortunately, they don’t have scooters to rent on the whole island so there was no other way than using the bicycles. We went to Chez Obelix for lunch and than further south towards the dolphin viewpoint at the Tiputa pass. We were able to spot some dolphins who came up to the surface. After our bicycle exercise down the south and knowing that we had to drive back, this was it for the day.
Diving Rangiroa – Tiputa pass with 6 passengers
The next day we had our pre-reserved dives with the dive shop 6 Passengers. These guys are located on Avatoru. The day started at 07.30am at the dive shop. We got our equipment and a briefing. The target was Tiputa pass. The dives vary by the direction of the current.
That morning, we had an incoming current which means the water was floating into the atoll. We started on the north-east side of the pass and dived along the reef. After a few meters, we left the reef towards the open ocean and this was such a special feeling. You lost the sense of depth and I only was able to control the depth thankfully to my rented dive watch and of course by looking at the dive master. The target was to spot the dolphins in the wild. At the briefing, we were told how to interact with the dolphins and the do’s and don’t.
We were lucky, we saw our first dolphins underwater. They were swimming towards us and one even swam by just next to me. Such special and smooth creatures. We were hoping to see them again as this time we weren’t lucky to play with them. They didn’t position themselves vertically, the sign for that they want to play and get pet. Back at the reef we came close to the pass itself.
The current got stronger and stronger, it pushed you 3-4m forward and 2 seconds later it pulled you the same distance back. It was feeling like getting sea sick on a boat but underwater. The reef moved fast by but on the other hand this is where you see a lot of fishes and sharks too. Overall it was an intermediate to advanced dive especially with the current of that day, but we were so happy about the dive because we have seen the first time dolphins in the wild, more sharks, giant trevally, stingrays and a lot of other fishes.
The dive was exhausting, and we used comparatively a lot of air, that much that Alisha were literally out of air at the end. But we were already close to the surface, so everything was save. I am proud of Alisha as she did really well, and we make more and more progress during our dives.
For the second dive, I went alone with another group and we went again for the same dive. This time no luck with the dolphins and I was hoping for the sunset dive.
At 4pm, we drove out for our sunset dive. This time Alisha came again. After dropping us off on the open ocean we were lucky and a group of 4-5 dolphins were approaching us. This time we had the full experience, as they were swimming around us and we were able to pet them. It was fantastic and absolutely a memorable experience for us on our around the world tour. A big check on our TO-DO list, seeing dolphins. We were especially happy that we were able to see them in the wild. No feeding, no zoo, no tourist attraction, it was in the open ocean and they came with a free will.
Tiputa – Southern island of Rangiroa
As the day was ending and our next accommodation was on the other island called Tiputa, we took our luggage on the dive boat for the sunset dive and they dropped us off at the pier of Tiputa. The last taxi boat is running at 5pm and so we were happy that they dropped us off.
We were staying at Chez Taianui et Vero which we booked via Airbnb. Taianui was so kind and picked us up at the pier. He works at the airport and took the last ferry at 5pm and was waiting for us. With a big smile and a little rusty car he was welcoming us and brought us to his apartment after a quick stop at the mini market. No alcohol we were told. The store was just next to the church and therefore they don’t sell alcohol. This was okay for us as we were really tired because of the dives.
The bungalow was spacious and recently renovated. He showed us around and explained everything in detail. A French family from another island was currently guest in his second family bungalow. We shared the modern kitchen with them. Unfortunately, the mosquitos were already waiting for us, “fresh meat”. Nevertheless, we really liked the place and we more or less went straight to bed, tired of our adventuresome day.
The next day, I went for one more dive. Mainly, because they told me that they will go for a dive at the Avatoru pass. It is an easier dive, but the dive site is famous for the lemon sharks. They picked me up at 7am and after a short briefing and a 25min drive we arrived at the Avatoru pass. Again, it was an incoming current and the approach of the pass was the same. Unfortunately, the expected sharks didn’t appear, and we went ahead to admire the reef with the little fishes.
With that as the last dive in Rangiroa, I went back to Tiputa where Alisha was waiting for me with breakfast ready. We had another day left and as there is literally nothing to do on these narrow islands beside of driving around with the bicycle, we decided to do a blue lagoon tour for the next day. There must be a famous blue lagoon north-west of the Rangiroa atoll which we wanted to explore.
The rest of the day we drove around Tiputa island with our bicycles or relaxed at the patio of our bungalow.
Rangiroa – Blue lagoon tour
We got picked up at the pier of Tiputa by our tour guide who was as well the captain of his little boat that had space for 6 persons. We drove over to Avatoru and picked up the rest of the group, a honeymoon couple and an older couple both from France. We totally underestimated the way to the blue lagoon. Yes, it is in the north-west of the Rangiroa atoll, but as one of the biggest atoll in the world, you can imagine that the way is not as short. After an hour drive we arrived at a tiny island in the middle of the atoll. It was to admire the birds that are living there but we mainly used the time to adjust our seat and to recover as the ride was really bumpy. It is literally a ride in the open ocean with a small 6-passenger boat. After another 30min drive we finally arrived at the blue lagoon. We repressed the thought that we had to drive back.
After a round of snorkeling in front of the lagoon we drove afterwards into the lagoon. A stunning view of a big lagoon with other lagoons in the lagoon. I don’t know how else I should describe that ????
In knee deep water, our guide was manoeuvring the boat towards one of the islands. He said that his cousin is owning the island. The little islands are mainly owned by the native families. After he parked the boat in the middle of the lagoon, we got off and walked in the shallow water to the little island. We had a little tour through the “jungle” of the little island, some insights about the birds living here and finally as we were back the more than deserved lunch.
After the lunch we had some time to relax, walk around and of course to do some pictures. After feeding the black tip sharks with our lunch left overs and relaxing on the island for an hour it was time to go back. What we didn’t know was that the level of the waves increased, and the drive back was even more bumpier. Anyway, there was no other way and after another hour drive we were finally back in Tiputa.
Back to Tahiti – Ready for the next adventures
The next day it was time to go back to Tahiti, the adventure French Polynesia came to an end. We flew back at lunch time and we stayed in Tahiti for another 3 nights before we had to take the flight to Easter Island on the 31th of July.
We were staying in another Airbnb, this time in Faaa. Closer to the airport and not to far from Papeete city. As we arrived on a Saturday, we prepared us for Sunday as everything will be closed.
We had two dives left on our Te Moana dive pass and booked a dive for each of us at Eleuthera Diving Center Tahiti. They picked us up on the next day at 10pm and we went for a lagoon dive at the dive site Aquarium. It was a relaxed dive after the more intense dives in Rangiroa. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the dive with less sea life but more relax time under water and as for every dive, you always can learn something new or focus on something to improve.
The rest of the day we stayed at home as nothing was open on Sunday. Monday, the next day, we went a last time to Papeete for our souvenir shopping.
In the middle of the night, at 2.30am our LATAM flight was awaiting us which brought us to Easter Island. New territory, new language, lower temperature. With 5h time difference and a 5h flight we arrived in Easter Island at noon. Mainly tired, we were looking forward what was awaiting us on Easter Island.
Cheers,
Ueli
Gallery French Polynesia
