We’re trying to recall what inspired us to want to go to Tahiti (French Polynesia) and the best we could come up with was, why do we think we needed a reason? Probably true, but more than that, it was a place where the one of us that had that week between Christmas and New Year’s Day off could enjoy herself, while the other could “work” from a “can you believe this place?”
The main objective was to realize what we’ve all seen in those pictures of huts over turquoise blue water when you think of Tahiti. We agreed that was make or break. The problem is those places are expen$ive. To make it work, we decided to limit the number of days in a hut to just a few. It’s already a splurge to get a private hut, and even more of a splurge to get one on the water. But if we’re going all the way to Tahiti, we’re gonna be on the water. We made it happen, and we were not disappointed.
Bora Bora
We did some research and found a solution that was indeed expensive, but at least not ridiculously expensive, the Intercontinental Le Moana Bora Bora. The Intercontinental is a marquis brand, so we knew it would be respectable. We looked at various packages and dates and decided on 3 days and 2 nights. It was a good choice – plenty of time for lounging, snorkeling, kayaking, drinking, dining, relaxing, and, unfortunately for at least one of us, working.
The accommodations were plush. We haven’t been to other huts like it, so we had nothing to compare to, but we thought it was pretty nice. Our favorite feature was a coffee table with a glass bottom. You could see the fish hanging out right underneath!
Masks and snorkels were free, so we just grabbed some and kept them in our hut the whole time. You can snorkel right off your own private deck, but there isn’t much to see. They’ve tried to create some artificial reefs in the water under and near the huts, and there are fish, but nothing spectacular.
What was better was to take a kayak (also free) out about 20 minutes to some proper reefs. We got lucky and saw a group of snorkel tour boats near where we landed the kayak. We swam out to where they were and had a pretty solid experience.
Not destination quality snorkeling, but good enough. I’ve since heard there are a few spots that are destination quality, but ours was a place we could just paddle out to right from the resort. We were the only ones out there at the time.
On our last day in Bora Bora we rented bikes and circled the island. It’s a pretty easy ride, with just one short uphill section, but with the heat and humidity, we were sweating buckets by the time we got back to the rental office. That afternoon we took the boat transfer back to the Bora Bora airport for our flight back to Tahiti.
Of course, we weren’t going to make such a long flight from home for only a 3 day trip. We decided on a few days on Mo’orea and a few on the main island of Tahiti for a total of 7 days. It ended up being a good choice. While it is true that if you’re going to just stay at a resort for an entire trip and never venture out, Bora Bora would be the place to do it, it’s also nice to explore other places nearby.
We arranged the trip to be in Bora Bora during the work week, the idea being that since we’re at a nice resort where we just want to stay put anyway, we might as well have the resort be where we stay on work days. WFH (Working From Hut). Get it?
Mo’orea
Anchoring Bora Bora to be on work days, taking the fewest number of days off work, taking into account the lower airfare leaving on Christmas Day, needing to be back to work on the Monday after the New Year’s holiday, and wanting to be near the airport on the last day, meant Mo’orea before and the main island after Bora Bora.
We found some random AirBnb on Mo’orea, and decided to just beeline it there straight from Papeete Airport. We rented a car at PPT as quickly as we could (it took way too long), and then had to book it to make the ferry to Mo’orea.
Airport to the ferry turned out to be quite the adventure. It seemed like we would have plenty of time to spare, but after an eternity at the rental car counter we had to rush to get to a ferry terminal we had never been to before. Google Maps took us to the wrong port, and getting back on the road in the same direction required a U-turn, but it’s a one way road around a median. We had to go back, for what seemed like forever, before we could make a U-turn (Are U-turns even legal? Legal at that intersection? I guess we’ll find out).
Once we got to the correct terminal, we had to find the correct line of the correct ferry company! Our first attempt was—you guessed it—wrong. Time was ticking. Now what? Fortunately, the terminal operators were all chill and just removed some chain barriers for us to cross over to the right place. It sucked, but we made it!
Next up, drive up the steep ramp in a car with a manual transmission without letting on that we’re Americans spoiled on automatic transmissions, and follow directions in French for squeezing the car into the tiniest of spots. Make sure to pull those side mirrors in! It all went well, considering. We were on the ferry to Mo’orea and could finally relax!
French Polynesia is hot. And humid. Mo’orea is hot and humid, even in December. But it’s beautiful, and lush. Tropical, obviously. Thank you, car A/C.
The drive to our AirBnb was beautiful. We got a taste of what the huts on Bora Bora would look like within a few minutes on Mo’orea, when we saw the Sofitel resort in the crystal clear water below as we pulled into a lookout on a hill above. Looked pretty nice, and probably cheaper than Bora Bora.
We took a chance on getting the rental car with limited miles. We had planned out our drive and thought, nah, we’ll be fine. After burning extra miles exploring and getting lost a few times, it turned out that we spent almost exactly as much as if we had paid extra for the unlimited miles, and unlimited miles would have been a lot less stressful. It seemed so much cheaper on paper. Lesson learned.
Showing up on the day after Christmas, a Sunday, isn’t going to provide many options for lunch and dinner in most parts of the world, and a tiny island in French Polynesia was no exception. We were hungry as soon as the ferry arrived, around noon. There were hardly any restaurants or markets along the way to our AirBnb, driving counterclockwise from the ferry terminal, and literally only one, Moz Cafe, that was open. We found a pizza place, Fenua Pizza, that looked open, but when we asked, it wasn’t going to be open until 5. We hadn’t yet discoverd Moz, so we were starting to panic, well at least I was. We knew that if we absolutely had to we would at least have pizza as our one and only meal that day, at 5 o’clock sharp, but then we found Moz a little ways down the road.
Moz turned out to be fantastic. Simple, island inspired food. We each got the fish petit-déjeuner. One of us got the raw fish (photo left: poisson cru with rice, plantain, toast and papaya), which she absolutely raved about, and the other cooked. Happy campers. Problem solved.
We edged our way toward our AirBnb in ‘Ōpūnohu Bay. AirBnb was satisfactory. We met a family from Europe upstairs that were traveling around the world for 6-months. Fun!
We ventured further around the bay, exploring and investigating where we could snorkel the next day. This is where we “burned” some of those extra miles on the rental car. One of our side trips was to Belvedere Lookout for not-to-be-missed views. We eventually found a place along the way that we returned to the next day, Hotel Les Tipaniers. After exploring, we headed back to the AirBnb, then back to Fenua Pizza for really legit pizza and a reasonably priced bottle of wine. We brought left overs of both back to the AirBnb.
The next day, we retraced our route back to Hotel Les Tipaniers, rented snorkels and a kayak, and paddled to the tiny island of Motu Fareone. There were plenty of sandy spots to park the kayak, then snorkel. Snorkeling was average, but the whole experience, with the kayak, made it fun. After returning the kayak, we stopped at the cabana for an obligatory tropical cocktail, and view of the sea. Done and done.
Papeete
The next day, we took the ferry back to Papeete. This was all before Bora Bora. Logistically, it was better to spend a day on Papeete before heading to Bora Bora. We stayed at Fare-Suisse, a charming botique-ish hotel—extremely clean (hey, they’re Swiss!). One of us did a half-day tour of Papeete, while the other worked from a perfect outdoor patio in the main dining area.
That night, we got a reservation for dinner at the new Meherio. Food was decent. Atmosphere was fantastic, so fantastic that we made a reservation for New Year’s Eve dinner. Fast forward past our Bora Bora excursion, and here we are again in Papeete. Not a whole lot that entertained us during the day – we mainly just walked around town.
For New Year’s Eve, we dressed up and headed back to Meherio. Sure enough, they had a table waiting for us, and to our surprise, it was right along the perimeter, facing the marina! Amazing!
We started out with some champagne, then some wine, and then started getting a little hungry. When the wait staff came around and we asked about the food menu, she looked at us a little awkwardly and informed us that there was no food. What? We looked around and confirmed that no one else was eating, yet everyone was happy. Do people not eat on NY Eve here? The thing was that when we made our reservation the week before, the waiter that took our reservation was all cheerful and excited about the event and the food that we would enjoy. Luckily, it seemed that we weren’t the only ones hungry after all, because an hour later, someone came up to us and quietly mentioned that they were offering a sampler of snacks for $95. Given we didn’t want to leave our excellent table, we opted in. When it came out we were shocked, in a good way. It was filled with a ton of stuff – shrimp, foie gras, charcuterie, cheeses, nuts, and a bunch of other stuff. We couldn’t finish it. So the night turned out to be a win, topping off the end of a great short trip!
Coda
If it wasn’t for the low-fare, non-stop flight from SFO , French Polynesia might not have made it to the top of our list. For that length of time on a plane, I’d rather go to Europe. However, now having been there, if I had an opportunity to go back, I would definitely carve out time to go scuba diving and do more snorkeling.
Additional Information
- We flew to Papeete on low-cost carrier French Bee. For a lot more, United Airlines also has direct flights from SFO.
- We used Terevau ferry service to get to Moorea. Booking online was easy and they were responsive. When I realized I had bought return tickets for the wrong date, I sent an email to their customer service and received new tickets within 24 hours. You need to book tickets for yourself and your car separately.
- It’s the tropics. That means humidity and lots of mosquitoes.