Tag: photos

Huahine – the Garden Isle

On Thursday we moved to Huahine. After a short flight, we had a minivan + 15 min boat shuttle to the hotel (how cool is that?). Btw, there are no metal detectors, no security, no long waits in boarding interisland flights in these one room airports. Check-in cutoff is 20 minutes before the flight.

The hotel was quite empty, maybe 8 bungalows occupied. The food was good, but dinner portions were huge, so even though we had half board meal plan including appetizer, entree and dessert each, we scaled it down. The tuna appetizers (sashimi, carpaccio, tartare, and raw Tahitian style) were super tasty.

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We moved bungalows the second day to have wind protection on the deck, and then the sun came out again for a while.

On Saturday we did a super interesting half day road trip with an anthropologist.

On Sunday we did a fun all day boat trip around the lagoon.

More on those in later posts.

Moorea – rainy but having fun!

Yesterday we do a boat trip (sing along: a 3 hour tour) which culminated in an amazing swim/pet stingrays in waist deep water (photos to come after trip, on the waterproof camera).

We rented a car for 2 days (sometimes it’s sunnier on the north shore) which gave us some freedom, sightseeing without a tour, and local restos.

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Clockwise from top left: view of two bays from Belvédère, Susan in rain at viewpoint, northwest corner of island, near stingrays stop, a waterside church, spearfish in the Champion grocery store, a public beach on the north shore, boat trip, turtle statues covered in oyster shells at Hilt@n lobby

Today should be the last day of rain… tomorrow we change islands and get our first overwater bungalow

Tikehau lagoon excursion: all-day boat trip

From 9:00 to ~16:30, 4 couples and 2 friendly crew on a fast boat with a bimini for shade.

Stops were:
– La Ferme aux Mantas, a manta ray cleaning station by a former pearl farm on a little island in the lagoon; we saw one (none in recent days, so we were lucky); had to swim hard to follow him to get a close up look
– a deep water snorkel spot where crew spearfished fish for lunch
– Motu Puarua (bird island), where 4 species of birds, inc red footed boobies, nest on land
– delicious lunch on a private motu, inc Tahitian raw fish, coconut milk rice (best rice ever!), bbq’d fresh fish, beer and water; plenty of time to soak in the shallow water (like a natural swimming pool) before and after eating, and feeding the fish carcasses to the many sharks in the hot tub warm shallow water of the channel where the boat was parked
– Eden Island, a bizarre hippy-ish organic island paradise founded by some Taiwanese Christians who followed some prophet here
– another check for manta rays (none) so we snorkeled at the other end of that island

The lagoon is roughly a 25km diameter circle (slightly oval, really), and the trip takes you from one end almost to the other.

Tips:
– take water, hat, sunscreen, chapstick with spf
– wear a rash guard or T-shirt for sun protection
– apply sunscreen often, esp on face after each bout of snorkeling
– did I mention sunscreen?

… Or your face will look like this (see my cheeks below the eyes. ouch):

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Cost: ~$105 pp
Definitely worth it.

Will upload photos after the trip, as I didn’t take my phone on the boat.

View over PPT airport, with Mo’orea in the background

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The Air France flight was cramped (every seat taken – was hoping to have an empty seat between us) with a sad breakfast and terrible coffee (no cream or milk! Just powdered creamer. This is not the French way!

Immigration line was very slow, unless you have a European passport.

Pulled cash from the ATM (some bills have turtles on them!), had a coffee/juice, went for a little walk around the nearby area, bought some snacks at the grocery store practically  next door to the airport.