French Polynesia

Our French Polynesian Honeymoon

Day 1 - Travel Day 1

DCA Bon Voyage

Door to door from our home in MD to our first resort was 24 hours.  This included...

• 5 Hour flight from DCA to LAX
• 8 Hour red eye flight from LAX to Papeete, Tahiti (Arriving the next day)

Day 2 - Arrival Day

We arrived in Papeete, Tahiti early on Day 2.  French Polynesia is 6 hours behind the east coast.

French Polynesia is made up of

5 Groups of Islands
118 Islands Total

62 Inhabited

Tahiti is the most populated island

Official language is French

                        The Society Islands

Over the course of our trip we touched down on 6 of the Society islands

Tahiti

Moorea

Tahaa

Raiatea

Huahine

Bora Bora

Once in Tahiti we were transported by shuttle to a Ferry boat pier and hung out by the nearby market until our scheduled Ferry to Moorea.

After exploring the market we caught a ferry for the 30 min journey to the island of Moorea where we spent the first week.  Moorea is easy to identify as it is the heart shaped island next to Tahiti.

Once we arrived in Moorea we caught another shuttle to the Manava Resort and Spa where we stayed in a beautiful garden bungalow.

Almost everyday we were treated to a special gift in our room.  On day one we were given a black pearl which is one of the things French Polynesia is well known for.

My morning ritual included tea on the back deck of our bungalow

Day 3 - 4x4 Island Tour

On our first full day in Moorea we did the 4x4 Island Tour.  Due to an official holiday some of the normal stops on the tour were not open, but we did have the opportunity to visit some of the mountain peaks, a pineapple farm and an historic temple.

At the observation point for Cooks Bay

The flower is meant to be worn behind the left ear if you are married, and right ear if you are single.

A view of Belvedere Peak from Magic Mountain

Panorama of Cooks Bay from Belvedere Peak

Out in the ocean you can see the outline of the barrier reef that protects the shore line from storm surges

Thank goodness they no longer sacrifice humans at these temples.

On the left are pineapples growing on the pineapple farm, and on the right are some workers picking ripe pineapples.  The government leases land to farmers who use the land to cultivate crops to make a living.

Day 4 - Resort Day

We decided to take in what the resort and local area had to offer.

Resort Pics:

The infinity pool was awesome

Another guest at the resort was attempting to catch a sunset picture and ended up capturing this picture of us at the end of the observation pier and later shared the pic with us

Kayaking Adventure:

One of us was clearly working harder than the other

I loved how the cloud surrounded the peak of this mountain

Red Carpet Lunch

Polynesian Dance Show

 

Day 5 - Expedition Day

Today we rented a car and toured the non-tourist areas of the island.

We finished the day at what ended up being one of our favorite restaurants - Holy Steak.

Great option for sunset dinners

Day 6 - Lagoon Tour

Rob was really excited about this tour so I took a leap of faith and joined him in the water for what ended up being an amazing experience swimming with sharks and stingrays followed by a great BBQ on a private motu (small uninhabited island).

Getting ready to set sail

Our tour guide dove into the lagoon and pulled out this live Conch

Rob was more willing than I was to get up and close with the stingray

I was bold enough to get in the water with the stingrays and black tip reef sharks (after watching many others including kids jump in with no problem)

The reef sharks really stayed to themselves and avoided human contact.   

The Hostest with the Mostest

 

The Motu (small island) BBQ was delicious

Day 7 - Golf Day

There was no way we could not take advantage of the beautiful scenery and get in some of our favorite past time.

The Green Pearl Golf Resort

Following our day on the links we then attended a beach party thrown by the resort and then finished the day with a great meal at a local restaurant named Rudy's.

Day 8 - Dolphin Watch

Due to the time of year there were no whales to see, but we got the opportunity to see dolphins up close on a tour lead by Marine Biologist Dr. Michael Pool.

Spinner dolphin showing off a bit for us

Day 9 - Travel Day 2

After a week we checked out of our garden bungalow and made our way from Moorea to the island of Taha'a.  This required the following route...

• Shuttle from resort to small airport
• Flight from Moorea to Tahiti with a plane change
• Flight from Tahiti to Huahine to drop passengers off and pick up others
• Flight from Huahine to Raiatea
• 45 min boat shuttle from Raiatea to our private island resort

We were once again greeted with flowers.  This time I received a crown of flowers.

When we first arrived at the resort it was late into the evening so our first look video was taken at night.

This is the flyover image of our resort with a view of Bora Bora in the distance

Daytime Pics

A casual stroll through the neighborhood

This was our neighbors in Bungalow 4 having breakfast delivered by canoe.

Coming in from a sunset swim

We have no less than 100 pictures of this view of Bora Bora which never stopped taking our breath away.  Upon reservation, you could reserve the little tiny island in the middle of the lagoon for a romantic lunch or dinner which the resort would setup for you

The window seat inside our suite, great spot to reflect

Meet Mr. Ray.  Mr. Ray did a daily swim passing under our bungalow around 9am everyday.  This pic was taken through the glass bench at the foot of our bed.

We would turn the light on under our bungalow at night to see the groups of fish  of all varieties

The sunsets were spectacular.  We tried to time our day around making sure we were in a good spot to catch it.

Day 10 - Fire Show

We were able to experience our second Polynesian dance show, however, this time we were also treated to a fire show.

Me getting in on the action and dancing with the dancers.  Had to let them know that no one whines better than a Jamaican

This guy was awesome and spoke 5 languages to accommodate a very international crowd.  Tattoos originated in this part of the world.  It was hard to find a Polynesian without tats.  This guy started his tattoo journey at the age of 12 in some areas using old school method (shark tooth, ink and wooden mallet)

Day 11 - Taha'a Tour & Paddle Board

Another first for the both of us was paddle boarding.  Definitely not as easy as it looks but was fun.

Taha'a is known as the Vanilla Island and French Polynesia is well known for the cultivation of black pearls.  On this tour we got to experience a little of all of their key exports (Vanilla, Rum and Pearls)

Rum Distillery

The samples were NO JOKE.

I'm super excited about trying this Passion fruit rum

Vanilla Farm

Taha'a is known as the vanilla island

Pearl Farm

It was nearly impossible to not find Pearl shops at every turn.  Black Pearl is a massive market and major export.

Day 12 - Waterfall Day

In addition to pictures of the over water bungalows another iconic image we associate with French Polynesia are the waterfalls.  We were able to book a 3-4 hour intense hike to see 3 amazing waterfalls.

The Hike

The hike started off simple enough

Then it turned interesting quickly

Took a break to snap a pic near this wall of bamboo

Then it turned complex.  You have to have good endurance to make it through this 4 hour  hike.  It was fun to repel up the  mountain side

The Waterfall at the Top

It was a LOT of work to get here but we finally made it to the big waterfall at the top.

Representing as always

This eel was in the water just a few feet away from where I took the above pic.  He made his presence known when he nipped at Rob's ankle.  Luckily the eels here are toothless and non-electric.  Didn't stop me from getting out of the water. When it finally slithered out from the under the rock it was about twice as long as pictured here.

We recovered from the grueling hike by spending the rest of the day relaxing by the pool.

Most of our meals at this resort were at the main restaurant which was structured like a treehouse

Day 13 - Final Day in Paradise

We chose to relax on our final day.  If you can tell by the pics so far, we don't sit still.  Understanding that we were going to a have a long voyage back home we made our final day a do nothing day.

Day 14 - Travel Day 3 (Return Home)

Total travel time was approximately 32 hours.  The journey back was definitely not easy.

• 45 minute shuttle boat from the resort to Raiatea
• Flight from Raiatea to Bora Bora to drop off and pick up passengers
• Flight from Bora Bora to Tahiti
• Once we made it to Tahiti we had a few hours to spare so we left the airport and grabbed dinner in the city at La Souffle

Final nail in the coffin on my vacation pounds.  I'll be living at the gym following this vacation.

• Flight from Tahiti to LAX (Red Eye 1)
• Flight from LAX to Salt Lake City
• Flight from Salt Lake City to BWI (Red Eye 2)

Total Travel time back home 32 hours