French Polynesia, World Trip 2018-19

Tahiti – exploring the main island

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Of course we couldn’t visit French Polynesia without spending some time at least in Tahiti itself – the main island of the archipelago. We spent two nights in Papeete and took a rental car for a day to explore the island. At first we headed East to a couple of viewpoints and blacksand beaches. People say Tahiti does not have any nice beaches – ok, they are not white, but we still found them quite pretty. Also nice for a change to see black sand instead of always white sand! There were also some nice views over the little bays and Moorea in the distance.

Unfortunately, after we started driving again, an alarm light in the car went on. We called our rental agency and were asked to stop by their location close to the airport. This was super annoying since we were already out of Papeete city traffic and we only would have passed by the airport at the end of the day otherwise (on our way back and to drop the car). But well… we have rented cars and scooters in so many different places in the world and never really had an issue up to now. I guess it was bound to happen at one point! To make things worse, we get stuck in a really bad traffic jam just 2km or so away from the rental station and were moving only meter by meter. At the rental agency, they checked things and told us that it’s only a broken alarm light and we should keep driving. Oh man, lost almost 2h for nothing…!

Anyways, we decided to continue our drive South instead of heading through Papeete another time. There was still some traffic jam, but luckily soon we were driving on rather empty roads again. Along the West coast, we stopped at multiple sights – some gardens, a waterfall, a natural spring,… all not that exciting though. We quickly (also because we didn’t have much time left) made our way to Tahete Iti, the smaller island of the two (unlike Huahine, Tahiti Nui and Iti are actually one island and not just connected by a bridge). We drove all the way down to Teahupoo, a place famous for its big waves and surfing competition. Unfortunately, you need to hire an expensive boat to get to see the wave and surfers – you cannot see them from town. Even so, it was a nice place to walk around for a bit, a cute little town.

Next, we decided to drive into the interior of Tahiti Iti up to a viewpoint, which would have been amazing, I’m sure, if the light would have been good. Unfortunately, mid afternoon was not a good time – we had the sun directly against us… Still cool to see, but we wish we would have been there at a different time of the day.

We then were left with the dilemma whether to finish the circle of Tahiti Nui (the big island) by driving up the East coast or to drive back the same way we came. On any other day, we would have opted to see what we had not seen yet – but we were a bit pressed for time and worried that Papeete city traffic would once again be really bad and we would get stuck in a traffic jam yet again. So we decided (sadly) to give that part of the island a miss… to be honest, I don’t think we missed all that much though. Tahiti overall has not been too exciting, and with our bad luck combined, we were happy to leave again next day for Moorea!

French Polynesia, World Trip 2018-19

Fakarava – the best of the Tuamotus

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Seems like we saved the best for the end! Our last island in the Tuamotus was a pleasant surprise: white sand beaches and underwater sharks galore! Fakarava’s North and South Passes are known for being among the best dive sites in the world…But after the rather disappointing dives in Tikehau and Rangiroa, we weren’t sure what to expect. Luckily, Fakarava delivered! We first dived the South Pass, which was a very choppy 2.5h boat ride away from the main island. But – it was worth it! Both dives were amazing: We finally saw rather healthy coral, lots of fish aaand…hundreds of sharks!! I’m not exaggerating. There were walls of grey reef sharks waiting for us underwater where we stopped a couple of times at different depths to admire the action. The second dive had some crazy currents and a little less shark action, but was still really great. Happy diving times!

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Another day, we dove the North Pass, which was only a 20min boat ride away. Much easier! I loved our one dive there and wished we could have done more still: Loads of fish – big schools – everywhere, here and there some grey reef sharks, not quite as many as in the South Pass, but still plenty. And beautiful coral! We had some nice drift during our dive and could just glide along and watch things. Awesome!

The rest of our time in Fakarava was spent cycling around the island and stopping at various spots for snorkelling. I was sooo happy to see some nice coral again after all the grey dead coral of Tikehau and Rangiroa. And there were always some sharks around, wherever you jumped into the water! Usually blacktips, but in town and around the harbour there are also a couple of shy lemon sharks which we tried to approach sometimes.

Above water, Fakarava was beautiful as well! I liked the main village Rotoava, quiet and peaceful, and finally we had some nice sandy beaches again! Especially the stretch at PK9 (kilometer 9 up North past the airport) is pretty with white sands, turquoise waters and of course photogenic palm trees. It was quite a cycle up there, but we managed to go twice. I had heard before that there is good snorkelling too, but when we went into the water here, we only saw dead coral. Maybe we should have swam out farther? But there were quite some waves every time we were there, so not the best snorkelling conditions anyways. More time to enjoy the beauty above water then!

We ended up liking Fakarava best out of the three islands we visited in the Tuamotus and would have probably traded a day in Tikehau or Rangiroa for more time in Fakarava in hindsight. If I was to return to French Polynesia, I wouldn’t mind going to Fakarava again for some more diving and lagoon tours, which we didn’t manage to do this time.

French Polynesia, World Trip 2018-19

Moorea – last but not least

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As a last island of French Polynesia, we decided to visit Moorea. I had always wanted to go there, but since we were not able to include it in our air pass, we saved it until the end and took the ferry from Papeete instead – which was easy enough. And a beautiful ride! First, we had great views of Tahiti, with Moorea in the distance, somewhere in the middle we had humpback whales breaching close to the boat, and later on we got the most spectacular views of Moorea – Tahiti faint in the distance. What an entrance to Moorea! The harbour is located between some high green mountains with beautiful blue waters around. Wow!

The next few days we explore the island by scooter and by foot, and of course soaked up the sun a bit more on the beach in front of our camping… some last beach time before we would go to South America and cooler temperatures would await us!

One day, we rented a scooter and drove around the whole island (which is not thaaat far). First, we headed to a viewpoint called Magic Mountain where unfortunately the guy told us it’s better to hike up than drive by scooter. A sweaty walk up an almost perfect road…where we easily could have gone by scooter. Oh well! The views were absolutely worth the hike though. Green mountains and turquoise waters, once again!

We then decided to drive along the South coast first, since the weather in the two bays in the North looked rather grey and rainy. Good choice! In the South, the sun was shining and we were able to enjoy some beautiful views. A really nice viewpoint is just past the Sofitel, where you can see the over-the-water-bungalows and the perfect clear water. Too bad we cannot afford to stay here! (Well, we probably could, but then our entire travel budget would be gone veeeery quickly…)

It was all very pretty, but the best are the two twin bays in the North: Opunohu Bay and Cook’s Bay. Here we took countless photo stops, relaxed a bit on the beach and enjoyed the typical Society islands landscape a bit more. Too bad this is the last island we are visiting!

Of course, we also drove up to the Belvedere, the most well-known viewpoint in Moorea. You don’t even have to hike at all to get this amazing view! Unfortunately, it was still a bit cloudy, but we nevertheless really enjoyed it.

Next day, we went hiking! We first hitched a ride to Opunohu Bay, then walked up again to the Belvedere – not along the road we had driven the day before, but on a nice trail in the forest. Up at the Belvedere, we took another trail which took us to a couple more viewpoints along the way and then all the way down to the other side of the island. It was pretty, but to be honest, the view stayed pretty much the same the whole time and a lot of the walk was just in the forest. In addition, it was raining for a big part of the hike, so at one point we were a bit done with it and ready to finish the hike. Also, hitchhiking proved difficult that day and it took us about 45min to get a ride. All in all, it was good to do some hiking again, but probably not absolutely necessary.

And…that was it for French Polynesia! Bus to ferry, ferry back to Tahiti and then a long wait during the night for our 3am flight to Easter Island. Why do flights have to leave at crazy times like these!? Seriously…