French Polynesia... 3 islands in 2 weeks (Bora Bora, Moorea, and Rangiroa)
Written: Oct 03 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: GREAT place to relax and dive...
Cons: expensive
The Bottom Line: French Polynesia is a great place... for honeymooners, or those looking for a week (or more) to get away and relax...
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| bgraff's Full Review: Tahiti and French Polynesia |
This is a rather long, but comprehensive, travelogue of my wife’s and my trip to the South Pacific in the summer of 2004. We spent 3 weeks on 7 islands (Bora Bora, Moorea, Rangiroa, Aitutaki, Rarotonga, and Fiji). The review for each set of islands are posted in that area on epinions…
Summary: if I were to have a similar amount of time, and recommending where to spend it based on this trip, i would definitely make some changes, but it would have a lot to do with what you LIKE to do… As scuba diving and relaxing on the beach were our priorities, I would have skipped the Cook Islands altogether, spent more time in French Polynesia, and on Fiji, I would have skipped the Sheraton in Nadi, and spent a week on one of the island resorts… all in all, it was a wonderful 3 weeks, and we enjoyed (almost) every minute of it… details below…
We arrived in Papeete from LAX on Air New Zealand at 2:30am. We had 3 hours to kill until we caught our connecting flight to Bora Bora… Interestingly, our US ATM cards would not work at any of the 3 ATMs in the airport… and we were unable to get them to work in any French Polynesia ATMs… we heard US ATMs are hit and miss. Note: we didn’t bring much US cash either, as this is the first time in many international trips ATMs were not available. The solution: The Sheratons in both Bora Bora and Moorea gave us cash and charged to our rooms – with no fee… pretty good deal.
Luggage:
Weight Allowance: For Air New Zealand, the allowance is around 65 lbs checked luggage per person, so no problems, but the interisland Air Tahiti and Air Rarotonga flights had much stricter policies –-- 20kg (44 lbs) per person checked and ~7kg (15 lbs) carry on. However, if you have a scuba certification card, you are allowed an additional 5kg (12 lbs) each. We were slightly over the limit for both checked and carry on, but they didn’t ask us to pay a surcharge… I got the feeling if you were within 3 to 5 kg of the limit you were ok… but something to be aware of…
Packing: Even though we packed for 24 days in the south pacific, and only had 1 big suitcase between us (and 1 bag with our diving gear), we still packed more than we needed. For the daytime, a pair of sandals, 2 or 3 swimsuits/shorts, and 4-5 NON cotton T-shirts (easily rinsed and quick drying) were sufficient. For dinner, same sandals, nicer shorts, and a couple of nicer short sleeve shirts are sufficient. Lisa brought a couple of sundresses for dinners… you may want to bring a pair of running shoes if you plan to jog or do any hiking… otherwise, sandals will be fine for the whole trip… Nights were a bit colder than we expected and Lisa wished she had brought a jacket or light sweater.
Bookings:
After comparing hotel prices on 5 websites, Costco, and direct, I concluded in high season, there are few deals to be had… We ended up booking the Sheraton in Bora Bora, Moorea, and Fiji direct for 35% and 50% off rack (starwood preferred guests) and used points for some free nights in Moorea and Fiji. For Rangiroa, we used the Top Dive travel agency to book Kia Ora Resort – they were the cheapest, and we got a 10 dive package (each) that can be used in Moorea, Bora Bora, and Rangiroa. More on dives later… For Cook Islands, I booked direct thru the hotels – travel agents didn’t save any money, and by booking direct, I was able to negotiate little things like free scooters, late checkouts, etc…
Bora Bora:
Best of Bora-Bora: To us, the hotel. This is the nicest hotel we stayed in our entire trip. The pool / beach area of this hotel was the best of all the 7 islands we visited. Beautiful beach and lots of kayaks, sailboats, to play with. The guy at the beach activities desk will take you sailing if you ask him. Also, the island is striking with the dark green of the mountains in contrast to the blue/green of the ocean.
Internet Access: The Bora Bora Nui had free internet access, but VERY VERY slow… and you had to use their computers, no hooking up your laptop to upload pictures, etc… In the town of Viatape, there was 1 or 2 internet cafes.
Hotel: We stayed 5 nights at the new Sheraton – the Bora Bora Nui. I think it is the nicest (maybe tied with Hotel Bora Bora) hotel on the island. It’s certainly the most expensive on the island (at least for overwater). Luckily, as a Sheraton Starwood Member, we received 35% off rack rates and received an upgrade to a hillside bungalows. The hillside bungalows were up ~ 100 feet (you need to walk up a path) and were wonderful. They had a big deck overlooking the water and the overwater bungalows, beautiful sunsets and views of the water… I would NOT recommend the beach bungalows because their view is blocked by the overwater units…
The hotel is on a motu (island) off the main island of BB. It is at the south end (2 miles?) of the motu from the Bora Bora Lagoon Resort (also a nice place, we hear). Good news: its on a private island – so lots of seclusion and privacy… Bad News: you need to take a water taxi everytime you want to go into the village (Viatape). The Nui water taxi takes 10 minutes and runs irregularly… One nice thing about the taxi is you get to meet all kinds of people… We talked to a bunch of couples while waiting, and got (and gave) recommendations for restaurants, excursions, etc… We even befriended a couple from Kansas City (Ted and Monica), and ended up having a couple of dinners with them…) the taxi is about every hour, but will jump 2 hours at times, and seems to have unscheduled (additional) trips. One of my complaints is the taxi is free from 8am to 6pm, but they charge you ~$5US from 7-10pm, per person, per direction. So if you eat dinner anywhere except the resort, you have a $20US “tax” if you leave on the 7pm shuttle. Note: the Bora Bora Lagoon Resort has shuttles to Viatape every 30 minutes and are free all day and night. For what you pay at the Nui, I expected the shuttle service to be free and more frequent…
Note:
- do NOT do the Bora Bora Nui “private island tour”. Its $25US pp without lunch, and $85US pp with lunch. They take you to an island 10 min away and let you walk around for a few hours… the snorkeling is awful, and when we were there, Windstar Cruises had just dropped off 80 people on the island. We complained and the hotel gave us 50% off, but it was still a rip off… better to stay at the hotel and snorkel there…
- The hotel has a gym, with stairmaster, treadmill, elliptical trainer, and 8 nautilus machines… good enough for a basic work out, but this is obviously not something the Sheraton prioritized…
- Breakfast IS included… no one told us all room rates include breakfast and as a result, we didn’t eat there… we found out overhearing from another guest talking about the free breakfast… the hotel would not compensate us for missing 4 breakfasts (we asked for 1 dinner in exchange). Oh well…
- The hotel will pick you up from the airport in Bora Bora – the airport is on its own island. I suggest you double check with the HOTEL that they have your arrival info… The US corporate offices had our info, but no one met us at the airport, and it took them an hour to get someone out to get us…
Activities:
We were lucky to be here in early July which is an annual festival called Heiva, which puts the local dance teams from the 5 Bora Bora provinces in competition.., it is a Bastille Day event, but has expanded over the years and now starts in early July and lasts about a month. You can watch the festival for free from the sides of the field, or you can buy reserved seats for $10 each in the “grandstands”. We did reserved seating and it was very nice. We went opening night. There were 2 troops dancing. The first one was horrible – slow singing and dancing – like a Hawaii Luau gone wrong, but the second was outstanding, and well worth the late night (10pm) and $10US.
We also rented bicycles from Europcar in Viatape for $15 each for 4 hours. The island is ~ 20 miles in circumference, and it took us all of 4 hours to get around it – stopping for lunch (mediocre Chinese food at Restaurant Matira – but nice view) and doing a hike at the southern end (near Club Med – see the Jan Prince book for directions… it was a nice 45 min hike to an overlook). It was nice to see the island, and I do recommend it, but be advised the bike seats are not top of the line, and after 4 hours, our butts were hurting nicely…
Scuba: we bought a 10 dive package (each) from Top Dive. Price was ~ $500US for 10 dives. They can be used on Bora Bora, Moorea, and Rangiroa. Top Dive is a great outfit, and we only have positive comments about their professionalism, the divemasters knowledge, and equipment…and fun They provide everything including a 3mm shortie (which you will need). We did three dives in Bora Bora: Muri Muri (shark dive), Tapu (west side), and the Manta Ray dive. Muri Muri was the best… we saw lots of sharks (black tip, white tip, and greys). Tapu was good – and we saw some big (10’) lemon sharks, but the manta ray dive had very poor visibility and we saw very little sea life. We only saw 2 manta rays, and the visibility was 10’ or so… if you go to Rangiroa, skip the manta rays in Bora Bora, and just do the first two…
Snorkeling: The snorkeling was ok in front of the Nui, but the best place to snorkel was to take one of the hotels kayaks and take a 20 min paddle around the island (south thru little pass) and moor to one of the fishing buoys in the lagoon between the island of Bora Bora and the motu where the Nui is… This is one of the dive spots, and although the depth is 20-30’, the # of fish was incredible… I suggest you bring a loaf of the French bread to feed the fish – we had 100’s of fish swimming around us as we fed them.., and we also spotted a moray eel swimming at the bottom.
Note:
- although we didn’t do it, we heard from several couples the 4x4 excursions (tours), were fun, and worth it
Restaurants and Food:
Grocery store: there is a pretty good market in Viatape – a 3 min walk from the boat dock (go left as you face the island), next to the church. We loaded up on cokes, bread, and snacks for the 5 days…
Top Dive restaurant: expensive - $150US for 2 with 1 drink. Atmosphere was nice, but food was only ok… All the guide books (Frommers, Jan Prince, etc, rave about it…) Other people we talked to thought it was good, but not outstanding…
Villa Mahallo (sp?): this is a new restaurant, and our favorite in Bora Bora. They do free pickups for the dock. The restaurant only has 6 tables and is 10 min from Viatape off Matira Beach. They seem to have 3 employees and a cat – the owner/chef, wine guy/server, and hostess. The restaurant is in a multi-story, new Mediterranean home/art studio. 3 tables on the ground floor, 2 on the 2nd, and 1 table outside at the top of the steps, under a terrace, overlooking a fountain – BOOK THAT ONE!! Best table on the island… Food was great, and cheaper than Top Dive and the Bora Bora Nui, and they had a great chocolate dessert…
Bora Bora Nui: We had 2 dinners at the Nui, one at the grill – pizza and pasta – cheap(er) and fine, but nothing to write home about… and the dining room was VERY drafty – Lisa was quite cold – although they did bring her a beach towel halfway thru dinner… We also had one dinner at their “nice” restaurant. Again, food was good (not great), expensive, and convenient, but lacked any island charm… I would not recommend you do more than 1 dinner at the hotel.
Notes:
- most restaurants will provide free transfers from the boat dock in Viatape, and the Bora Bora Nui activities desk can make reservations
- while we didn’t go (ran out of time), we heard 10 couples give outstanding recommendations for Bloody Marys Restaurant. Apparently, they lay the fish out and you “select” your dinner.
Shopping:
There are some shops in the town of Viatape and others around the ring road. I didn’t find much to buy. Mostly t-shirts and cheap trinkets. The sarongs ‘pareos’ seemed much too expensive and they were the only thing, besides a black pearl, that I had the slightest interest in buying. I found this to be true at all the islands we went to in French Polynesia. We had heard that Rangiroa is the cheapest place to buy black pearls, so we bought some there (see Rangiroa review). However, if you’re also going to Fiji, they have some nice pottery made out of unique Tamarin wood, hand carved, dried, etc. I’m not big on wooden pots/vases but these are beautiful and we bought 3 of them (see Fiji review).
Moorea: we were in Moorea for 5 nights in early July, our second FP island (after 5 nights at the Bora Bora Nui).
Best of Moorea: The snorkeling at the Sheraton and the striking scenery of the mountains and the water. The view of the bays in moorea from belvedere point is just beautiful.
Internet Access: The Sheraton had it for ~ $7 / 15 minutes and I think I saw a couple of internet cafes on the ring road.
Hotel: We stayed at the Sheraton Moorea. The hotel is very nice – great location, and from what we hear, the best snorkeling on the island is off the overwater bungalows there (more below)… We booked a garden room from Sheraton at 35% off, and upgraded with the hotel to an overwater bungalow (note – we worked with the front desk manager, Hugot, who was extremely helpful). We had bungalow #109 (like in the Jan Prince book) and it was WONDERFUL (luck by the way – not planned). While the room was small (especially compared to the suite at the Bora Bora Nui, it was very nice… it has a two level balcony, one level with the room, which was a table (we had breakfast and lunch there daily) and a lower level which is level with the lagoon – you have your own ladder to climb back after swimming, and the deck is big enough for a couple of chaise lounges for soaking up the sun.
The activities desk (concierge) at the Sherton was awful – perhaps the worst I have seen… There were 2 different ladies, and while both were happy and competent to book the excursion associated with the hotel, they would not book anything else… (example, we wanted to book a tour with Albert’s tours, but the concierge told us to call ourselves (for $1US per minute). Same thing with restaurants – they knew 3 or 4 restaurants, but when we asked for more information or other recommendations (especially for cheaper places), they couldn’t help at all… Same thing for hiking suggestions… so – be prepared to make your own reservations if it’s not on the hotel short list, which is not a big deal, but certainly an inconvenience…
Note:
- weather – it was cloudy for 3 of the 5 days we were there (early July).
- If you do Moorea and Bora Bora, I would suggest you do Moorea first – accommodations seem to get better that way…
- The tap water is NOT safe to drink, and the hotel only gives you 1 water free…
Restaurants / Food:
Grocery: There is a small (very small) grocery store 10 min walk (west) from the hotel. We loaded up on water, cokes, chips and cookies as well as some bread and peanut butter for our 5 days… we asked the hotel to empty our mini bar and had cheap drinks and simple breakfasts and lunches for a couple of days.
Allo Pizza: after 5 days in Bora Bora, we couldn’t do 5 more nights of heavy French cooking, so we opted for pizzas for 2 of the nights… Allo’s will deliver to the hotel ($5US delivery charge), and they charge $10US to $15US for pizzas. We got one each, and had leftovers for lunch the next day – you could probably share one if you aren’t too hungry… Pizzas were thin crust and pretty good – the Four Seasons special was particularly good… Their delivery times ranged from 45 min to 2 hours…
Honu Iti: our best dinner on Moorea. They do free (and prompt) pickups from the hotel. We had a nice dinner with some work friends that just happened to be on Moorea the same time as us (Jason and Karen). The restaurant (French, of course) is on the water, and if you get a table next to the railing, you can see stingrays swimming throughout your dinner… they feed them intermittently during the evening.
Nouveux Monde (sp?): we had dinner with Ted and Monica (the couple from Kansas we met in Bora Bora). Restaurant was good, but not especially memorable. French food again… Quality of the conversation easily trumped the quality of the food.
Activities:
Scuba Diving: Like in Bora Bora, we did 3 dives with Top Dive. Our dive master Jeff, proved to be our favorite from the whole trip. He was very professional, knowledgeable, and found great things for us to see (clown fish, etc…). Most dives in Moorea are near the two bays (Openohu and Cooks), right outside the reef… the 3 specific areas we did were Eden Park, The Canyons, and Sheraton. All we v good dives… They do a shark feeding at 8am everyday, which was outstanding… As Jeff put on his steel mesh glove in the dive boat, I knew we were in for a treat J The shark feedings attracted lots of 3-5’ black tip sharks, as well as several 7-10’ lemon sharks. The lemon sharks were v cool… We also saw Napoleon Wrasse, Turtles, Clown Fish, and A very large moray eel… Jeff held Lisa’s hand and Lisa petted the eel... I took some great pictures…
Hiking: Henrish, the watersports guy at the Sheraton had some great advice / suggestions for hiking the beautiful mountains and will also be a tour guide for you on his day off… We opted to hike on our own. His first recommendation was a trail that starts behind the Sheraton, and goes up ~ 2000’ to one of the peaks… Belvedere Point, if you go here (by car or tour) will overlook this peak… It’s a pretty tough slog thru DENSE underbrush, and the trail is not always obvious, so pay attention… not a typical US or New Zealand style hike where the trail is well marked and clear of vegetation… However, you ARE rewarded with awesome views… The trail climbs along the knife edge of the ridge and you are able to see both Cook and Openohu bays once you get to ~ 1400’. Wear long pants, bring water and lunch, and you can make a good 5 hour hike out of this…
Snorkeling: We did not take advantage of this great snorkeling nearly as much as we should have… It’s better than Cayman and Hawaii… the lagoon is only around 5’ deep, with coral heads everywhere… On top of the schools of fish and clams and coral, we saw a stingray and a 5’ black tip shark… We were told this is the best snorkeling in Moorea…
Tours: we didn’t do a tour because it was cloudy our last 3 days, but we had several recommendations that Alberts Tours does a great tour… Ted and Monica told us when several 4x4 safari tours stopped at the same place, people on other tours would listen in to Alberts… The one downside is that the Sheraton will NOT book it for you, so you’ll need to call directly…
Driving around the island: we rented a cheap ($60 for 4 hours) car from Eurocar at the Sheraton. Plenty of time to circle the island, stop by Belvedere Point, and a few shops. Its probably better to see the island with a tour. Driving around was ok, but there isn’t too much to do other than Belvedere Point and a little shopping. Best views are in the area around the Sheraton, so no need to drive…
Shopping:
There isn’t a central town in Moorea as there is in bora-bora. So the shops are scattered around the ring road. I didn’t find much to buy. Mostly t-shirts and cheap trinkets. The sarongs ‘pareos’ seemed much too expensive and they were the only thing, besides a black pearl, that I had the slightest interest in buying. I found this to be true at all the islands we went to in French Polynesia. We had heard that Rangiroa is the cheapest place to buy black pearls, so we bought some there (see Rangiroa review). However, if you’re also going to Fiji, they have some nice pottery made out of unique Tamarin wood, hand carved, dried, etc. I’m not big on wooden pots/vases but these are beautiful and we bought 3 of them (see Fiji review).
Rangiroa: Rangiroa: We spent 3 nights at the Kia Ora Resort.
Best of Rangiroa: This was my favorite island of the 7 islands we visited in the south pacific on this trip (Bora Bora, Moorea, Tahiti, Rarotonga, Aitutaki, and Fiji), and ties with my all time favorite island, Bali. It had everything I wanted in an island vacation, and wished we had spent a few more days here… in a nutshell:
- awesome scuba diving (we hear top 5 in the world)
- good hotel: reasonable for French Polynesia and the resort is nice (albeit not super luxurious like the Bora Bora Nui)
- good food (several restaurants on the island)
- the locals are actually friendly (much more so than the other French Polynesia Islands)
- the island is very small and much less developed, which translates to very, very low key
- the “Blue Lagoon Excursion” was the best day tour we did on the 24 day trip (more on that below)
the Island: Rangiroa is a very interesting island. It consists of a “ring” of small islands in a very large circle, surrounding a huge lagoon. The entirety of Tahiti will fit inside the lagoon (we hear it’s the 2nd largest lagoon in the world – maybe 40 miles in diameter?). Most of the people in Rangiroa appear to live on the island where the airport is located, which is a 7 mile long and probably ¼ mile wide flat strip.
Internet Access: Exit the Kia Ora, turn right, go 50 feet, and there is an internet café (and pearl store). Prices were ~ $5 US for 15 min.
Hotel: The Kia Ora Resort is the only “luxury” accommodations on the island, and is ~ 2 miles south of the airport (hotel picks you up and drops you off). They have overwater, beach, garden suite, and garden bungalows. We got the garden suite bungalows (~ $350US thru Top Dive Travel) and I highly recommend them (we had room #26). You can see the water from your deck, just a sidewalk, and 1 beach bungalow between us and the lagoon. The rooms have a separate bedroom and living room, which was nice… It was a little windy, and we had no problems with mosquitoes. The room had a small refrigerator that we used to store cokes, a few beers, water, and some snacks.
Note: There are a number of smaller hotels (or pensions), including (something) Josephine which we heard was nice. There is also the Kia Ora Sauvage which consists of 5 bungalows on a remote part of the island, an hour’s boat ride from the airport. No electricity. We talked to some folks that stayed there… they said it was very remote, very relaxing, but not much to do…
Restaurants / Food:
Grocery Market: There is a small (very small) grocery 10 min from the hotel (go out of the hotel, make a right, and go to the third road on your right – you will see a sign with the coke logo). There are also some larger stores at the north end of the island (about 6 miles).
The Kai Kai: This is the only restaurant we ate at, and we liked it very much. They will pick you up for free. It’s a small outside restaurant, and they serve fish, pork, and chicken dishes. Food was very good, and much cheaper than most restaurants in FP (entrees ~ $15-20US). Note: do not get the wine by the glass – its cheap ($3US, and quite bad). They have an ok wine list, but you’ll need to buy the bottle.
Activities:
Scuba Diving: I can’t say enough about the diving here… I’ve dove Hawaii, Cayman, Bali, Monterey, Bora Bora, Moorea, Fiji, etc… and this is easily the best I’ve ever experienced. We dove (again) with Top Dive, who has a shop right next to the Kia Ora resort. The scuba outfit associated with the hotel, Blue Dolphin, is a little more convenient (you leave directly from the dock at the hotel), but it is much more expensive ($80US/dive vs $55US/dive at Top Dive), and I hear Top Dive has better divemasters and equipment. The big thing to do in Rangiroa was “shoot the pass”. There are only 2 entrances to the lagoon which fill and empty the lagoon during high and low tides. One of the passes is ~ 1 mile from the hotel. Apparently, the fish love this… “Shooting the pass” is a drift dive from the ocean side to the lagoon side, from ~90’ to 30’… However, the seas were too rough for this, so our 4 dives we all on the wall right outside the pass, and were incredible…
On each dive we saw sharks (lemon, black tip, white tip, and 1 hammerhead chasing an eagle ray), manta rays (we saw 2 to 10 of them on each dive), turtles (1-8 on each dive), barracuda (and giant barracuda), Napoleon Wrasse, and lots and lots of smaller fish (butterfly, Moorish idols, convict fish, squirrel, etc…). On one dive we saw a dolphin swimming to the surface, and we talked to some divers who had a dolphin play with them J
Blue Lagoon Cruise: We booked this thru the hotel, and I would strongly suggest you do this one… While it was unbelievably expensive for a day tour ($100US each), it was awesome. They pick you up at the Kia Ora boat dock, and you then take you on an hour boat ride across the lagoon. You have a few hours before lunch to explore the numerous small islands – the lagoon is only 1-3 feet deep in many places so you just walk from island to island. You can get some sun, do some snorkeling, or just explore. Note: the snorkeling is pretty bad, so while nice to get in the water, its not a highlight. After that, you meet for one of the best lunches I’ve ever had… They grill up fresh fish (mahi mahi in our case) and chicken and serve it with freshly picked fruits, potato salad, chips, French bread, and soda… after lunch, the captain goes to the edge of the lagoon, and feeds hundreds of small (1-2’) black tip and lemon sharks, circling in 1’ water. Then he’ll give you a plate of leftovers, and you get to feed the sharks – very cool… later, on the way back to the Kia Ora, they stop and everyone jumps in the water with snorkel gear and holds on to a pontoon… they do a “big shark” feeding… you are in 30’ of water, and you find yourself surrounded with 10’s of black tip sharks (4-5’) and a couple of large (8-10’) lemon sharks and a bunch of ramorays… Its very safe and very, very cool… bring your underwater camera… lastly, before you return to the hotel, you go out on the pass, and either do more snorkeling or dolphin watching… our boat found 4 or 5 dolphins and they played with the boat for 10 minutes (jumping our wake).
Shopping for Black Pearls: We heard pearls were cheaper on the outer FP islands. While we did not do enough research and comparison shopping to absolutely confirm this, we think the prices in Rangiroa were among the best. We did however, purchase 3 loose pearls and had them set into earrings and a necklace from the pearl shop next door to the Kia Ora. Walk out the front door, make a right (south) and her shop is 100’ down the road. The sign out front says “Internet and Pearls”. The prices seemed very good. A 12mm B grade round pearl was $250US and the 8.5mm B semi-round earring pearls were $35US each. Setting and mounting was an additional $100 US (total).
Note: Ganguin Pearls has a “pearl factory tour” that, while free, is a waste of time… the “tour guide / pearl saleslady” gave a 30 min talk, 90% in French… If you know French, go for it, otherwise, save your time…
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
Best Time to Travel Here: Jun - Aug
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Epinions.com ID:
bgraff
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Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 0 members
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