French Polynesia, or as more commonly known: Bora Bora and the islands around it

It's almost shameful that having traveled to Paradise, I didn't write a blog post about it. Although I returned home more than two months ago, here it is.

(A good reason to bring this blog back to life anyway…)

Papeete, Tahiti's main city, is not the usual meeting point, but that’s where I met my travel buddy and our journey together started. Coming from opposite directions of the globe (Asia and Europe), and having required demanding organization skills, our 10-day trip in French Polynesia started here.

The atmosphere in general is laid back and locals have an easy-going approach that we definitely appreciated. We were never short on advice and a helpful hand.

Tiaré - the flower of Tahiti

We started in Bora Bora, the island that is not only the most touristic but also the one that many of us have probably heard of or seen depicted on a postcard. The lagoon is considered one of the most beautiful in the world and it’s indeed impressive. Wanting to avoid the hype of the resorts spread around it (you know, the typical over-water bungalow), we decided to stay on the main island, close to town.

Bora Bora Lagoon (from the airport)

One of the funny things about landing on Bora (and on other Polynesian islands) is that the runway is on a motu (islets, surrounding the main island and enclosing the lagoon), and after picking up our luggage we had to take a boat to town. The fare is included on the flight ticket, though not the case on other islands, like Maupiti, where you have to pay for the navette (shuttle) to and from the airport.

Air Tahiti airplane used on inter-island flights 

Our guesthouse (Sunset Hill Lodge) guaranteed our transfer and we were quickly settled in. We also had bicycle available and we took them to go to Matira beach, the only beach on Bora. It seems strange to write (and probably to read) “the only beach” but there are actually not many beaches on the French Polynesian islands, and normally they are located on the motus.

We had lunch by the beach and I had my first Hinano (the local beer), which would be a central element throughout the whole trip. It’s hot out there! Now, being a vegetarian immediately brings some obstacles when finding food abroad but in Polynesia it was taken to a whole new level.
Vegetarian options are simply not available and local options neither. Normally steak and fries are always on the menu. Most of the times you can also find raw fish in coconut or chow mein – yes, there’s a considerable Chinese community whose roots go back to the 19th century with the first migration wave to work on cotton fields, as well as coffee and sugar plantations.

The food experience was nothing short of a disaster. In less touristic islands, supermarkets close very early (around 5 pm) and small hotels normally require that you make dinner reservations 24 hours in advance, so we tried to stock up as much as possible, which was not always easy. Normally there is a snack or a roulotte (camper) in town serving a few dishes but if you want to avoid eating always the same thing… then serious planning is required. But if you do go out to the grocery store, ask for “pain coco” (coconut bread) – we tried it in different places with different levels of success, but it was always a solid staple.

Roulotte

Before leaving Bora Bora, we did a tour in the lagoon, which was so disappointing as soon as we learned that tour operators feed the rays and the sharks for them to get close to us. Furthermore they also give tourists bread to feed the fish when snorkeling. We refused doing it and always stayed away from the rest of the group. Polynesians, wake up! This is your most valuable resource so don’t mess up the ecosystems just because you want to make the extra buck.

Snorkeling on Bora Bora

From Bora Bora we moved to Tahaa island. We first flew to Raiatea and then took the ferry to Tahaa (check the schedule in advance and also take into consideration that there are two ferries going to Tahaa from Uturoa port). Helpful note: there is a big (well, “big” in Polynesian terms) Champion supermarket just across the street from where the ferry departs. Self-catering here is definitely recommended, because Tahaa is a small island.

This island is famous for its vanilla plantations and we visited one of the farms – we arranged through our hotel but would have rather enjoyed it cycling there on our own. Two farms are open to the public and normally closed on Sundays.  Apart from the Vanilla highlight, Tahaa is a quiet island with limited activities. We also scuba-dived but due to the rough sea conditions both the visibility and the amount of fish were not as amazing as they would be on a normal day.

Vanilla pods drying

It could have been a relaxed break if it wasn’t for all the mosquito bites I got on my legs. Our bungalow only had nets on the windows and one of them was torn and since there was no net over our bed, the mosquitoes feasted on my legs during the night. This was the only time I regretted being a heavy sleeper. Mosquitoes are a serious problem on these islands, so go prepared with powerful repellent and make sure you always have nets over the beds in the hotels you stay.

Leaving Tahaa

After leaving Tahaa we spent one day in Raiatea touring the island despite the heavy rainfall. The rainy season lasted longer than expected this year and we were greeted with cloudy skies and some rain almost everywhere we went. Raiatea is a must visit island due to its dramatic landscape and we were open-mouthed stunned with it.

Sugar loaf on Raiatea

We then moved to Maupiti, the “small Bora” as they call it. It’s famous for its manta rays. The dive centre was closed so we had to snorkel to see them. A good experience nonetheless and we thank our guest house (Pension Espace Beach) for having organized a free of charge tour of the island for us, including not only the mantas but also snorkeling on a coral garden. Being a small island, and with no ferry link as in the past, Maupiti has limited supply of food, and this is something to keep in mind.

Snorkeling on Maupiti

Manta ray

We spent the last night in Papeete sipping Mojitos and buying flower wreaths, only the leave them the next day at the airport because we thought the flight between Tahiti and New Caledonia was more “domestic” than it actually was!

In a nutshell, the most memorable moments of this trip (both positive and negative) involved self-catering with poor results, mosquito bites (a lot of tamanu oil), jaw-dropping lagoons with postcard worthy turquoise water, rich underwater life and Hinano!