#WorldTour: Relaxing in French Polynesia

After Easter Island, we continued our journey to French Polynesia, just 6 hours away by plane (and 5 hours time difference). A new record for us: -11h with Switzerland!

Discovering the paradise of Bora-Bora

We spent 7 days underwater (ocean and rain...) on the small island of Bora-Bora, a 45-minute flight from Tahiti. The weather wasn't very kind (rain and sunny spells), but in retrospect it was pretty good, as the last 2 sunny days left us with some serious sunburns... Anyway, we made the most of the magnificent seabed, whatever the weather! We stayed in a waterfront bungalow in Marc André and Annette's garden. 

We had bicycles at our disposal and could reach Vaitape, the main town, in 20 minutes via the road that runs alongside the water. There's not much to see in this friendly mini-town apart from the church, the craft market and the 15 Tahitian black pearl stores. The people on the island are really friendly, always having a laugh, and their flowery clothes are very cheerful.

On Sunday morning, we continued on past Vaitape to the end of the island to see Matira beach: a superb white sand beach.

We snorkelled every day, as there were plenty of fish in front of our accommodation, and we also went diving, including my first dive. A superb experience with a magnificent seabed and lots of colorful fish.

The next day, we went around the island by boat and snorkelled to follow the manta rays (2 to 3 metres): an incredible spectacle and majestic animals. At the next stop, we wandered through a coral garden with thousands of fish of all kinds and, to finish on a high note, we swam with stingrays and blacktip sharks (1 meter).

There were also kayaks available, so we took the opportunity to go for a ride on a Motu opposite: the short one-hour ride turned into a 5-hour kayak tour, as we couldn't make any headway with the wind and the waves (and our little arms).

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Hiking and walking on the beautiful island of Moorea

Just a 30-minute ferry ride from Tahiti, the island of Moorea is larger than Bora-Bora and has more relief. There are 8 peaks and several hiking trails.

We stayed for 4 days in a very well-situated guesthouse on the edge of the lagoon and between the island's two main bays: Cook and Ōpūnohu.  We met some very nice people: Eric, who fished every day with Polynesians, Guillaume, whose childhood dream it was to go to Tahiti, and Jean-Luc, who has returned to where he was born and is settling here for his retirement. The program on the island included hiking, tasting and snorkeling.

We hiked 30 km from our guesthouse to the Belvedere Lookout, with its magnificent views of Mont Rotui (899 m) and the two main bays. To get there, we crossed pineapple fields (there's the Pineapple Route), banana plantations and rainforest: the scenery was superb and varied. We also passed the Col des Trois Pinus, a wilder viewpoint than the Belvedere, which we really enjoyed. We didn't come across any hikers during the day's walk, as most people visit the island by vehicle.

Along the way, we took in the archaeological sites of the Marae, cultural, social and political spaces for the Polynesians before the arrival of the Europeans. These are scattered all over the island, but are particularly concentrated in the forest where we were. Indeed, the Ma'ohi lived in the highlands until they moved down to the coast with the arrival of the Europeans in 1767. We saw Ahus (as on Easter Island), which were stone platforms with an altar on top, but also archery platforms and assembly platforms. The chiefs of the various communities met there to make alliances, perform marriages or hold war councils. These ritual and political centers of the Opunohu Valley were built after 1650, but Ma'ohi occupation of the area probably began around 1250 (houses, terraces, vegetable gardens, etc. have been restored).

After completing our loop, we climbed another Belvedere access road (we love walking!) to stop this time at the Lycée Agricole de Moorea. It's special because you can visit it and they offer tastings of jams made by the students. The school is located in the middle of nowhere and the land they cultivate is vast: we took a tour to discover all kinds of flowers, trees and fruit. It was very interesting as we finally got to know the names of the fruits and flowers we'd been seeing since the beginning of our stay in Polynesia: hibiscus, tiare (for monoi), breadfruit, guavas, etc.

We also rented a scooter to tour the island. We'd thought about cycling, but given the heat and the distances involved, we quickly changed our minds. It was great fun and we made a few stops, including Tema'e public beach with a view of Tahiti, and Tiahura beach where we snorkelled with our masks on. There weren't many people around and it was really heavenly with the white sand and turquoise water! To finish the tour, we stopped off at Ta'ahiamanu beach, where we saw a superb leopard ray.

Anne & Olivier

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