Tahaa - French Polynesia
View of Moorea on our interisland flight
Sandy and I like to do tropical trips and we have done a lot of them. We've been all over the Carribean, Mexico, South East Asia, Hawaii and the South Pacific. Of all the places that we have been I think that Tahiti is my favorite. Well, actually not Tahiti itself but the Society Islands, of which Tahiti is the largest and most populated. The other islands in the chain are the real destinations but Tahiti is the name that everyone recognizes. I guess I could just say French Polynesia.
We've made several trips there. We have been to the island of Moorea three times. It looks like a fairy tale version of a tropical island. Lots of movies have used it as a setting, like Mutiny on the Bounty and South Pacific. We've also been to Bora Bora, which gets my vote for the most beautiful island in the world. Unfortunately it's quite expensive so we might have to be content with our one trip there.
Landing on Raiatea with Tahaa in the background
Since it had been a year and a half since our last tropical trip it was time for another. I wanted to go back to French Polynesia but this time I wanted to go to one of the outer islands. Moorea and Bora Bora are not highly developed, nothing like Hawaii or Grand Cayman, but they do get most of the tourists who go to Tahiti. There are other islands that are more remote and I wanted to explore one of those. After shopping for vacation packages on the web we found a good deal on our old standby, Costco Travel, for the island of Tahaa.
We were familiar with the first part of the trip from our previous visits to Tahiti. We started with an afternoon flight to LAX. We both got all of our stuff in carry on bags so we didn't have to worry about our luggage getting stuck in LA. We worked hard to keep it light since we had to haul it to the international terminal ourselves. The Air Tahiti Nui flight was a redeye that left at 11 pm. Although they have a flight that leaves at the same time every night, they were incredibly disorganized. They started boarding half an hour later than advertized, which meant they had no chance of leaving on time. There was no organization - no lines or boarding groups. They kept making announcements that were totally unintelligible. Finally one guy with a big booming voice pushed up to the front, asked them what they said, then went to a nearby stairway and climbed up and shouted to the crowd. If it wasn't for him we would probably still be stuck there. Everything was just a big crush of people. Eventually we got checked through, bussed to the plane, and were able to board. After that, the eight hour flight was pretty smooth.
Sandy looks happy as the boat finally approaches the resort
We landed at the Papaetee airport at seven in the morning. I didn't sleep at all on the flight over but perked up now that we were in Tahiti. We had about two hours before catching a local interisland flight. As our small turboprop plane climbed out we had a beautiful view of Moorea out the window, only eleven miles away from Tahiti. After about a half hour of flight time, we landed for a brief stop on Huahine. Some people got off. Some people got on. Huahine is another island that I have wanted to visit but I don't think I will count sitting in a plane on the runway.
Our next stop was Raiatea, which is where we deplaned. Raiatea is the second largest island in French Polynesia and has the second largest population after Tahiti - 12,000 people. It is the sister island to Tahaa. Both islands are in the same lagoon encircled by a single barrier reef and are only two miles apart. At some time in the past they were probably a single island.
Tattoo Man greeted us as we got off the boat
After getting our luggage we stepped outside the airport where a shuttle boat was waiting to take us to the resort. It was a half hour boat ride with an amazing view. In front of us was Tahaa, behind us was Raiatea and twenty miles away in the distance we could see Mt. Otemanu on Bora Bora. The boat took us across the strait between the two islands, most of the way around Tahaa, and then across the lagoon to Motu Tau Tau, which is where the resort was located.
Most of the Society Islands have a central rocky island which is usually volcanic and rises several thousand feet high. About a mile or two from the main island is a barrier reef which creates a lagoon around the island, a shallow, calm area of water protected from the waves on the open ocean by the reef. As the reef has grown over millenia, in some cases it forms small, low-lying islands which form a ring around the main island. These small islands formed from the reef are called motus. In some cases the central island has sunk beneath the ocean leaving only the ring of coral islands forming an atoll. These are common in the Tuomotu Archipelago a hundred miles or so to the north of Tahiti. Another place that I want to visit, someday.
It was a long trip, but finally we were at our resort at about 10 am local time. While it is fun to stay at a remote and pristine location, it can be a lot of work to get there.
View of the overwater bungalows from our deck
Although remote it was not rustic. The Tahaa Resort and Spa is five star. There was someone there to greet us with warm towels to refresh ourselves. There was also a guy in full Polynesian garb playing the ukelele and singing Tahitian folk songs. He was covered from head to toe with tatoos, even his face. Kind of extreme if you ask me, but then I'm not big on tatoos.
We checked in and were told that it might be a couple of hours until our room was ready. It was the middle of the morning so that wasn't too surprising. We were taken on a tour of the facilities. The main building had the reception desk, a pearl shop (Sandy had picked up on this before we left home by studying the hotel website). Upstairs was the main, open air restaurant and a small, fancy, reservations only restaurant. Since neither Sandy nor I are into fancy food we never bothered to go there. We were content to eat at the main restaurant with the "common people", such as they are at a resort like this.
Our room was decorated with fresh flowers
We were shown the pool area with a swim up bar, beach restaurant and of course the pool. Not very big but an impressive infinity pool looking out over the lagoon. There was also a spa and a fitness center on the grounds. After the short tour we were just settling down to kill some time when we were told our room was ready. After traveling all night we were anxious to take a shower and change into beach clothes. I kind of stuck out at the pool in blue jeans and a sport shirt.
The resort has around sixty five units, about twenty beach bungalows and forty five overwater bungalows. Fortunately we had one of the overwater bungalows. It was amazing. We walked out on a pier over the lagoon. We were about 150 yards from the shore in a bungalow built on several columns rising out of the water. Because the water was shallow (about waist deep) with a sandy bottom, the water was always some amazing shade of blue-green, changing every time the light changed.
The bungalow was our home in paradise for a week
Inside, the room was very nice. There was a large bed and a sitting area. There were fresh flower arrangements on the bed and chair. The bathroom was large, with two sinks, a walk in shower and a separate toilet area. And the unit was air conditioned. We never cranked the air con up high but it was nice to keep the room slightly cool. The tropics are wonderful but sometimes you have to get out of the heat.
The cabinet at the foot of the bed had a glass top so that we could look down into the water below our bungalow and watch the fish swim past. At night we could turn on a light beneath us to light up the water. We could even open the top of the cabinet to get access to the water. One night we even brought bread back from dinner to try feeding the fish but we didn't have much luck. Any food we dropped in the water drifted away before any fish noticed it. It was worth a try though.
Looking toward the main island of Taha'a from our deck
Outside was a large deck looking out over the lagoon. There were two lounge chairs where we could read, just look at the scenery, or take a nap in the sun. There was also a covered area with bench seating and a table for the times we wanted to get out of the sun. Down some stairs was a swimming platform with a ladder leading down to the water. It even had a fresh water shower for rinsing off after coming out of the lagoon. The water certainly looked inviting and it was easy for us to go for a swim in the ocean any time that we wanted.
It was an incredibly beautiful place, a tropical paradise right out of a story book. We had a week to spend at the resort and nothing that we had to do. It would be a chance to take it easy, relax, and enjoy the fantastically beautiful surroundings. We were looking forward to having an amazing time in paradise.
