Tahaa - A Week in Paradise
Aerial view of Motu TauTau and resort at center of picture
It was a long trip to get there, but we were finally at Le Taha'a Island Resort and Spa in French Polynesia, staying in an overwater bungalow. We had a whole week to relax and enjoy a tropical paradise.
The resort is quite isolated. It's on a small motu named Tautau, about a mile from the island of Taha'a. There is virtually nothing on the motu except the resort so it is quite self contained. With less than sixty suites, there just aren't many people there. It's not a place to go for activites. It's a place to go to relax.
Most days we started with a walk around the motu. The resort was on the side that faced the lagoon and the main island of Taha'a. From there we walked along a channel that was only about a hundred yards wide between our motu and another smaller one to the north. In that channel was the Coral Garden, the best snorkeling site anywhere on Taha'a and Raitea. It was conveniently close and I took advantage of our proximity to it during the week we were there.
We encounter a local on one of our walks around the motu
It was about a half a mile to the other side of the motu, where we looked out to the open ocean. Twenty five miles away was the island of Bora Bora, with the distinctive shape of Mt. Otemanu rising 2385 feet out of the sea. When we had gone to Bora Bora in 2011 we had stayed on a motu on the side we were facing. Back then we had walked on the beach and looked across the ocean to Taha'a and I had thought about visiting it someday. Now we were on the other island, looking back. It made me think of Darth Vader's line in the original Star Wars. "The circle is now complete."
There was one small shack on the far side of the motu, the only building that was not part of the resort. It was obviously private so when we reached it we cut back through the center of the motu, where we passed a small lake on our way back to our bungalow. There were lots of tropical flowers everywhere and surprisingly lots of wildlife as well - land crabs that would scurry away and into their holes as we approached.
Typical view on one of our morning walks
After our walk it was time for breakfast - Sandy's favorite meal. I'm not that big on breakfast but I have to admit that even I enjoy it on tropical trips because there is always lots of good, locally grown tropical fruit. The resort had a buffet and there were lots of choices. Besides fresh fruit from the local islands, and since it was French Polynesia, there were always delicious pastries and breads. Sandy and I skip meals pretty often. We usually only eat twice a day. But since breakfast was included with our room (it was the only meal that was) we made sure to go every day.
During the day we spent a lot of time on the patio of our bungalow, reading a book or enjoying the view. Or taking a nap while pretending to be reading a book or enjoying the view. If we ever got warm or if the water just looked too inviting, we would climb down our ladder for a swim. Very relaxing.
On most of our trips we spend a lot of time shopping for souvenirs. Sandy likes to look for jewelry and other things while I always am looking to add to my tshirt collection. There wasn't much chance of that here. There was a small gift shop at the resort, but it was really small. They only had one small stack of tshirts and most of them were smalls and mediums - absolutely nothing in my size. They did have a baseball cap with the name of the resort on it. It was expensive but it was my only chance for a souvenir so I got one. So on this trip I maybe spent a grand total of five minutes shopping.
Sandy takes a dip in the lagoon
Sandy did a little better since there was a pearl shop at the resort. She had read about it on the hotel website before we even got there so as soon as we arrived she went looking for it and found it near the lobby. She was definitely on the ball. When she checked it out, she found that they had a special deal where each guest got a "free" pearl. Of course then you could pay to have it put in a setting, and possibly add a chain. Still, the pearl she picked was very pretty and the final price was reasonable. But she was done with her shopping before lunch on the day we arrived.
We didn't bring any snorkel gear along because we wanted all of our stuff to fit in carry on luggage. Fortunately we could get fins, masks and snorkels free of charge at the gear shack near the pool. Several times I went snorkeling in the lagoon. Although it was all sandy bottom (not the best place to see fish) the resort had placed some small artificial reef structures near the walkway leading to the bungalows. There were always quite a few reef fish around them.
Sandy actually spotted a Great White Whale from our deck
I did get a chance to try out some new gear. They had full face mask snorkel sets, something I had never seen before. I was quite skeptical but it didn't cost me anything to try so I gave it a go. It was uncomfortable at first but after a few minutes I got used to it. After using it a couple of times I would say that it is much preferable to the traditional separate mask and snorkel. I would never get one though since it wouldn't work for scuba diving and I go diving a lot more than I go snorkeling. I'm glad that I got a chance to try it though.
Although I could see some fish in the lagoon around our bungalow, the real spot to go snorkeling was the Coral Garden. It's the best snorkeling spot anywhere around Taha'a and even Raiatea. Most days we would see multiple excursion boats coming throughout the day, bringing people to the Coral Garden. Since Taha'a has very few hotels other than our resort, most of them came all the way from Raiatea.
Sandy takes a break from the sun
The densest concentration of coral was in a stretch about three hundred meters long in the channel between our motu and the one just to the north of us. It was quite unusual though. There is a strong current that flows between the two motus. Fortunately the current flows into the lagoon so you don't have to worry about being swept out into the open ocean. I've done drift dives before but never a drift snorkel. It actually made it challenging because the water in the channel was quite shallow. It was only five feet at the deepest spots and in some places the coral grew almost to the surface. With the current carrying you along, it was difficult to avoid crashing into the coral. That's a very bad thing for both the reef and the snorkeler. It damages the coral, breaking off pieces or killing it. And since coral is hard and sharp, it's easy to get badly cut up. After reading about the challenges Sandy decided she wasn't going to try it but I figured that since it was only a ten minute walk from our bungalow I had to give it a shot.
Coral Garden - it's definitely shallow
The best place to enter was from the other motu near the far end of the channel. Just below the Coral Garden I walked across the channel. At it's deepest it just covered my shoulders. I never had to swim but it was really close. Then on the other motu I followed a track along the shore made by the many snorkelers who had come before me. When I was almost to the end of the channel, I waded in till the water was up to my waist. Then I turned and started to swim back the way I had come, towards the lagoon. There was a current but it wasn't too bad. It was important to look far ahead and choose my route carefully, avoiding spots where the coral came close to the surface. I was wearing rubber booties to protect my feet but not fins. It would be too easy to hit the coral and damage it with a careless fin stroke, especially since it's hard to look back at your fins. Wearing just booties meant I needed less clearance going over the shallow coral heads but it also limited my maneuverability, so it was important to think ahead so I didn't have to change direction abruptly.
Eat your heart out Corona
It was actually a really cool snorkel. There were a lot of reef fish, although not as many as in some of the places we have gone diving like Bonaire. But the navigation added another challenge that made it fun. There wasn't much work either - I just drifted along with the current. It took me about twenty minutes to reach the end of the Coral Garden. By then I was feeling rather pleased with myself that I got all the way through without ever making contact with the coral, especially after reading so much on the internet about people having a lot of trouble.
After my initial success I decided to try it again the next day. Despite my raving about it Sandy was still not ready to try it so I went on my own again. This time the water seemed just a little bit lower so there was less clearance over the coral. Maybe the tide was out or maybe I was a little too cocky after my success the day before. At one point I went down a gap between two high ridges of coral and barely got through when it closed up at the end. I let out my breath, sucked in my stomach, and just managed to clear.
No rain - no rainbows
Another time it didn't work out so well. I got completely boxed in and finally had to drift over some coral that was just below the surface. Half way across I got hung up and had to semiflop to get over. Bad, bad, very bad! I certainly hurt the coral and got some good scratches myself. When I got to the end I decided that doing the Coral Garden twice was enough for me. After that I was content to just swim in the lagoon near our bungalow. Fortunately Sandy didn't give me any "I told you so's" afterwards. Then again, maybe I never mentioned to her just how much trouble I had. It might have slipped my mind.
That was my most ambitious activity at the resort. We did make some excursions to the main island of Taha'a but I will cover those in another post. We mostly took it easy during the week. Our overwater bungalow was truely idyllic, even though we didn't have perfect weather the whole time. A couple of days were cloudy but we usually got sun for at least part of the day. It rained some days but that wasn't a big deal. It always rains in the tropics. That's why it's so lush and green.
Venus and Mercury over the resort at sunset
It's just that much prettier when the sun comes out afterwards. And some of the days the weather was just gorgeous. We were lucky because we were actually there in the rainy season. Offseason rates were why we could afford the trip in the first place. And watching the changing patterns of the clouds and the light and the colors in the sky and the water was a continuous show. After a rain there would always be a spectacular rainbow.
Although our days were great the evenings were always the best time. After a hard day of taking it easy, we would spend most evenings on our patio. With a glass of wine or a bottle of Hinano (the local beer) in hand we would watch the sun going down. The sky would turn red in the west and the evening light would put the mountains on Taha'a in relief. The sky and the water would gradually change color, going through many beautiful shades before the sun finally set. Then when it got dark we had a beautiful view of Venus and Mercury in the western sky over the resort.
It was definitely a week in Paradise.
