Moorea and Tahiti, French Polynesia

Sunset, Tahiti, French Polynesia
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FRENCH POLYNESIA

22ND December 2005

French Polynesia marks the start of the second leg of my journey. I arrived here after an  8 hour flight with Air New Zealand from L.A. arriving at Tahiti International at 5am, its nice and cool at this time of day I am glad to say.

In French Polynesia the wet season runs from October to March, so theoretically I have not arrived here at the wrong time of year as its supposed to be wet and very humid, Its certainly very hot and humid, but to my delight bright and sunny.

Sunset, Tahiti, French Polynesia
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Upon arrival each visitor is handed a Tiara as they get off the plane, this is the little white flower which you are supposed to have behind your ear, or at least local people do, this is a traditional custom here. Also you do not wear shoes of any kind in the house, this is very much frowned upon and seen as bad manners, so i have had to remind myself of this almost every day.

Tahiti gets the mind wandering and is probably the first name that comes to mind when anyone mentions French Polynesia. Tahiti captured the imaginations of Europeans back in the nineteenth century when explores returned with vivid depictions of paradise where life was simple and the waters aqua. This Island is famous for luring painters such as Paul Gauguin and the writer Robert Louis Stevenson, and the film Mutiny on the Bounty was filmed in Opnunohu Bay on Moorea.

Sunset, Tahiti, French Polynesia
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The stark reality of Tahiti today is rather different from the days of the early explores such as Captain Cook, a busy commercialised island bussling with locals and tourists alike, with large very expensive hotels and lots of traffic, particularly around Papetee the Islands capital.

I had already booked into a small pension on the Island of Moorea before my departure from the UK, so upon arrival I caught the 6am ferry to the more quite and relaxed Moorea, a taxi takes me to the quaint hostel about fifteen klms from the ferry. Today I have found out just how expensive it is here, taxis are out of the question in future.

Sunset, Tahiti, French Polynesia
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Its beautiful, palm trees and aqua marine waters that are crystal clear inside the lagoon, the island is surround by a reef perhaps half a mile off shore which creates the shallow lagoon teeming with fish and invertebrates in the warm tropical waters of the Pacific.

I am met at Fare Oa Oa by Harve who's home I shall be staying in for the next five days, here, as one would expect everything is very French, even the car number plates and street signs are French.

This quaint and rather charming place is set back from the lagoon surrounded by lush tropical vegetation, inside this simple wooden building its full of shells, drift wood and old bottles, complete with a kitchen and oil lamps, old books and record sleeves that are fading with age. But more interesting than anything is his diary or visitors book which he has had for many years. This scrap book full of well wishes, articles and photos from visitors makes fascinating reading, it even includes extracts from peoples travel journals such this, perhaps if I email Harve he will be able to put this into the book for others to read and enjoy as much as I did.

Sunset over Moorea, French Polynesia
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This little pension oozes so much character, theres even an outside shower with hot and cold water which is great in this climate. I spent several evenings talking to Harve about the days when he had his own tropical Island where he lived for 6 years as a `modern day Robinson Cruso', there's an article in the book on this which I read with much interest, although I think i would be happy to just visit such an Island rather than live on it.

MOOREA

Some say that the name Moorea which means 'Golden Lizard' was the name of one of the ruling families, others attribute its name to an image seen by a high priest while visiting the island.

Moorea, French Polynesia
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I spent several half days snorkeling at the hotel just up the road, the beaches are very much seen as public property although they belong to the hotels, even the locals swim from here. Its nice, although the beach is artificial. There are huge numbers of fish just off shore on the small reefs within the lagoon. Although you have to watch the Trigger fish as they are very territorial and bite you given half the chance which I found out to my cost on several occasions.

Harve also loans out bikes which is great, so I spent several half days cycling around, its so quite its the best way to see the island, except the dogs don't like bikes and chase you if the get the chance, you need to keep your eyes open as they run out in front of you.

Moorea, French Polynesia
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I also took a small tour around the island which took in a trip to the Belvedere, or view point which looks out over Cook and Opnunohu bays from inland. This tour took 3.5 hours and visited several key points around the island including Pineapple plantations which are grown widely, although tourism is definitely the main stay of the economy here.

I spent my last full day snorkeling off the motu, you catch a small dug out with outrigger across the lagoon to the `Lagoonarium', here a small part of the lagoon is enclosed and has huge sting rays, turtles and black tipped reef shark which you can swim with. great, now I can see up close and personal what these beautiful sea creatures are like. The rays are so used to people the swim all round you, as do other fish, especially when they are fead. Outside the enclosed area of the lagoon you can swim out to the edge of the reef some 150m away, here is a massive coral reef with clams, see cucumber and masses of fish including Wrass, Morish idol to name just but 2 species. No lion fish or big angels though, these are mainly outside the reef, although their are some large parrot fish.

Looking over Tahiti, French Polynesia
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So I left Moorea on the 27th December and spent just one day on Tahiti, which was plenty, a guided tour in the morning took me around the island, no beaches as such, lots of surf places, but I did not fancy being smashed on the rocks. You need to know what you are doing to catch some of the brakes here.

I have been lucky here with the weather, its been kind, very little rain. Its worth stopping to Moorea, but boy its very expensivem, hencefew travellers come to see these Islands, mainly French tourists, who as ever are very patriotic