Moorea

Moorea, only about 30 minutes from Papeete by ferry, equals Huahine in beauty. It's mountainous interior may have even more spectacular silhouettes.

Moorea seen from the top of the arriving ferry.

We arrived on Easter weekend when the island and the Hilton resort were at their capacity. We had to wait a few hours to get into our second over-the-water bungalow of the trip. But we managed to change in the fitness center and get into the water for some decent snorkeling for about an hour.

The bungalow was excellent, both in location and design. Number 73 on the map, with sunrise, unobstructed lagoon and land view and no other bungalows in sight or sound.

But the walk on the boardwalk was a few city blocks.

There are opportunities for exercise along the way.

Entering the well air-conditioned bungalow is a reward.

Our bungalow had a nice deck with water access.

 
Snorkeling was easy and extensive in front of the bungalow.
 

Alone in an underwater universe

But the snorkeling at the Hilton, good as it was, did not compare with a place about 30 minutes away, called the Lagoonarium. A small motu (islet) reached by a 5-minute boat ride where the corals are rich and loaded with sea life, including non-aggressive black-tip sharks and manta rays. It's a private operation, costing about $35 a person. The large snorkeling area is criss-crossed with ropes, allowing one to move about without the stress of fighting the currents - which are probably a constant in the area. Without the ropes one could probably last only ten to 15 minutes at most. But with the ropes we were able to stay in for an hour and a half. Although we do not approve of fish-feeding, I must say the crowd of sharks and rays when they fed them about noon was a sight to behold. Big sharks five to six  feet, moving all around us as we hung on to a rope line in the water. Here are three images from the Lagoonarium from Google images:

You can see part of the rope system being held by these two snorkelers. It extends over a wide area and is marked by round floats some of which can be seen in the back, in front of the surf.

Black-tip sharks at the Lagoonarium

Sting ray

Our deck gave us a good view of some interesting local activities.

A groom being transported to his wedding.

Racing team practice

Trash burning

 We avoided the hotel restaurants. We had a good dinner at Rudy's on the first night. Good parrotfish stuffed with crab and good curried shrimp.

Rudy poses with a guest

One of the many varieties of parrotfish we see while snorkeling.

A "Chinese-water-torture" dinner at Te Honu Iti was our fate on the second night.

That's a buoy on the left.

The beautiful view from the restaurant and the convenience of being picked up and returned by the restaurant's air-conditioned car (a common practice here) did not make up for the fact that, notwithstanding being only the second table to arrive, it took 45 minutes to get our tuna carpaccio appetizer and another hour to get a bowl of fish soup and a plate of ravioli. I will not go into the ordinariness of the food. You win some, you lose some.

I'm happy to report that regular administration of the oxygenated water obtained in a Papeete pharmacy a few days ago has cleared up the water-in-the-ear problem caused by too much snorkeling. After you put it in the ear with an eyedropper it feels and sounds like champagne fizzing in the ear canal, a rather pleasant sensation.

Tomorrow we take the ferry to Papeete for one night before our flight to LA the next day. We are hopeful for the meal at the Moorea Beach Cafe tonight.

Addendum: The evening of our last full day was made extra-special by the sighting of a rare eagle ray right below us as we walked on the boardwalk from our over-the-water bungalow. It was feeding for a few minutes, allowing me to take photos of it from the boardwalk down through the shallow, clear water.

 

The dinner at Moorea Beach Cafe was one of our best meals - no surprise after we found out it was owned by Bruno Jamais who was the maitre d' at Daniel Boloud's restaurant in New York for many years and also had his own fancy restaurant there for a while.

Emma and Bruno Jamais at Moorea Beach Cafe

In a little boutique attached to the restaurant I found yet another proof of the worldwide influence of Milton Glaser.

Finally, this morning, on the day of our departure we had the first fully rainy weather of our trip, proving how lucky we were in the month we were here.

Huahine

The 30-minute drive from the airport at the north end of Huahine Nui (Big Huahine) to our hotel on the Southern tip of Huahine Iti (Little Huahine) convinced us this is the most beautiful island we've yet seen in French Polynesia.

Airport at the top, resort at the bottom

 It is lush to the max, full of mountains and bays and tropical fruit trees, mango, papaya, banana, coconut.
 

Two women standing on columns in the water, waiting for Mr. Right?

 

  

 

  Little Huahine is bigger than Bora Bora and has a varied mountainous interior.

The Wind Spirit, previously seen in Papeete, had arrived here in Huahine.

The Paul Gaugin, a relatively small cruise boat, was also in Huahine

The Paul Gaugin, as it looked in the larger landscape

The arrival at our hotel, Relais Mahana in Huahine Iti, was not auspicious. We were greeted with paperwork and no refreshment. After many arrivals with either a fruit drink or coconut water (and cold towels) that was a letdown. Dinner was terrible. Inedible carpaccio of lagoon fish. Undercooked swordfish ( a fish which is not to be treated like tuna) and barely edible chicken (which gave me mild indigestion later that night). [The food improved later on.]

Initial aspects of our beachfront bungalow were distressing. Two people were ensconced in the beach loungers on the sand in front, loungers which logically belonged to our bungalow. The key to the bungalow had to be inserted into the master electricity control, so you could not leave the AC on if you left the bungalow.

The room key and the electricity key were on the same wire loop so one couldn't leave the electricity (AC) on if you wanted to leave the bungalow - unless you were willing to leave it unlocked.

It had two glass doors and a window on the beachfront but the doors had a painted design so only the relatively small window had a view.

There was general sense that the resort was skimping on towels and toiletries. But it was clean and had cool AC and good toilet and shower facilities.

And the bay on which it was located was beautiful, suitable for the taking of wedding photos.

After the privacy and luxury of the Sofitel Private Island and Vahine a certain letdown was to be expected.

After a night's sleep things got better. Although the breakfast was nothing special and the possibility of a trip to the main town was eliminated by the fact it was Good Friday, and the market will be closed for the next three days, there was one big plus.

The snorkeling off the long beach turned out to be easy and excellent and the lunch of fish and chips was decent. And snorkeling is the main thing. So our mood turned bright.

Calm and clear lagoon waters allowed us to spend as much time as possible watching the underwater show. That morning we saw a fast-moving ray, a small moray eel, many varieties of colorful small fish including four type of clownfish which hang out in the tentacles of the stinging anemone, to which they are immune. Those anemones are abundant here.

From Google Images

Even more abundant are the sea cucumbers (I'd say about one to every square foot of underwater sand.) They look like large turds and one hesitates to step on them. But the are supposedly beneficial as cleaners of the water. They are also edible.

Add to this some weird stuff we will have to look up in books and it was up there with the best we've seen.

The biggest snorkeling find was the octopus observed by Emma for about 10 to 15 minutes near the end of the dock. It was between 3 and 4 feet when stretched out. A  true rarity in our experience.




Tiara-making demo at the hotel.

On the last day they let us stay in our room until our 5:20 PM departure for the airport. That is to their credit. In the morning we snorkeled. in the afternoon we hired the only taxi in the area to drive us around the islands, just looking at the scenery and seeing the four or five "towns." The driver was Braymond who we figure is close to 90 years old because he told us he first came to visit on some sort of French sociological survey job in 1939. Assuming he was 20 at the time, that makes him at least 86. He also is an adviser to the President of Polynesia who he says, "Never takes my advice."

 Anyway, he drove us to all the nooks and crannies around the perimeters of the two island sections of Huahine, including some unpaved roads he himself rarely travels. The lucky thing was that it was a cloudy afternoon so the drive without air conditioning was comfortable. And our parting gin and tonic on the beach at 5PM was also comfortable.

The stay in Huahine ended with a spectacular sunset, seen from the airport as we waited for our night flight to Papeete.

Vahine

Order on the beach

Order in the interior

Order in the dock area

Order in the toilet

 In the category of islands with less than 10 bungalows, Vahine is the polar opposite of Ninamu. Highly manicured, the sand is raked, the bungalows are air-conditioned and the owner is rarely present. As it happens, he was visiting with his wife during our stay.

But the island is beautifully run by Loure and the chef Terrance. His cooking is amazing. We think it would merit a Michelin star. We thoroughly enjoyed our three-night stay.

Vahine is beautifully located, thirty minutes by boat from the airport on Raitea and close to the island of Tahaa. It sits in a sort of lagoon with snorkeling and kayaking available and many small islands nearby.

Vahine in the distance

Vahine

 Snorkeling is subject to the vagaries of currents, which enter through breaks in the nearby reef and were strong during our visit. We did a few drift snorkels from a boat and an independent "slalom" snorkel off a nearby island belonging to the same owner. (He is building a few family vacation villas there.) The "slalom" snorkeling is done in current with water about a foot or two above the coral. We had to either snake our way through them or glide over them as stretched out as possible. Not bad, but we prefer simpler snorkeling situations. In some spots we could stand on stand on sand between the corals or hold on to some coral to take time to examine a spot.

We had a charming little bungalow with a sort of Japanese-Polynesian style.

Sliding window/doors

We kayaked to the island seen in the distance.

The chandelier is made of tiny seashells.

The food deserves special mention - incredible, especially when you consider the remoteness of the location.

Foie gras with a chutney underneath, on a tuille. Edible silver on top.

Baby octopus on zucchini on mahi-mahi on gratinee potatoes on minced vegetables

Creme brulee flambe

Smoked marlin on top of a creamy eggplant wrapped in cucumber

Today we move on to the island of Huahine. As we left, a majority of the island's population gathered to bid us farewell.

Laure, the manager on the right and Terrence, the chef, behind her. The owner and his wife in the middle. Two guests on the left.