Things to do in French Polynesia

After seven wonderful days on our Windstar Cruise in French Polynesia, we sailed back into port at Papeete, Tahiti. Fortunately, we had decided beforehand to extend our stay in French Polynesia by booking rooms at the Hilton Moorea property on the north shore. Having seen many dreamy pictures of overwater bungalows in exotic locales, we decided to give the bungalows on Moorea a try and we were not disappointed. Our budget would only afford two nights, but that was better than nothing (rooms can run about $1,000/night or more, depending on location, meal plans, season, etc.).

We chose Moorea because its proximity to Papeete (only a short ferry ride away), rather than an expensive flight back out to Bora Bora.

*The uncrowded ferry to Moorea. The ferry terminal was right next to the cruise ship terminal.*

From the ferry dock in Moorea, we found a taxi to take us to the Hilton, about a 20 minute ride to the northwest around the coast. The luggage claim was a bit of a zoo, I wish I would have gotten a photo of the chaotic scenes of several ferries and luggage stacked up at the terminal–almost comical. No problem finding our bags however.

View of Hilton Moorea property from the beach.

*Views of Hilton Moorea beach and* *pool.*

There is no lack of things to do in this setting – hit the beach, hit the pool, have a casual lunch, paddle board, jet ski (a blast in the nearby stunningly scenic bays), snorkel, take an island tour, etc. (See our post on our cruise stop in Moorea). Our hotel package included a wonderful buffet breakfast. We ate dinner one day at the hotel in a beachside cafe and the second evening we got a taxi to a restaurant on the beach a few miles down the coast.

There’s nothing like waking up in the morning, stepping down to your own private swim platform and jumping into the calm water for a quick swim and watching rays and other fish swim by.

*Our bungalow for two nights. The room had a glass floor so you could look down and see the water and fish.*

A short video showing our bungalow room.

*It’s a surreal setting – it does feel like a dream!*

*It was funny watching our very cruise ship pass by the Hilton Moorea (exactly one week later after our cruise!)*

*A sunset on Moorea–the end to another perfect day!*

From Raiatea, we cruised a few kilometers across the strait in the evening to our next stop, the island of Taha’a and Motu Mahaea, an islet in the reef that surrounds Raiatea and Taha’a. What a great day this was! I had decided to take advantage of the morning cruise excursion, which was a “drift snorkel tour” on the northwestern side of Taha’a. For many passengers (and the rest of my family), they enjoyed the free day on Motu Mahaea, where the cruise line has a nice set-up — lounge chairs on the beach, kayaks, paddle boarding, beach games, snorkeling and swimming, in addition to a great BBQ lunch. I was able to join the rest of the my family on Motu Mahaea for the afternoon after the morning snorkel.

Drift Snorkel Tour

*On our way out to our snorkel spot. Our guide was wearing a t-shirt map of Taha’a and Raiatea, very helpful to get our bearings. The island of Taha’a is in the background.*

Our snorkel spot was on the northwestern reef of Taha’a, with a spectacular view of Bora Bora providing the backdrop. The channel has a strong current and you literally just drift along with the current taking in the underwater sights.

*This was the channel in the reef where we snorkeled. There is a pretty strong current through here–from the ocean side into the protected lagoon (Bora Bora is in the distance).*

*We did three snorkel tours through this channel taking different routes.*

*Views of our snorkel tour using my GoPro knock-off camera — works pretty well!*

*The abundance of coral and varieties of fish were amazing and beautiful.*

There are a few resorts out here on this part of the reef of Taha’a, which would be a nice place to stay, and maybe a little less expensive than Bora Bora.

Motu Mahaea

After our great snorkel tour, we headed over to Motu Mahaea, to join many other passengers for an afternoon BBQ and fun on the beach.