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| Tahiti is in French Polynesia and is composed of 118 islands |
Unfortunately, the exploitation, primarily of the European's, has changed the balance of life in this region. However, there is still lots of paradise to be found. The first thing I noticed is that the Tahitians are big! Samoan-like with huge bellies, and mostly barefooted. No wonder, they eat big... the food trucks and local restaurants (great by the way--- Poisson Crois, pizza and french fries galore), are served in huge portions! They can easily feed 2 foreign travelers with one serving. We kept thinking Ozempic (GLP-1) would make a killing here, diabetes must be rampant... and it is, between 12% to 22% of their population, depending on the diagnosis. But, the funny thing is, the average lifespan for a Tahitian is still into their.. 80's. Go figure-- maybe it is having less stress, lots of fish, or who knows? Maybe it's because of the Tahitians culture, who are happy, friendly, and have big family units, full of love which is evident everywhere you go.
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| jay, judith, Loraine, & moi |
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| White Palm apts on beach |
This is where the French held the Olympic surfing competition in 2024, the waves were small then too. But, I can just imagine what it would be like if the waves were breaking at its historic heights of 45 to 50+ feet (15-18 meters).
Island Ring tour: We didn't know what to expect on the 2 lane drive around the island and was surprised by the diversity of its topography. The east side, as it is called, offers many interior adventures such as the hike and swim through Hitiaa's lava tubes (a network of natural underground volcanic tunnels), and the drive is brimming with lavish greenery with dynamic views of ridges and valleys.
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| Topatari waterfall |
The windy road pirouettes around curves with drop offs into the sea, so we stopped at the Topatari and Vaiharuru waterfalls for a short hike along the Papenoo river. This valley was the last stronghold to the faithful ancient Polynesian religion until 1846, and was the shelter for the Tahitian rebel forces that opposed the French takeover. You can also take a challenging 4WD tour from Papenoo all the way across to the south portion of the island to the Mataiea township, and see Lake Vaihiria, the only natural interior lake of Tahiti.
Moby Dick's snorkeling: Time to take a coral garden boat trip. So we picked Moby Dick's, a company run by a French gal named Isabelle. She even provided wetsuits which you really don't need, a rash guard works fine. The clarity of the water was truly mesmerizing, refracting the various shades of blue, from teal to azure.
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| clarity for sure |
The temperature of the water is remarkably pleasant, between 81°F (27°C) to 83F (28°C). Isabelle was great, responded quickly to any inquiries, and even snorkeled with us while pointing out the various fish life. And, back in the boat, she broke out the fish and coral guides to highlight some more species. We even glided over some green sea turtles and stingrays.
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| Absorbing the moment |
Once in the water though I became quickly disillusioned...the coral for the most part was DEAD. Although there were many species of fish with stunning colors, the coral was a drab, yucky brown color with a gnarly spiral looking algae on top. The best thing is you could still see 100' (30.8m) through the water, but if you were not paying attention, like me, and the top of the coral head is shallow... you can easily back into some coral and gouge your leg, ouch! Turns out I was bleeding the whole time I kept thinking of course.. who likes blood?.... Sharks!
Afternoons: The days were full of action in the morning, but soon gave way to the heat. We would all settle in for our naps, a good book or sitting on the deck and watching the waves break on the outer reef. Around 5pm things perked up and the gaming began. Throw in some beer, gin, and martinis... and play the game "Five Crowns".. and you are in for some fun times.
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| Sunset off the deck at White Sands Beach- Moorea is in the background |
Moorea: ( Muh-Ree-uh) The island is often referred to as the "Magical Island,"and magic it was. When we first caught a glimpse from the short ride on the ferry with the car you can see the iconic Mount Rotui and Mount Tohivea, breaching the sky. These rugged peaks that Captain Cook had seen when he landed here in 1769, must have filled him with awe.
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| Moorea, has it all. |
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| Belvedere point- Opunohu bay on the left, and Cook's bay on the right |
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| Challenging on a rained a soaked day.. |
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| Mape (Chestnut) tree surface roots |
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| You only live once! |
Sorry, the teacher in me is now coming out: The equatorial coral reefs are a living metropolis submerged in liquid light, and they are endangered around the world for several reasons: 1. Climate change -the heating of the water, 2. Chemicals such as pesticides and industrial heavy metals, 3. The loss of predators like the Triton shell- (which eats the coral predator Crown of Thorns) are collected by natives and sold to tourists for shell collections.
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| Hideous looking Crown of Thorns |
To give you a better picture of how coral life functions, you have to know the structure, there are 3 parts: 1. Hard corals have a Calcium Carbonate (CaC03) skeleton on the outside (cement like). 2. A fleshy polyp inside, (looks like a sea anemone-or a fleshy hand). 3. And inside the polyp's fleshy tissue is the life sustaining algae-Zooxanthaellae which gives the coral its color, and performs photosynthesis which provides the polyp with glucose, glycerol, etc.
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| coral polyp- extended outside the CaC03 skeleton |
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| A healthy looking reef |
Coral reefs are often called the
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| Triton shell eat the Crown of Thorns |
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| Bad REMU algae growing dead coral |
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| Mt. Tohivea at 3,960' (1,207 m) |
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| Jay taking a break |
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| Local food truck |
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| The Big Kahuna |
Sofitel Kia Ora Beach Resort: If we were to come back to Moorea, this would be our first choice with this best snorkeling reefs and amazing coral heads filled with live coral and schools of reef fish, and sea turtles.
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| Sofitel Kir Ora Beach Resort |
We parked at the public beach next to the resort, and then walked along the sand to towards the bungalows. As soon as you swim out you notice a difference right off the bat, coral heads are beaming with fish. A little further out by the end bungalows, the water depth actually starts to get shallow and the staghorn coral is near the surface. The reef spreads out like a blanket for as far as you can see. So you have to pay attention as you glide over the arborescent (antler-like) coral which forms dense groups of underwater "thickets" or "forests". There are many fish of all sizes from the Bluefin Trevally, Trigger Fish etc. but my personal favorite is the iridescent Blue -Green Damselfish darting in and out of the coral, like a symphony underwater. We had purchased a laminated polynesian reef guide on Amazon before we left, and sharpie marked the species we had seen each day, over the course of the trip we identified about 50 species of fish-etc.
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| copyright:www.frankosmaps.com |
Quad Ride: Time for some action... I had never ridden a quad before, and decided since I wasn't getting any younger I would give it a try. I suggested to Loraine, she could sit on the back and I would drive ... well, that didn't go over so well since she is an experienced quadder... so I got my own. We joined a tour and they gave us a 10 second preview of what to do.. all set. Off we went, or off the others went -while I started out riding it like a bucking bronco. Due to a previous thumb injury, I couldn't quite get the throttle right, so thank goodness no one was on back or they would have been thrown off on the pavement right from the start. We headed out on the main road at about 25-30 mph and then low and behold back to Belvedere point. Another head bobbing view and back on the road heading down, hmmm... this was getting fun zooming around the corners at nearly record speed- in my head anyway.
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| Quad Master |
We soon turned off on a side rainforest service road which led us to the pineapple groves for a quick overview. Seems that Captain Cook introduced the pineapple back on one of his trips.. the guide joking said, "he traded with the natives: 1 pineapple according to legend was worth 1 woman."
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| Pineapple grove |
Next we went to the site where they filmed Mutiny on the Bounty with Mel Gibson and then headed to a river crossing and stopped for a break.
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| Mutiny on the Bounty Location shoot |
Turns out the break was a planned stop. Our guide took us over to the river and started throwing pieces of tuna in the water and used his hand for splashing around.. All of a sudden these giant river eels showed up. Some were 6' (2m) in length, and as he petted them, he explained to us that the eels are considered sacred on this island, and in the past was only eaten by the chiefs, not anymore though.
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| Guide with sacred eels |
After the eels we headed out for the true test of quadmanship. A quick turn off the main road and up, up, up we went to the top of Magic Mountain. Sections of it had cement like paths with a 2 feet panel spread and 3 inch drops in the middle, so you had to stay on them or over the edge you went.
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| J and J on top of Magic mtn. |
Windy, wild turns on every corner, and after about 20 minutes or so we made it to the top around 600' (209m) ---and the top it was, with resplendent views spanning the island in every direction. After looking at the view for a few minutes, all I could think about was the road back down....turns out it wasn't so bad and we all made it back in one piece after a stop for a another tasty smoothie.
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| Fare Makana |
Our time with our Kiwi friends was coming to an end. We had 10 days of total fun with them. We enjoyed our stay on Moorea at the Fare Makana residence with its coral inlay floor, and now Jay can go home and rest on his laurels of being Five Crowns Champ- until we meet again old friends.
Bora Bora: Often referred to as the "Pearl of the Pacific," is about 1 hour plane ride, and cost about 1/2 as much as the flight from LAX.
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| look ma- no rotation |
The airport is actually on a strip of land disconnected from the main island and you have to take a ferry to get to the main city of Vailtape. There you get picked by the hotel driver or take a taxi to get where you are going. The problem is from the airport you never know which ferry to take. Because the fancy dancy places like the
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| Mt. Otemanu on Bora Bora |
Intercontinental have their own ferry shuttles, and there is no real signs. We finally discovered the secret is to look at the shirts of the crew on the boat-- depending on which airline you fly in or resort you are going to.. it's free. Leaving the ferry you are instantly captivated by the iconic Mt. Otemanu, a standing clipper edge of an eroded volcano at 2,385' (727m). After being shuttled around we made it to our hotel, the Royal Bora Bora, which served a great breakfast omelette and coffee, right on the beach. The hotel also offers a colorful traditional polynesian entertainment, and they pose for pics afterwards.:)
The Royal Bora Bora hotel is nice enough, but we soon discovered the water was disgustingly cloudy, and the coral was once again... dead-hmmmm...
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| Morning breakfast on the beach, not a bad way to start the day |
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| Dinner was good too |
We had been waiting to dive with something big like a Manta Ray or Shark. So we joined a snorkel tour to the coral gardens on the first day. The first stop was great, standing in chest deep water, the Black Tip reef sharks swim right up to you. Kinda spooky at first, especially when you can look right into their eyes and wonder what the heck they eat out here in this clear warm water.
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| Can't see the Blackfin just to the right of Loraine |
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| Blacktip reef shark |
But you get used to it and along with the stingrays they both swim by you like you are part of a obstacle path. The stingrays are fascinating to watch eat. Their mouths are on the bottom so they feed with similar shark like electroreceptors called: "The Ampullae of Lorenzini," these tiny pores pick up the electrical impulse given off by the prey in the sand. Once they locate the prey they incorporate the pectoral fins in a downward flap to create a tent like pressure bank as they suck up the prey in a cloud of sand which they later filter out. Unlike sharks, they then crush the shells, mostly crabs, shrimp, etc., to get out the soft body of the crustacean. Off to our next snorkel stop on the tour, the coral gardens, I was ready to be awed...
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| The stingray is a bottom feeder their mouth is on the bottom |
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| Tridacna maxima |
There were lots of the Maxima clams (smaller member of the Giant clams- Tridacna) who have fluorescent multi-colored mantle's that light up the coral head. These bright electric colors come from the photosynthetic algae living within their tissue and provide the clams with energy. Unfortunately this beauty was overshadowed by Remu! the bad algae growing all over the dead coral-- And this is supposed to be one of the prime snorkeling spots!
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| Giant Clams in Tonga -bordering someones yard-almost knocked on door to say something! very rare these days 1988 Earthwatch trip to save the clams |
Jet skiing---the all in adventure. We decided not to do the helmet dive which looked kind of cool, except you only go down to 15 feet and walk the bottom, and we were disappointed at what we had seen so far from the surface. So we decided to do some Jet Skiing instead. We had a young guide who took us on a wild figure 8, wave jumping ride around the entire Bora Bora Island, 24 miles (38.6km). Loraine was once again the expert at this, and I was enjoying sitting on the back and watching all the beauty go by looking for stingrays and green sea turtles.
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| Jet skiing around the island of Bora Bora |
But then the guide came up to me at one of the stops and said: "everyone is trading off driving with their partners... are you going to let her drive the whole way?" I said yes, I was fine, then after the 3rd stop, he said- "this is it- if you want to try driving, it's not hard you have to do it now." I succumbed to the male machismo, and we switched places. I was 3rd in line and before you know it the first two jet skis took off... something went primal in me!.. I have to catch up, so full throttle right out of the gate, slowing down a little for some waves but back up to full speed again... this was fun!! Loraine was laughing like a hyena on the back and I thought she was having a great time only to find later she thought I was nuts and out of control. It was ok until the very last turn when we entered into the bay, and a rogue wave hit us from the side, I slowed down a little and then punched it.. she flew off the seat, but held on somehow.. she had been holding on to my brand new Torrey Pines hat, which is now at the bottom of the sea. I think her exact words when we got off were, ... I will never ride on the back of a Jet ski with you again!:(
Raitea Island- The Sacred Island: We only had one full day left, and we figured we take a high speed ferry to the original landing spot of the polynesian seafarers over a 1000s years ago on Raiatea Island. The 2nd largest of the Society Islands after the island of Tahiti Nui. This is the site of the sacred Mare (gathering place) Taputapuatea (UNESCO World Heritage site), the ancient polynesians would gather here for ceremonial feast and sometimes sacrifices.
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| Sacred Mare |
Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the site- our time was limited. We were actually here to kayak up the only major navigable river in the Tahitian islands- the Faaroa River.
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| Mt. Tefatua in the background |
Our kayaking guide was telling us the Tahitian islands are the heart of the Pacific triangle for the original migrating polynesians. The boundaries of the triangle are made up of: North-Hawai'i, Southwest: Aotearoa-New Zealand (Maori) and finally the Southeast with Rapa Nui- Easter island. But the truth of the matter is the latest research shows the origin for the first seafarers actually started in Southeast Asia, and Taiwan and moved out through Malaysian islands. * An Interesting note, our Tahitian shuttle driver, Chris, was telling us his grandfather could actually communicate with a Maori from New Zealand in the native language.
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| Hibiscus flowers |
The Faaroa river starts out in a quiet bay, but quickly becomes part of a subtropical -like rainforest. Although, nothing compared to the Amazon, or Central America, it is still a delight to paddle up the river and see the 3,000' apex of the sacred Mt. Tefatua, peaking through the clouds, and the multi-colored hibiscus flowers, lazily floating by.
Maiti Hotel: last night--and amazing. I wanted to end the coral reef story, on a positive note.. and it has one. There is a movement to protect the coral in Tahiti with a push from the big boy hotels, the Intercontinental, Conrad, Wyndham etc. Since the coral was dying around their bungalows it didn't look good for the tourist industry, when you are paying over $1,000 a day, and the coral is dead, so they became pro active. They hired an innovative organization called Sea Narea Sea Narea, (check out this link--this will give you hope), and their goal is to bring back viable coral ecosystems to Tahiti and elsewhere.
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| The beach in front of the Matai Hotel |
So on the last night we had moved up the street a 1/4 mile to the Maitai hotel, which is owned by the Intercontinental corporation. They are a Master Certified Sustainable hotel and doing some amazing stuff to restore the underwater habitat: 1. recycling, 2. no sewage allowed in the water from the hotel, 3. and best of all they have incorporated the latest technology to saving small coral populations: The Bio Rock structures our the "new rock stars of the coral reefs".
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| Bio Rock frame |
Bio Rocks: the technology was actually invented in the 1970s by a professor of Architecture at the University of Texas, Wolf Hilbertz, and then refined by biochemist Thomas Goreau in the 80s. So the process has been around for a long time. Hilbertz discovered by passing an electrical current through salt water attached to a metal type structure-a frame of sorts, you could get the CaCo3 (limestone) to precipitate out of the water and form a film on the metal cathode. One can even use rebar as the metal, and then by running a current of only 4 volts through it works just fine. The fleshy free-swimming coral larvae settle on the metal rebar with the precipitated limestone base, they incorporate this into forming their own skeleton. Interesting enough solar panels are wired from the bungalows, with a cord running out into the ocean and attaching to the structure. So that's what is being done, and snorkeling around these Bio Rock structures is excellent, lots of fish, a variety of live coral with a partial biodiverse ecosystem.
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| Looking down at one with the solar panels |
The Bio Rocks are now made with all sorts of designs, octagon, hexagon, etc. so it's quite interesting to snorkel around the different shapes. Nowadays, the big resorts with bungalows as their base, are using this technology to stabilize the coral growth by their hotels.
So the perfect ending came as a surprise, I ventured out pass the "roped off snorkeling zone," and was cruising around some 15-20' coral heads. When out of nowhere came a Giant Spotted Eagle Ray, she was underneath me and swimming straight towards me, and it was followed by 5 more... all I could think of was Steve Irwin and his painful death by a stingray. Then close to 4 feet away she banked left with a graceful stroke of her pectoral fin, I finally calmed down and took a deep breath... and kept reminding myself to keep breathing. After she cruised by me the other 5 Eagle Rays formed a spiraling band of beauty around me, almost like they were showing me how they could glide in the water, and no sooner did they appear...they disappeared off into the abyss, just like that... it was a magical moment.
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| Spotted Eagle Ray- 16' with tail- commensal remoras below |
Tahiti nowadays is not the scene painted by Bougainville's in the 1700s, but it has rallied to maintain its own version of paradise. The government recently has even incorporated no fishing zones around the islands to help maintain fish populations and this way the locals can still fish. Tahiti has suffered with the growing pains of tourism, (and they still need to divide the tourist dollars to those locals in need), but it seems to have adapted quite nicely, and is still a transcending version of your imagination; it is full of laughter from the locals with their huge smiles, the history of the polynesian culture, the vibrant aqua warm water and the breathtaking jagged volcanic spires thrusting from the deep. Doesn't get much better.
Recommendations: ....
* Humpback whales-if you want to snorkel with the famous Humpback Whales, come between mid-July and October. One of the few places in the world where you can jump in the water and swim with these gentle giants.
*The Heiva, is the famous Cultural Tradition dances are all through the month of July. Each island has several competitive groups and the winners are sent to Papeete for the Grand Final.
* Forget the Underwater camera or a pouch to put your phone in. Unless you are a professional I think you are going to be wasting time chasing fish and end up with a lot of pictures out of focus. And any camera bag that you can put your phone in will probably not work (my experience), it is only good for keeping it dry.
* Bring your own water bottle to fill up: Each hotel will have filtered water stations to fill up your bottles, USE IT!. And watch out for salads, etc at the local eateries, they wash the lettuce with regular water and will more than likely give you the Montezuma Revenge to some degree. And brush your teeth with filtered water too.
* Sunscreen, beware: It needs to say: "Reef Safe" somewhere on the bottle- this generally means it is a mineral based (Zinc oxide and titanium) which sits on top of the skin and acts like a barrier. The sunscreen spray- Sun bum, (yellow cap) I would not use them, according to Marine Biologists they contain variations of the bad Oxybenzone and Octinoxate which filter out like them, and causes stress and DNA damage to reefs. The white cap Sum bum on the other hand is ok because it has Zinc Oxide. If you want use a spray on I would use Oravi mineral oil spf- 50 pump spray-- travel size too ($14.95).
* If you suffer a coral wound: the best thing (according to locals ) is to squeeze lemon on it (acidic), and keep on swimming in the ocean the salt will help heal it... don't listen to Gemini.
