Blogs from Tahiti, French Polynesia, Oceania - page 7

PAPEETE: . Papeete was an unlikely place to drop a few gears, with its incessant and chaotic stream of cars overtaking each other with casual aloofness. Just what we needed - our host Ralph picking us up from the airport on local time (t+32.5mins). Soon the minutiae faded into nothingness, and even the bus that didnt bother to pick us up because it was Friday afternoon (apparently he was busting to get home) drew little more than a shrug from us and opened the opportunity to explore the local beach instead. Quote day 1: Ah. New Zealand. Yes, yes. I like. Cheap. The trick was not staying in Papeete itself. Taaroa Lodge, 18kms south and right off the beach - just perfect. On the main Island ring road with very busy and smelly traffic. Something akin ... read more

PARADISE LOST and REGAINED?… Just walk away Renee…. CAN YOU BE MORE (S)PACIFIC… NO MAD NOMAD HERE… AN ANENOME OF THE PEOPLE?.. Infernal, Internal Thermals…and much, much more!.. Nuku Hiva, now a memory, but something transpired there, it really got to me, I’m still not sure what it was…..more later maybe Unlike the Galapagos Islands which were basically conventional volcanic islands - you know, cone shaped, sloping lava fields to the sea, calderas, tunnels all that stuff, the Marquisas are far more topographically challenging. (and, as there are English, French and Spanish spellings, even differing names for many of these places, you may notice some inconsistencies !!) The Marquisas, enormous tortured rock mountains, stratified layers, peaks and rolls, huge cliffs jutting vertically from the water 100’s of feet, high crested peaks to 3,000 feet, constant cloud ... read more

Greetings to all from Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia. We have been here a week already and have enjoyed a couple of dfays at a mooring at the Tahiti Yacht Club which was very peaceful as with a Thursday Public holiday and the following Monday the locals all took a 5 day weekend and nothing got done. Moved into town and finally got checked in while tied up at new docks that have only been installed 2 months before, quite rooly with the ferry wakes and really noisy from the traffic from 6am til late. Subsequently anchored off Marina Taina which is free and has some delightful snorkelling under the boat. But I digress, I left you in Fatu Hiva and we spent 4 weeks in the Marquesas really enjoying the outrageous geographical features and beautiful bays,friendly ... read more

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We chose again to take the boat to Mo'orea as we had had such an excellent day trecking in the jungle on our first visit. However, we decided not to repeat that exercise. Having had such a good time renting a car on Bonaire we decided this was the most cost-effective way to do Mo'orea; so we hired a small car for £60 for the day. A good decision. Mo'orea, along with Bora Bora, is the jewel in the crown of French Polynesia - at least in terms of intrinsic beauty, classy resort hotels and excellent beaches. After the usual efficient 30 minute crossing on the cat - amazingly which no fellow MSVG passengers took - Mr. Europcar supplied us with a nice little air-conditioned Fiat and good advice on where to go around the island. ... read more