Super Long Tahiti Honeymoon Travelogue
Alright, by popular request here is a full account of our Tahiti honeymoon with photo and video. We don't have our underwater camera photos yet, since they were on film cameras and I haven't had the photos developed yet, but I will add them when we get them.
On Our Way
Our trip really began in LA, where we overnighted before making the 8 hour flight to Tahiti. This added a couple days to the trip (we did the same thing on the way back, at the same hotel) but ended up being really smart because it left us with two long but not terrible travel days rather than one 20 hour nightmare. It also gave us plenty of time for delayed flights or missed connections, which ended up not being a problem, but it was nice not to worry.
We stayed at the Embassy Suites LAX, which I would recommend to anyone if you happen to be flying through LA. The hotel itself was very nice, with a large atrium and comfortable large rooms, business center, fitness facility (way nicer than most hotels), and pool, plus free hot breakfast in the morning and reception with free drinks and snacks in the evening. We took the advice of telling anyone within earshot that we were on our honeymoon and it paid off when they brought us a free gift certificate for dinner at the hotel restaurant (or room service, which is what we ended up doing) and also upgraded our room. Score!
The other great thing about the Embassy Suites is that it is on a special trolley line designed to get hotel guests to a local shopping center and also to Manhattan Beach. We skipped the mall but did hit the beach, which was a great beginning to our trip. Neither Josh nor I had ever been to the Pacific before, so even though it was cold we waded in the water and then walked up the pier to the local free (run by volunteers) aquarium where we could touch starfish and urchins and see a variety of other sea life on display. Then we found a great frozen yogurt (proper frozen yogurt--I had "tart") place and headed back to the hotel. Manhattan Beach was interesting. Lots of old businesses dating back to the 1920s, so it must have been a fairly early tourist hotspot. Nice older beach houses lining the roads leading up from the beach, mostly first half of the 20th century with some 1960s-1970s Modern infill.
The next morning we headed back to the airport to catch our plane. For some reason (I think just because we were being cautious and didn't want to miss our flight) we ended up at the terminal several hours before we actually needed to get to the gate. We checked in at the international terminal and played card games in the food court, people watching. Our terminal appeared to serve mostly Asian destinations, so the food area was very interesting--Chinese, Sushi, Japanese Noodles, Mexican, and McDonalds. For not the first time I felt a little ashamed that "American" cuisine is represented by McDonalds. It was also interesting to watch the stewardesses come and go because many of the Asian carriers (including Air Tahiti Nui, but also Air Singapore and Korean Air) have their staff dress somewhat traditionally.
Arrival In Tahiti
The less said about the plane ride there the better (it was probably the least comfortable international flight either of us has taken--apparently Tahitians do not have long legs), but I was charmed by the fact that the upholstery was floral print, the cabin was decorated with a faux Gauguin painting, and the staff word long floral dresses.
They also gave us Tiare (gardenia) flowers to tuck behind our ears at takeoff and landing. At first this seemed a little contrived but honestly French Polynesians wear flowers (often real, sometimes fake) ALL the time, usually Tiare (which smell heavenly). We were handed flowers whenever we checked in at a hotel and there were little dishes of them everywhere. Or you could just pluck one from a nearby tree. It was a charming custom that I would like to hang on to. Incidentally, a flower behind your left ear means that you are taken, behind the right ear means you are looking, and behind both ears means, well...
on the airplane
and later, a bit more relaxed
We arrived in Papeete, which is the capitol of FP (French Polynesia, hereafter abbreviated), around 9pm or so. Each international flight is met by an airline representative handing out tiare flowers as well as a traditional band to serenade you as you proceed to baggage claim. In a festive mood we grabbed our bags and met our tour representative who gave us flower leis and showed us our ride to our hotel.
(this is a stock photo)
We first stopped to change money. Tahiti's currency is the French Pacific Franc (XPF), which is tied to the Euro (FP remains a French territory) so it was a great time to visit. FP bills are gorgeous and colorful and the coins are quite nice too. We brought back a few as souvenirs. We changed a bill to get some croissants (thanks to Fred for teaching me that it is ALWAYS a good idea to break a large bill at the airport to buy a croissant in a French-speaking country!) and got our ride to the hotel.
Our first night was spent at the Manava Garden Suites Hotel, which was a gorgeous and swanky European style hotel set in a garden paradise. We got another room upgrade (the honeymoon trick again!) to a 1 1/2 bedroom, two level suite with a kitchen and two balconies that we unfortunately didn't get any good pictures of. We went for a swim in the infinity pool (all of our hotels had infinity pools--which are basically pools with a hidden back wall so that it looks like the pool continues out seamlessly into the ocean--which is obligatory at FP hotels apparently) and looked at the beach but didn't go in because it was late.
(stock image)
In the morning we were up with the birds. That is the typical rhythm in FP, both for locals and tourists alike. The sun rises around 6am and sets around 6pm. We invariably woke up with or before the sun, and went to bed fairly early as well (between 9 and 11). While at resorts this worked well--up to see the sunrise, breakfast, play in the sun all day, watch the sunset, shower and dress, dine, relax a bit, and off to bed. It was amazing how quickly we adjusted to the sun.
We had breakfast early at the hotel, taking advantage of their breakfast buffet which was outrageously expensive ($35/person) but very good. The fruit is incredible in FP and this was our first chance to taste it. The best of the bunch is the local pineapple (ananas in French), which is smaller and much sweeter than what we're used to in the states. Because it is smaller you can eat the core, which is the best part. Another treat was the local grapefruit, which is pale green and very sweet. They also served papaya, several types of familiar melon, oranges, etc. No berries but we didn't miss them. They also had juice (likewise delicious), miniature french pastries, a full hot buffet, and a full continental breakfast including bread, cheese, jams, butter, and sliced meats. Plus hot, strong coffee.
After breakfast we had about 3 or 4 hours until we needed to check out, so we swam again in the pool and then went out to the small hotel beach (which was fake, but nice) and the attached motu, or sandbar island, (which was also fake) and swam in the ocean. We also walked down the road a bit and saw some incredible flowers, a giant bunch of bananas, chickens (everywhere in FP), and piles of coconut shells. We stopped at a Magasin (convenience store) and saw locals picking up their morning bread. We bought a few snacks and headed on our way.
Moorea
The tour company took us via private shuttle to the airport and we walked out to the small (and I mean small) Air Moorea terminal. There we caught the shuttle to Moorea, which was refreshingly low key (no security, no printed boarding cards, just a passenger manifest and some laminated cards). The shuttle runs every half hour all day back and forth via a 16 (?) passenger prop plane. The flight is 10 minutes each way and the scenery was gorgeous. Moorea is what is known as a "high" island, meaning that it is relatively young and full of (formerly volcanic) mountains that are lush and fertile and covered with greenery. It is (obviously, given the length of the flight) right next to Tahiti and apparently a lot of people commute into the "big" city for work or school but there is still a very rural and remote feel to Moorea and they've done a fairly good preservation/conservation job keeping large portions of the island pristine. More on that later.
We arrived in Moorea and were again transported to our hotel, the Pearl Resort and Spa, Moorea. This one was less swanky and more tropical than in Papeete, which suited us just fine. The decor featured giant adorable tikis everywhere. We were met with a cool glass of fruit juice and flowers at check-in and then we and our bags were showed to our hotel room. Our room was a little hut, set right on the beach. Our front "porch" was a little raised deck with two beach chairs on it from which you could jump down onto the sand and from there go right into the water. Because most of the other guests were either at the pool or in their rooms we often had the stretch of beach entirely to ourselves, which was fantastic.
(view from our bungalow)
It actually rained the first day we were there, quite heavily at times, so after a quick jump into the water just to say we'd done it, we holed up in our hotel room, played games, and watched the storm. It was Sunday so while we could walk into town there was nothing open. We ordered room service again. I had the fruit plate (incredible) and a cheese plate (the cheese is all French, and is delicious) and Josh had a cheeseburger. This was the first time we realized that all cheeseburgers in FP come drenched in thousand island dressing. Eventually I learned to order them "sans garniture, sans sauce" for Josh, but it was a learning curve.
The hotel had decorated our bed with flowers in the shape of a heart as part of our honeymoon suite and they also delivered us a small bottle of French champagne and, later, a small black pearl pendant as gifts. Black pearls are absolutely everywhere in Tahiti. Almost everyone (tourist and locals alike) wore them most of the time and they are gorgeous but VERY expensive. The most typical adornment is either a pair of large (8-10mm at least) studs, or a single pearl on a leather thong, which is oddly informal to western eyes since the pearl itself is worth a couple hundred bucks, but FP is very informal and I can only assume that locals want informal jewelry to match their dress. We spent a lot of time shopping for something that fit our tastes and budget, which was fun, and it was nice to be given a free pearl, even if it was quite small. We had expected a loose pearl, so to have it set nicely was a great surprise!
The couple long days of travel had caught up with us and both of us passed out really early, so early that we missed dinner entirely.
The next morning we walked into town, which was about 500 meters down a fairly busy road and found the local Patisserie. We ordered a few pastries, grabbed some bottles of juice, and took our loot back to our room. This was our breakfast routine for the rest of our time in Moorea and we enjoyed it. Later we shopped in the town for snacks (TimTams!!!!), Schweppes Limon (my European indulgence) and beer for me (the local Hinano was light and perfect for the climate), and Coke for Josh, as well as some souvenirs. I spotted a shop that sold locally made Pareus (sarongs) and bought a couple to bring back, as well as some soap and vanilla.
That afternoon we took a 4x4 tour of the interior of Moorea. This tour had come highly recommended to us and was well worth it. The day was still a little rainy, so we were glad to be (mostly) under cover rather than out on the water. Our guide was a local Tahitian named Tom, 1/4 Polynesian and I think 3/4 French, which is typical of people in the tourism industry since there is a lot of class hierarchy based on European ancestry even today. We climbed into the back of the truck with 2 other American couples (1 of which were honeymooners who also married on 6/12).
The view from the back of the truck (watch me hang on for dear life as we turn the corner):
Our first stop was the Rotui Juice Factory which I (locavore wannabe that I am) had insisted was one of my must-see stops in FP. Unfortunately they no longer let you tour the factory, but it does still produce the majority of the fruit juice sold in FP. They are apparently breaking into the market in Hawaii and California, so if anyone on the west coast sees Rotui juice in the store give it a try. I don't think you'll be sorry, especially the pineapple juice. We did get to sample a wide variety of fruit liquors, though, which were very tasty. We particularly liked a coconut cream liquor that unfortunately was about $60/bottle.
Afterwards we drove past Cook's Bay and Opunohu Bay (which is where Captain Cook really landed when he "discovered" Tahiti). Cook's Bay has been given over to development and several of the luxury hotels are located right on the waterfront. But Opunohu Bay has been preserved quite well, with only a few houses and small shops dotting the waterfront and large-scale hotel development forbidden by local ordinance. The Bays are split by Mount Rotui making for some gorgeous scenery.
Next we took the truck up into the interior of the island, which is the real selling point of this tour. We later learned that large sections of the mountains we drove through are off limits to most traffic. Only trained tour drivers with a special permit are allowed up, which helps to preserve the landscape and also allows groups access to it for sight seeing. Nice compromise. Our first stop was a trip up the "Magic Mountain", which often felt like it was about 45 degrees steep (lots of fun in an open air truck with no seatbelts)! The last bit we actually went up backwards in reverse. The scenery was spectacular.
(I think this was taken at the top of the mountain)
Panoramic View from the top of the Magic Mountain:
Next we went to Point Belvidere, which is generally accessible by tourists and provides a spectacular overlook of Mount Rotui, Opunohu Bay, and Cook's Bay.
Panoramic View from Point Belvidere:
We also visited a Marae, which is a Tahitian temple. These temples were largely destroyed when the islands were converted by Catholic Missionaries in the very early 1800s. I was saddened to learn that early and near complete conversion resulted in the loss of a lot of aspects of traditional life, not only religion but also dance and tattoo art as well. Fortunately there has been a resurgence of interest in the past 50-60 years and this particular Marae had been rebuilt using the original stone. Tom told us that he would never set foot inside out of respect and we all followed suit. I did (of course) take photos of the two interpretive panels, but Tom said that they were actually wrong, at least according to his Tahitian grandfather.
Maraes are essentially low walled (maybe 3 feet high) stone enclosures that defined sacred space. Women were excluded, even queens, and only the high priests would sit inside, other men stood. They maraes were used for ritual sacrifice (cannibalism was practiced throughout the south pacific prior to European contact) as well as, I believe, other ritual purposes throughout the year.
This is the Marae, although it's hard to see from eye level
(pictorial view from above)
Depiction of activities in a marae
From this side of the island Mount Bali Hai, named after the movie South Pacific (which used it as a photographic back drop) was visible. I snapped some pictures of some roosters (everywhere in FP) in its shadow.
Bali Hai mountain with ubiquitous roosters
Next we went to the State Agricultural School, which has acres and acres of land in the center of Moorea. This is another great example of preservation work in action (I really was impressed by how conscientious Moorea's government is of its natural resources, and how they are controlling development, presumably to avoid ending up like Bora Bora, which is now over developed). Apparently a developer wanted to buy this land several years back to build a golf course. The government would not permit it and instead used the land to build a school to teach young farmers from around FP how to grow traditional crops such as pineapple, flowers, and citrus fruit. (The golf course was eventually built out by the airport on reclaimed marsh land and I'm told is not used much). We drove through the groves and trees and stopped in the flower garden where we were shooed out to walk through the mud and look at the different flowers being grown. When we returned, a fruit buffet had been laid out using fruit picked as we drove up. Amazing! The Agricultural school also has a small snack stand where we stopped to sample jams and honey and to try some of the local ice creams and sorbets (I had tiare, since I knew I liked rosewater I figured it would be interesting to try--very floral and wonderful).
That night we walked to a French Restaurant called Le Cocotier for dinner. Josh had duck breast and foie gras ravioli and I had mahi mahi with basil sauce cooked en papillote.
The next day was a busy one. Our first activity was a boat tour of Moorea led by Hiro, one of the big figures in local tourism (he is the president of the Tourism board as well as the former national Tennis champ of FP--it's a small place). We boarded the boat at our hotel and got to see the two bays and Mount Rotui from the water side.
Opunohu Bay by Boat:
Our first stop was an artificial sand bar with chest-high water where we could get out of the boat and snorkel while huge Rays swam past us. The rays were very friendly (the tour operators feed them) and don't have a stinger so we could pet them all we wanted. We also watched Hiro feed small reef sharks, but they were nowhere near as exciting as the rays. Apparently there are very few really dangerous things in the waters off FP. A few things can ruin your day (the small reef sharks, some starfish and urchins, and the coral is pretty nasty too) but nothing much is deadly. Some Aussies on our tour were astonished by that!
Afterwards we went to a large motu where the tour staff cooked us a barbeque lunch (chicken, swordfish [gristly], steak and sausage) accompanied by pineapple, Hinano, and oddly pasta and rice salads, both of which had sliced hot dogs in them. And we were able to snorkel for an hour or so. Some folks on our tour had fins and were able to swim all the way out to the reef. We got about half way without them. The water level is about 4 feet all the way out to the reef, and the sea floor between the shore and the reef is dotted with large pieces of coral that, if they scrape you, really leave a nasty scratch that has to be treated with antibiotics and carefully cleaned. Of course we both got scraped up but it was worth it.
A Sea Creature Found off the Motu:
We returned to the hotel by boat and cleaned up for our evening activity, which was a visit to the Tiki Village Theater. I had REALLY been looking forward to the Tiki Village Theater, which was billed as the Colonial Williamsburg of FP and is the only real living history museum (they do have a few other normal museums with art and history exhibits) in FP. As it turned out I had somewhat mixed feelings about Tiki Village. It was very interesting but it reminded me more of Colonial Williamsburg in the 1930s or 1940s rather than CW today. The line between history and tradition was not drawn very clearly, which obviously bothers me as a historian. Honestly they are at the point where it may be impossible to really draw the line between history and tradition, since the interest in reconstructing history is only a few decades old, so I don't want to be too critical, but I was a bit on edge none-the-less.
During the day Tiki Village is a living history site where 16 resident craftsmen and women live(Like I thought they did at Plymouth when I was a kid!) in a semi-traditional style and do traditional crafts during the day while chatting with tourists. In the evening, though, it transforms into a dinner theater where tourists come to do a brief village tour, learn about the crafts, eat a traditional polynesian buffet, and see an intense 1 hour dance show.
We started with a rum punch and quick shop at the (surprise surprise) black pearl shop, followed by a silly coconut show, and then the opening of the underground oven. The group leader was an entertaining young guy who spoke very good English and French and a bit of Italian, Japanese, and whatever language was required of him. He did a great job switching languages throughout the presentation so that everyone could understand. Then we toured the village quickly and were sent to have dinner.
Coconut Show:
Opening the oven--the cast iron pot contained the yummy chicken and spinach dish
The buffet was very interesting. They served some traditional polynesian dishes (bread fruit, poi [very different than in hawaii], chicken and spinach in coconut milk, and poisson cru [which is raw fish "cooked" in acid and then served with coconut milk--very good]) along with some western dishes (devilled eggs?). They had advertised wine with dinner, but it was total rotgut. The worst drink I had in FP, easily, although it could just be that I dislike French wine.
During dinner we were entertained with two Pareu shows, one by a male interpreter and the other by a woman. The Pareu is the "traditional" (not historic, since cloth is not native to tahiti) sarong worn by absolutely everyone in FP, both at the beach and just generally as street wear. There are hundreds of ways to wrap the Pareu but few are written down. The show consisted of wrapping and rewrapping the pareus into different styles for about 10 minutes. I got a video of the woman interpreter in action, but I haven't managed to get it uploaded yet.
Pareu show
Then we were ushered back to the theater for the main event. Unfortunately we were both exhausted but the dancing was incredible! The artisans were clearly very talented (although I think they were tired too, since they made some errors, especially during the fire dance which actually was a little terrifying, but charming). They performed a wide variety of dances accompanied by live music and singing--slow, fast, men, women, mixed groups, large ensembles, solos, with props and without. Then they did fire spinning!!
I had really been looking forward to seeing some Tahitian dance, having read about it quite a bit before our trip, and the show did not disappoint. I got a few videos, which are linked below. Tahitian dance is related to Hula, but was apparently considered to be much more risque and suggestive by the early visitors than Hawaiian dance was. The masculine and feminine forms of dance are very differentiated in style. Women dance by moving their arms gracefully and their hips in a mostly vertical rocking motion (sometimes rotating, sometimes in place). As in Middle Eastern dancing most of the sway of the hips comes from bent knees, often DEEPLY bent knees. In fact there were a LOT of similarities, I thought, with Middle Eastern dancing. The men use sharper arm motions and instead of moving their hips, they swing their knees back and forth in sort of a "Charleston" move. I can see why it was considered scandalous in the 18th century although today it didn't seem any more sexual than most dancing. I lucked out and the airline magazine happened to have a great article on the history of Tahitian dance and I gather that the moves were entirely or almost entirely lost in the 19th century and what is performed now is largely reconstructed based on descriptions and some surviving dances that were done behind the missionaries' backs. What a pity. THere are also great images made by early sailor visitors showing the original costumes, which are confections of leaves and grass.
Net Dance
Fast Dance with Skin Capes:
Womens Slow Dance with Flowered Pareus
Fire Dancing:
Manihi
The next morning we woke up extra early to catch a 6:30 ride to the airport. We received shell necklaces as a departing gift (you're not supposed to bring flowers from one island to another, so they are the welcoming gift, shells are fine so they are given at departure) and hopped on the shuttle back to Moorea and then, after a short layover and lunch, took a very comfortable jet ride to our second stop, Manihi.
Manihi from the Air
Air transportation in Tahiti is quite interesting. There are 118 islands spread over an area the size of Europe and some of them very lightly populated. Air Tahiti (the only carrier domestically) has worked out an agreement with the government where they get a monopoly on the market in exchange for providing routine service throughout FP including to some very remote islands. Not all islands are served by air, but those that aren't are close enough to take a ferry to the nearest airport. The popular routes (Bora Bora/Papeete, for example) subsidize the flights that run at a loss. The interisland shuttles are run somewhat like trains, where passengers get on and off at each stop. Our plane stopped at four islands before returning to Papeete, and we saw two of them on the way (Tikehau and Rangiroa) and one on the way back (Fakahava I think).
At the airport in Manihi (really just a shack with a grass roof located next to the landing strip) we were met by representatives from the hotel. They bedecked us with leis and loaded us into golf carts for the short drive to the hotel.
Manihi is a fairly small island, with only about 800 full time residents and one hotel. It is an atoll, which means that it is a small strip of sandy land surrounding a wide lagoon. Originally it was probably a high island like Moorea, but Manihi is much older and this is the last stage of evolution of an island before it disappears into the sea. The one village was located on the opposite side of the lagoon from our hotel, and could only be reached by boat transfer.
The Manihi Pearl Resort and Spa was like summer camp for adults. The hotel didn't have a big fancy lobby and was completely un-swanky. Everything was in small thatched roof huts except the bar and the restaurant, which were in LARGE thatched roof huts. There is one dining option on the island, the hotel restaurant, which had 4 dinner options each night that I assume they rotate. In addition to the bar and restaurant there was a small gift shop (open just a couple hours each day), a pearl shop (of course--also only open in the morning to catch the natural light), the lobby and a small sitting area with tv (constantly tuned to world cup) and two computers.
The ubiquitous infinity pool overlooking the ocean and bungalows--our bungalow is the one in the middle
Our room was an overwater bungalow, which meant that the hut was set at the edge of a pier. We could climb down the stairs on our deck and snorkel directly off our room. The best part was that the room also had a glass topped coffee table block thing through which you could watch the fish. We were told that the fish love bread, and our favorite activity was feeding them bread through the coffee table (which had a removable top) and seeing what colorful fish would swim our way. OUr most exotic visitor was an octopus, but we also had lots of different fish as well. A handy identification guide was provided in our room.
(everyone loved the fish table)
Because the hotel is small (about 40 rooms) and there are not other hotels to combine excursions with the selection was somewhat limited, but we mostly wanted to kick back anyway. We took one trip out on a boat to snorkel outside the lagoon, which Josh enjoyed but which made me very seasick. I kayaked and there were also outrigger canoes. Josh enjoyed snorkeling off our deck.
We did enjoy taking the daily transfers by boat to the village (which were just in time for lunch). The village consists of a few houses, four churches, one convenience store, one small grocery, and an elementary school PLUS a boulangerie. Food in general is extremely expensive in FP. Not just at restaurants (where main dishes run $30-40/person) and hotels, but everywhere. About the only things that were cheap were fruit (produced locally), cheese (I have no explanation because it is all shipped in from France), and bread. The bread is cheap because the French government subsidizes flour. So each day we were able to get a fresh baked baguette literally hot out of the oven from the municipal boulangerie for 70 XPF (about 80 cents US) large enough to feed us both lunch and provide leftovers for the fish. Supplemented by fruit or juice, cheese, and cookies it was splendid lunch. We seem to have been the only tourists who figured this out (despite the boulangerie being clearly marked on the map they gave us) but I imagine the other guests may have been on a full meal plan. Still, we would have eaten the baguette anyway.
On our second trip to the village we followed some Italians to the grocery store, which we had missed the first time because it closed shortly after we docked. The resort was maybe 75% filled with Italians, for whatever reason (Manihi must advertise there or something!) and they were uniformly friendly and nice. Thank goodness for them because we were able to finally find the pearls that we were looking for! It seems funny to buy pearls at a grocery store, but most of the jewelry shops set their pearls in gold, and we wanted silver. So I got a pair of simple drop earrings and a bracelet and we stocked up on snacks and were on our way.
Our other favorite excursion was the trip to the pearl farm offered by the hotel. We were able to learn all about pearl cultivation from a charming guide who spoke excellent English despite all protestations to the contrary. Manihi is known for its pearl cultivation because due to the natural conditions (water temperature, etc.) they can produce three crops of pearls within the life span of an oyster (5 years) instead of 2. And the first crop comes much earlier. The oyster eggs are harvested naturally and the baby oysters are kept clean and free of predatory barnacles until they are ready to implanted. Each oyster is implanted with a nucleus made from Mississippi mussel shell and a small bit of oyster flesh to stimulate the color glands. After 2 years a full size pearl is removed and if the pearl is successful a new nucleus is inserted. The pearls are all sent to Papeete to be graded and fewer than 20% of oysters result in marketable pearls. It was very interesting and we got to see some pearls fresh from the oyster, so to speak. We were also visited by a very friendly crab!
pearl farm
These pearls were harvested while we watched
Pearl Cultivation Demonstration:
While in Manihi we indulged in more breakfast buffets (included in our room rate, thank goodness) which featured more of the same delicious fruit, pastries, and cheese. Also proper European-style yogurt--thick, fruity, and tart--and fromage blanc, which is similar but cheese instead of yogurt and served plain with jam or already sweetened in little cups. And juice of course. We also ate a lot of French food at dinner and enjoyed another Polynesian buffet and dance show on the last night. These are typical at fancy resorts, usually 1x a week. The dancing was charmingly amateurish (it was performed by hotel employees) to some slightly disturbing modern music with saxaphones and pre-recorded yelps, but the food was better than at Tiki Village and the main course was your choice of fresh lagoon fish, barbequed and doused with coconut milk, which further tenderizes the already fresh and lovely fish. I picked a Parrotfish (largely because a) the chef recommended it among other options and b) it was blue and I've never eaten a blue fish before!) and it was delicious.
Sunset from our deck
Last night in French Polynesia
Before dinner we had fruity drinks--my pearl earrings are visible here too!
Buffet of fresh lagoon fish
Sunrise on the last morning
Our last day we mostly just relaxed around the room and deck, packing everything up and enjoying a last swim and fish feeding. The most excitement that day came when I accidentally dropped a pile of books through the coffee table into the lagoon (in my defense I thought the top was in place!), which resulted in a few minutes of madcap rushing around to put on bathing suits and reef shoes to go chase down the books. They couldn't be saved, but the lagoon is pristine so I didn't want to litter. That solved the problem of what to do with the two Tahiti guidebooks I brought, but I was a little chagrined to have also lost a library book, which I will now have to go pay for! Ah well...
Golf Cart Ride to the Airport:
The view at takeoff:
Our flight back to Papeete was uneventful, as was our 8 hour layover in Papeete (the first half of which was spent trying to find a comfortable place to sit and some food, and the second half of which was spent in interminable lines trying to check in and get through security for our international flight). For some reason they thought it was a great idea to have 2 flights departing for LAX within 30 minutes of each other, which really overwhelmed the system and confused a lot of people, but they got us through. After some last minute shopping and an hour delay to switch planes we were on our way. Fortunately the trip back was more comfortable than the trip out (more leg room, better movies, better food, it was all around a major improvement).
We repeated our overnight in LA complete with trip to the beach and frozen yogurt and then in the morning we were off again to Richmond (enjoying a first class trip from LA to Detroit, which was very nice indeed).
Drawing on the beach in California
Overall it was a great trip. Honestly the only thing I would have changed is perhaps the timing of some of our flights and maybe adding another day in Moorea and one in Papeete at the very end to shop for souvenirs at the Market, which we never got to visit. Otherwise we had just the right amount of time to relax and still do what we wanted to do. We booked the trip through CostCo Travel and they could not have been better to work with. They were consistently courteous and helpful, especially when we were dealing with all the mixup from the strike, and we felt like real customers not just numbers in a ledger. Can't beat the value for the money, either!
On Our Way
Our trip really began in LA, where we overnighted before making the 8 hour flight to Tahiti. This added a couple days to the trip (we did the same thing on the way back, at the same hotel) but ended up being really smart because it left us with two long but not terrible travel days rather than one 20 hour nightmare. It also gave us plenty of time for delayed flights or missed connections, which ended up not being a problem, but it was nice not to worry.
We stayed at the Embassy Suites LAX, which I would recommend to anyone if you happen to be flying through LA. The hotel itself was very nice, with a large atrium and comfortable large rooms, business center, fitness facility (way nicer than most hotels), and pool, plus free hot breakfast in the morning and reception with free drinks and snacks in the evening. We took the advice of telling anyone within earshot that we were on our honeymoon and it paid off when they brought us a free gift certificate for dinner at the hotel restaurant (or room service, which is what we ended up doing) and also upgraded our room. Score!
The other great thing about the Embassy Suites is that it is on a special trolley line designed to get hotel guests to a local shopping center and also to Manhattan Beach. We skipped the mall but did hit the beach, which was a great beginning to our trip. Neither Josh nor I had ever been to the Pacific before, so even though it was cold we waded in the water and then walked up the pier to the local free (run by volunteers) aquarium where we could touch starfish and urchins and see a variety of other sea life on display. Then we found a great frozen yogurt (proper frozen yogurt--I had "tart") place and headed back to the hotel. Manhattan Beach was interesting. Lots of old businesses dating back to the 1920s, so it must have been a fairly early tourist hotspot. Nice older beach houses lining the roads leading up from the beach, mostly first half of the 20th century with some 1960s-1970s Modern infill.
The next morning we headed back to the airport to catch our plane. For some reason (I think just because we were being cautious and didn't want to miss our flight) we ended up at the terminal several hours before we actually needed to get to the gate. We checked in at the international terminal and played card games in the food court, people watching. Our terminal appeared to serve mostly Asian destinations, so the food area was very interesting--Chinese, Sushi, Japanese Noodles, Mexican, and McDonalds. For not the first time I felt a little ashamed that "American" cuisine is represented by McDonalds. It was also interesting to watch the stewardesses come and go because many of the Asian carriers (including Air Tahiti Nui, but also Air Singapore and Korean Air) have their staff dress somewhat traditionally.
Arrival In Tahiti
The less said about the plane ride there the better (it was probably the least comfortable international flight either of us has taken--apparently Tahitians do not have long legs), but I was charmed by the fact that the upholstery was floral print, the cabin was decorated with a faux Gauguin painting, and the staff word long floral dresses.
They also gave us Tiare (gardenia) flowers to tuck behind our ears at takeoff and landing. At first this seemed a little contrived but honestly French Polynesians wear flowers (often real, sometimes fake) ALL the time, usually Tiare (which smell heavenly). We were handed flowers whenever we checked in at a hotel and there were little dishes of them everywhere. Or you could just pluck one from a nearby tree. It was a charming custom that I would like to hang on to. Incidentally, a flower behind your left ear means that you are taken, behind the right ear means you are looking, and behind both ears means, well...
on the airplane
and later, a bit more relaxed
We arrived in Papeete, which is the capitol of FP (French Polynesia, hereafter abbreviated), around 9pm or so. Each international flight is met by an airline representative handing out tiare flowers as well as a traditional band to serenade you as you proceed to baggage claim. In a festive mood we grabbed our bags and met our tour representative who gave us flower leis and showed us our ride to our hotel.
(this is a stock photo)
We first stopped to change money. Tahiti's currency is the French Pacific Franc (XPF), which is tied to the Euro (FP remains a French territory) so it was a great time to visit. FP bills are gorgeous and colorful and the coins are quite nice too. We brought back a few as souvenirs. We changed a bill to get some croissants (thanks to Fred for teaching me that it is ALWAYS a good idea to break a large bill at the airport to buy a croissant in a French-speaking country!) and got our ride to the hotel.
Our first night was spent at the Manava Garden Suites Hotel, which was a gorgeous and swanky European style hotel set in a garden paradise. We got another room upgrade (the honeymoon trick again!) to a 1 1/2 bedroom, two level suite with a kitchen and two balconies that we unfortunately didn't get any good pictures of. We went for a swim in the infinity pool (all of our hotels had infinity pools--which are basically pools with a hidden back wall so that it looks like the pool continues out seamlessly into the ocean--which is obligatory at FP hotels apparently) and looked at the beach but didn't go in because it was late.
(stock image)
In the morning we were up with the birds. That is the typical rhythm in FP, both for locals and tourists alike. The sun rises around 6am and sets around 6pm. We invariably woke up with or before the sun, and went to bed fairly early as well (between 9 and 11). While at resorts this worked well--up to see the sunrise, breakfast, play in the sun all day, watch the sunset, shower and dress, dine, relax a bit, and off to bed. It was amazing how quickly we adjusted to the sun.
We had breakfast early at the hotel, taking advantage of their breakfast buffet which was outrageously expensive ($35/person) but very good. The fruit is incredible in FP and this was our first chance to taste it. The best of the bunch is the local pineapple (ananas in French), which is smaller and much sweeter than what we're used to in the states. Because it is smaller you can eat the core, which is the best part. Another treat was the local grapefruit, which is pale green and very sweet. They also served papaya, several types of familiar melon, oranges, etc. No berries but we didn't miss them. They also had juice (likewise delicious), miniature french pastries, a full hot buffet, and a full continental breakfast including bread, cheese, jams, butter, and sliced meats. Plus hot, strong coffee.
After breakfast we had about 3 or 4 hours until we needed to check out, so we swam again in the pool and then went out to the small hotel beach (which was fake, but nice) and the attached motu, or sandbar island, (which was also fake) and swam in the ocean. We also walked down the road a bit and saw some incredible flowers, a giant bunch of bananas, chickens (everywhere in FP), and piles of coconut shells. We stopped at a Magasin (convenience store) and saw locals picking up their morning bread. We bought a few snacks and headed on our way.
Moorea
The tour company took us via private shuttle to the airport and we walked out to the small (and I mean small) Air Moorea terminal. There we caught the shuttle to Moorea, which was refreshingly low key (no security, no printed boarding cards, just a passenger manifest and some laminated cards). The shuttle runs every half hour all day back and forth via a 16 (?) passenger prop plane. The flight is 10 minutes each way and the scenery was gorgeous. Moorea is what is known as a "high" island, meaning that it is relatively young and full of (formerly volcanic) mountains that are lush and fertile and covered with greenery. It is (obviously, given the length of the flight) right next to Tahiti and apparently a lot of people commute into the "big" city for work or school but there is still a very rural and remote feel to Moorea and they've done a fairly good preservation/conservation job keeping large portions of the island pristine. More on that later.
We arrived in Moorea and were again transported to our hotel, the Pearl Resort and Spa, Moorea. This one was less swanky and more tropical than in Papeete, which suited us just fine. The decor featured giant adorable tikis everywhere. We were met with a cool glass of fruit juice and flowers at check-in and then we and our bags were showed to our hotel room. Our room was a little hut, set right on the beach. Our front "porch" was a little raised deck with two beach chairs on it from which you could jump down onto the sand and from there go right into the water. Because most of the other guests were either at the pool or in their rooms we often had the stretch of beach entirely to ourselves, which was fantastic.
(view from our bungalow)
It actually rained the first day we were there, quite heavily at times, so after a quick jump into the water just to say we'd done it, we holed up in our hotel room, played games, and watched the storm. It was Sunday so while we could walk into town there was nothing open. We ordered room service again. I had the fruit plate (incredible) and a cheese plate (the cheese is all French, and is delicious) and Josh had a cheeseburger. This was the first time we realized that all cheeseburgers in FP come drenched in thousand island dressing. Eventually I learned to order them "sans garniture, sans sauce" for Josh, but it was a learning curve.
The hotel had decorated our bed with flowers in the shape of a heart as part of our honeymoon suite and they also delivered us a small bottle of French champagne and, later, a small black pearl pendant as gifts. Black pearls are absolutely everywhere in Tahiti. Almost everyone (tourist and locals alike) wore them most of the time and they are gorgeous but VERY expensive. The most typical adornment is either a pair of large (8-10mm at least) studs, or a single pearl on a leather thong, which is oddly informal to western eyes since the pearl itself is worth a couple hundred bucks, but FP is very informal and I can only assume that locals want informal jewelry to match their dress. We spent a lot of time shopping for something that fit our tastes and budget, which was fun, and it was nice to be given a free pearl, even if it was quite small. We had expected a loose pearl, so to have it set nicely was a great surprise!
The couple long days of travel had caught up with us and both of us passed out really early, so early that we missed dinner entirely.
The next morning we walked into town, which was about 500 meters down a fairly busy road and found the local Patisserie. We ordered a few pastries, grabbed some bottles of juice, and took our loot back to our room. This was our breakfast routine for the rest of our time in Moorea and we enjoyed it. Later we shopped in the town for snacks (TimTams!!!!), Schweppes Limon (my European indulgence) and beer for me (the local Hinano was light and perfect for the climate), and Coke for Josh, as well as some souvenirs. I spotted a shop that sold locally made Pareus (sarongs) and bought a couple to bring back, as well as some soap and vanilla.
That afternoon we took a 4x4 tour of the interior of Moorea. This tour had come highly recommended to us and was well worth it. The day was still a little rainy, so we were glad to be (mostly) under cover rather than out on the water. Our guide was a local Tahitian named Tom, 1/4 Polynesian and I think 3/4 French, which is typical of people in the tourism industry since there is a lot of class hierarchy based on European ancestry even today. We climbed into the back of the truck with 2 other American couples (1 of which were honeymooners who also married on 6/12).
The view from the back of the truck (watch me hang on for dear life as we turn the corner):
Click to viewOur first stop was the Rotui Juice Factory which I (locavore wannabe that I am) had insisted was one of my must-see stops in FP. Unfortunately they no longer let you tour the factory, but it does still produce the majority of the fruit juice sold in FP. They are apparently breaking into the market in Hawaii and California, so if anyone on the west coast sees Rotui juice in the store give it a try. I don't think you'll be sorry, especially the pineapple juice. We did get to sample a wide variety of fruit liquors, though, which were very tasty. We particularly liked a coconut cream liquor that unfortunately was about $60/bottle.
Afterwards we drove past Cook's Bay and Opunohu Bay (which is where Captain Cook really landed when he "discovered" Tahiti). Cook's Bay has been given over to development and several of the luxury hotels are located right on the waterfront. But Opunohu Bay has been preserved quite well, with only a few houses and small shops dotting the waterfront and large-scale hotel development forbidden by local ordinance. The Bays are split by Mount Rotui making for some gorgeous scenery.
Next we took the truck up into the interior of the island, which is the real selling point of this tour. We later learned that large sections of the mountains we drove through are off limits to most traffic. Only trained tour drivers with a special permit are allowed up, which helps to preserve the landscape and also allows groups access to it for sight seeing. Nice compromise. Our first stop was a trip up the "Magic Mountain", which often felt like it was about 45 degrees steep (lots of fun in an open air truck with no seatbelts)! The last bit we actually went up backwards in reverse. The scenery was spectacular.
(I think this was taken at the top of the mountain)
Panoramic View from the top of the Magic Mountain:
Next we went to Point Belvidere, which is generally accessible by tourists and provides a spectacular overlook of Mount Rotui, Opunohu Bay, and Cook's Bay.
Panoramic View from Point Belvidere:
We also visited a Marae, which is a Tahitian temple. These temples were largely destroyed when the islands were converted by Catholic Missionaries in the very early 1800s. I was saddened to learn that early and near complete conversion resulted in the loss of a lot of aspects of traditional life, not only religion but also dance and tattoo art as well. Fortunately there has been a resurgence of interest in the past 50-60 years and this particular Marae had been rebuilt using the original stone. Tom told us that he would never set foot inside out of respect and we all followed suit. I did (of course) take photos of the two interpretive panels, but Tom said that they were actually wrong, at least according to his Tahitian grandfather.
Maraes are essentially low walled (maybe 3 feet high) stone enclosures that defined sacred space. Women were excluded, even queens, and only the high priests would sit inside, other men stood. They maraes were used for ritual sacrifice (cannibalism was practiced throughout the south pacific prior to European contact) as well as, I believe, other ritual purposes throughout the year.
This is the Marae, although it's hard to see from eye level
(pictorial view from above)
Depiction of activities in a marae
From this side of the island Mount Bali Hai, named after the movie South Pacific (which used it as a photographic back drop) was visible. I snapped some pictures of some roosters (everywhere in FP) in its shadow.
Bali Hai mountain with ubiquitous roosters
Next we went to the State Agricultural School, which has acres and acres of land in the center of Moorea. This is another great example of preservation work in action (I really was impressed by how conscientious Moorea's government is of its natural resources, and how they are controlling development, presumably to avoid ending up like Bora Bora, which is now over developed). Apparently a developer wanted to buy this land several years back to build a golf course. The government would not permit it and instead used the land to build a school to teach young farmers from around FP how to grow traditional crops such as pineapple, flowers, and citrus fruit. (The golf course was eventually built out by the airport on reclaimed marsh land and I'm told is not used much). We drove through the groves and trees and stopped in the flower garden where we were shooed out to walk through the mud and look at the different flowers being grown. When we returned, a fruit buffet had been laid out using fruit picked as we drove up. Amazing! The Agricultural school also has a small snack stand where we stopped to sample jams and honey and to try some of the local ice creams and sorbets (I had tiare, since I knew I liked rosewater I figured it would be interesting to try--very floral and wonderful).
That night we walked to a French Restaurant called Le Cocotier for dinner. Josh had duck breast and foie gras ravioli and I had mahi mahi with basil sauce cooked en papillote.
The next day was a busy one. Our first activity was a boat tour of Moorea led by Hiro, one of the big figures in local tourism (he is the president of the Tourism board as well as the former national Tennis champ of FP--it's a small place). We boarded the boat at our hotel and got to see the two bays and Mount Rotui from the water side.
Opunohu Bay by Boat:
Our first stop was an artificial sand bar with chest-high water where we could get out of the boat and snorkel while huge Rays swam past us. The rays were very friendly (the tour operators feed them) and don't have a stinger so we could pet them all we wanted. We also watched Hiro feed small reef sharks, but they were nowhere near as exciting as the rays. Apparently there are very few really dangerous things in the waters off FP. A few things can ruin your day (the small reef sharks, some starfish and urchins, and the coral is pretty nasty too) but nothing much is deadly. Some Aussies on our tour were astonished by that!
Afterwards we went to a large motu where the tour staff cooked us a barbeque lunch (chicken, swordfish [gristly], steak and sausage) accompanied by pineapple, Hinano, and oddly pasta and rice salads, both of which had sliced hot dogs in them. And we were able to snorkel for an hour or so. Some folks on our tour had fins and were able to swim all the way out to the reef. We got about half way without them. The water level is about 4 feet all the way out to the reef, and the sea floor between the shore and the reef is dotted with large pieces of coral that, if they scrape you, really leave a nasty scratch that has to be treated with antibiotics and carefully cleaned. Of course we both got scraped up but it was worth it.
A Sea Creature Found off the Motu:
We returned to the hotel by boat and cleaned up for our evening activity, which was a visit to the Tiki Village Theater. I had REALLY been looking forward to the Tiki Village Theater, which was billed as the Colonial Williamsburg of FP and is the only real living history museum (they do have a few other normal museums with art and history exhibits) in FP. As it turned out I had somewhat mixed feelings about Tiki Village. It was very interesting but it reminded me more of Colonial Williamsburg in the 1930s or 1940s rather than CW today. The line between history and tradition was not drawn very clearly, which obviously bothers me as a historian. Honestly they are at the point where it may be impossible to really draw the line between history and tradition, since the interest in reconstructing history is only a few decades old, so I don't want to be too critical, but I was a bit on edge none-the-less.
During the day Tiki Village is a living history site where 16 resident craftsmen and women live(Like I thought they did at Plymouth when I was a kid!) in a semi-traditional style and do traditional crafts during the day while chatting with tourists. In the evening, though, it transforms into a dinner theater where tourists come to do a brief village tour, learn about the crafts, eat a traditional polynesian buffet, and see an intense 1 hour dance show.
We started with a rum punch and quick shop at the (surprise surprise) black pearl shop, followed by a silly coconut show, and then the opening of the underground oven. The group leader was an entertaining young guy who spoke very good English and French and a bit of Italian, Japanese, and whatever language was required of him. He did a great job switching languages throughout the presentation so that everyone could understand. Then we toured the village quickly and were sent to have dinner.
Coconut Show:
Opening the oven--the cast iron pot contained the yummy chicken and spinach dish
The buffet was very interesting. They served some traditional polynesian dishes (bread fruit, poi [very different than in hawaii], chicken and spinach in coconut milk, and poisson cru [which is raw fish "cooked" in acid and then served with coconut milk--very good]) along with some western dishes (devilled eggs?). They had advertised wine with dinner, but it was total rotgut. The worst drink I had in FP, easily, although it could just be that I dislike French wine.
During dinner we were entertained with two Pareu shows, one by a male interpreter and the other by a woman. The Pareu is the "traditional" (not historic, since cloth is not native to tahiti) sarong worn by absolutely everyone in FP, both at the beach and just generally as street wear. There are hundreds of ways to wrap the Pareu but few are written down. The show consisted of wrapping and rewrapping the pareus into different styles for about 10 minutes. I got a video of the woman interpreter in action, but I haven't managed to get it uploaded yet.
Pareu show
Then we were ushered back to the theater for the main event. Unfortunately we were both exhausted but the dancing was incredible! The artisans were clearly very talented (although I think they were tired too, since they made some errors, especially during the fire dance which actually was a little terrifying, but charming). They performed a wide variety of dances accompanied by live music and singing--slow, fast, men, women, mixed groups, large ensembles, solos, with props and without. Then they did fire spinning!!
I had really been looking forward to seeing some Tahitian dance, having read about it quite a bit before our trip, and the show did not disappoint. I got a few videos, which are linked below. Tahitian dance is related to Hula, but was apparently considered to be much more risque and suggestive by the early visitors than Hawaiian dance was. The masculine and feminine forms of dance are very differentiated in style. Women dance by moving their arms gracefully and their hips in a mostly vertical rocking motion (sometimes rotating, sometimes in place). As in Middle Eastern dancing most of the sway of the hips comes from bent knees, often DEEPLY bent knees. In fact there were a LOT of similarities, I thought, with Middle Eastern dancing. The men use sharper arm motions and instead of moving their hips, they swing their knees back and forth in sort of a "Charleston" move. I can see why it was considered scandalous in the 18th century although today it didn't seem any more sexual than most dancing. I lucked out and the airline magazine happened to have a great article on the history of Tahitian dance and I gather that the moves were entirely or almost entirely lost in the 19th century and what is performed now is largely reconstructed based on descriptions and some surviving dances that were done behind the missionaries' backs. What a pity. THere are also great images made by early sailor visitors showing the original costumes, which are confections of leaves and grass.
Net Dance
Fast Dance with Skin Capes:
Womens Slow Dance with Flowered Pareus
Fire Dancing:
Manihi
The next morning we woke up extra early to catch a 6:30 ride to the airport. We received shell necklaces as a departing gift (you're not supposed to bring flowers from one island to another, so they are the welcoming gift, shells are fine so they are given at departure) and hopped on the shuttle back to Moorea and then, after a short layover and lunch, took a very comfortable jet ride to our second stop, Manihi.
Manihi from the Air
Air transportation in Tahiti is quite interesting. There are 118 islands spread over an area the size of Europe and some of them very lightly populated. Air Tahiti (the only carrier domestically) has worked out an agreement with the government where they get a monopoly on the market in exchange for providing routine service throughout FP including to some very remote islands. Not all islands are served by air, but those that aren't are close enough to take a ferry to the nearest airport. The popular routes (Bora Bora/Papeete, for example) subsidize the flights that run at a loss. The interisland shuttles are run somewhat like trains, where passengers get on and off at each stop. Our plane stopped at four islands before returning to Papeete, and we saw two of them on the way (Tikehau and Rangiroa) and one on the way back (Fakahava I think).
At the airport in Manihi (really just a shack with a grass roof located next to the landing strip) we were met by representatives from the hotel. They bedecked us with leis and loaded us into golf carts for the short drive to the hotel.
Manihi is a fairly small island, with only about 800 full time residents and one hotel. It is an atoll, which means that it is a small strip of sandy land surrounding a wide lagoon. Originally it was probably a high island like Moorea, but Manihi is much older and this is the last stage of evolution of an island before it disappears into the sea. The one village was located on the opposite side of the lagoon from our hotel, and could only be reached by boat transfer.
The Manihi Pearl Resort and Spa was like summer camp for adults. The hotel didn't have a big fancy lobby and was completely un-swanky. Everything was in small thatched roof huts except the bar and the restaurant, which were in LARGE thatched roof huts. There is one dining option on the island, the hotel restaurant, which had 4 dinner options each night that I assume they rotate. In addition to the bar and restaurant there was a small gift shop (open just a couple hours each day), a pearl shop (of course--also only open in the morning to catch the natural light), the lobby and a small sitting area with tv (constantly tuned to world cup) and two computers.
The ubiquitous infinity pool overlooking the ocean and bungalows--our bungalow is the one in the middle
Our room was an overwater bungalow, which meant that the hut was set at the edge of a pier. We could climb down the stairs on our deck and snorkel directly off our room. The best part was that the room also had a glass topped coffee table block thing through which you could watch the fish. We were told that the fish love bread, and our favorite activity was feeding them bread through the coffee table (which had a removable top) and seeing what colorful fish would swim our way. OUr most exotic visitor was an octopus, but we also had lots of different fish as well. A handy identification guide was provided in our room.
(everyone loved the fish table)
Because the hotel is small (about 40 rooms) and there are not other hotels to combine excursions with the selection was somewhat limited, but we mostly wanted to kick back anyway. We took one trip out on a boat to snorkel outside the lagoon, which Josh enjoyed but which made me very seasick. I kayaked and there were also outrigger canoes. Josh enjoyed snorkeling off our deck.
We did enjoy taking the daily transfers by boat to the village (which were just in time for lunch). The village consists of a few houses, four churches, one convenience store, one small grocery, and an elementary school PLUS a boulangerie. Food in general is extremely expensive in FP. Not just at restaurants (where main dishes run $30-40/person) and hotels, but everywhere. About the only things that were cheap were fruit (produced locally), cheese (I have no explanation because it is all shipped in from France), and bread. The bread is cheap because the French government subsidizes flour. So each day we were able to get a fresh baked baguette literally hot out of the oven from the municipal boulangerie for 70 XPF (about 80 cents US) large enough to feed us both lunch and provide leftovers for the fish. Supplemented by fruit or juice, cheese, and cookies it was splendid lunch. We seem to have been the only tourists who figured this out (despite the boulangerie being clearly marked on the map they gave us) but I imagine the other guests may have been on a full meal plan. Still, we would have eaten the baguette anyway.
On our second trip to the village we followed some Italians to the grocery store, which we had missed the first time because it closed shortly after we docked. The resort was maybe 75% filled with Italians, for whatever reason (Manihi must advertise there or something!) and they were uniformly friendly and nice. Thank goodness for them because we were able to finally find the pearls that we were looking for! It seems funny to buy pearls at a grocery store, but most of the jewelry shops set their pearls in gold, and we wanted silver. So I got a pair of simple drop earrings and a bracelet and we stocked up on snacks and were on our way.
Our other favorite excursion was the trip to the pearl farm offered by the hotel. We were able to learn all about pearl cultivation from a charming guide who spoke excellent English despite all protestations to the contrary. Manihi is known for its pearl cultivation because due to the natural conditions (water temperature, etc.) they can produce three crops of pearls within the life span of an oyster (5 years) instead of 2. And the first crop comes much earlier. The oyster eggs are harvested naturally and the baby oysters are kept clean and free of predatory barnacles until they are ready to implanted. Each oyster is implanted with a nucleus made from Mississippi mussel shell and a small bit of oyster flesh to stimulate the color glands. After 2 years a full size pearl is removed and if the pearl is successful a new nucleus is inserted. The pearls are all sent to Papeete to be graded and fewer than 20% of oysters result in marketable pearls. It was very interesting and we got to see some pearls fresh from the oyster, so to speak. We were also visited by a very friendly crab!
pearl farm
These pearls were harvested while we watched
Pearl Cultivation Demonstration:
While in Manihi we indulged in more breakfast buffets (included in our room rate, thank goodness) which featured more of the same delicious fruit, pastries, and cheese. Also proper European-style yogurt--thick, fruity, and tart--and fromage blanc, which is similar but cheese instead of yogurt and served plain with jam or already sweetened in little cups. And juice of course. We also ate a lot of French food at dinner and enjoyed another Polynesian buffet and dance show on the last night. These are typical at fancy resorts, usually 1x a week. The dancing was charmingly amateurish (it was performed by hotel employees) to some slightly disturbing modern music with saxaphones and pre-recorded yelps, but the food was better than at Tiki Village and the main course was your choice of fresh lagoon fish, barbequed and doused with coconut milk, which further tenderizes the already fresh and lovely fish. I picked a Parrotfish (largely because a) the chef recommended it among other options and b) it was blue and I've never eaten a blue fish before!) and it was delicious.
Sunset from our deck
Last night in French Polynesia
Before dinner we had fruity drinks--my pearl earrings are visible here too!
Buffet of fresh lagoon fish
Sunrise on the last morning
Our last day we mostly just relaxed around the room and deck, packing everything up and enjoying a last swim and fish feeding. The most excitement that day came when I accidentally dropped a pile of books through the coffee table into the lagoon (in my defense I thought the top was in place!), which resulted in a few minutes of madcap rushing around to put on bathing suits and reef shoes to go chase down the books. They couldn't be saved, but the lagoon is pristine so I didn't want to litter. That solved the problem of what to do with the two Tahiti guidebooks I brought, but I was a little chagrined to have also lost a library book, which I will now have to go pay for! Ah well...
Golf Cart Ride to the Airport:
The view at takeoff:
Our flight back to Papeete was uneventful, as was our 8 hour layover in Papeete (the first half of which was spent trying to find a comfortable place to sit and some food, and the second half of which was spent in interminable lines trying to check in and get through security for our international flight). For some reason they thought it was a great idea to have 2 flights departing for LAX within 30 minutes of each other, which really overwhelmed the system and confused a lot of people, but they got us through. After some last minute shopping and an hour delay to switch planes we were on our way. Fortunately the trip back was more comfortable than the trip out (more leg room, better movies, better food, it was all around a major improvement).
We repeated our overnight in LA complete with trip to the beach and frozen yogurt and then in the morning we were off again to Richmond (enjoying a first class trip from LA to Detroit, which was very nice indeed).
Drawing on the beach in California
Overall it was a great trip. Honestly the only thing I would have changed is perhaps the timing of some of our flights and maybe adding another day in Moorea and one in Papeete at the very end to shop for souvenirs at the Market, which we never got to visit. Otherwise we had just the right amount of time to relax and still do what we wanted to do. We booked the trip through CostCo Travel and they could not have been better to work with. They were consistently courteous and helpful, especially when we were dealing with all the mixup from the strike, and we felt like real customers not just numbers in a ledger. Can't beat the value for the money, either!