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My wife and I took a 3 week trip to the South Pacific in July of 2006. We visited the islands of Bora Bora, Moorea and Tahiti in French Polynesia, followed by Easter Island (Chile) and finally Rarotonga and Aitutaki of the Cook Islands. The flight from San Francisco to [...]
We never managed to get either of our bank cards to work. We have both Cirrus and Plus bank cards and they have worked faithfully all over the world. We tried to withdraw money using both cards in several banks in Papeete, several more in Vaitape, Bora Bora, and yet [...]
We struck out for restaurants on Moorea. Since there is no public transport in Moorea, and the island is fairly big, independent travelers are at the mercy of the restaurants sometimes-included transfer services. We found only the restaurants in Cook’s Bay were willing to pick us up. We tried Restaurant [...]
We did a 2 hour horseback riding trip with Ranch Opunohu Valley. It cost $55 apiece, and was definitely worth it. Our guide picked us up from our hotel exactly on time, and 15 minutes later we were on horseback for a guided tour of the interior of the island. [...]
Our Pension owner arranged a rental car with Avis for us. It cost $75 for the day and only standard/manual transmission was available. The pick-up was 25 minutes late, but they gave us a free upgrade to an A/C car. We drove up to Belvedere Point for a great view [...]
See the full slideshow here This pension is one of the very few reasonably priced options ($90 US for a garden-view room) on Moorea. The hotel has about 6 bungalows, and an open-air dorm ($20 per person). Our room was very spacious, and very pretty – lots of windows, room [...]
The next part of our trip took us back to Moorea (with an obligatory layover at Chez Myrna in Papeete again, since the flight arrives at midnight). In the morning, we took the Moorea Express boat over to Moorea from Papeete. The ferries leave from the port in the middle [...]
What saved us, and what made Papeete an interesting destination even on the weekend, was the Heiva. This cultural celebration happens every July and was a blast. On Saturday, we watched javelin throwing (dozens of guys in traditional dress throw javelins from far away trying to hit a coconut perched [...]
Our two days in Papeete were unfortunately on a weekend. There is very, very little going on in Papeete on the weekend. Most stores are closed – in fact the whole city is closed on Sunday. There are some very pleasant walks by the port – lots of interesting sailboats [...]
Budget accommodations in Papeete are almost impossible to find. We were lucky enough to reserve 3 nights at a pension which was highly recommended in the new Lonely Planet. We paid $60 US per night – a steal in Papeete. The room was good – a little small, but [...]
Overview and Check In Check in was quick – just confirmation of our voucher, and we were off to our room for a well deserved shower. The Club is small, only 150 rooms. Most are of "Superior" class. The difference between Superior class and Ocean view is minimal – The [...]
Our first stop was Club Med Bora Bora. It might seem like an unusual destination for us, given our usual choices of pensions and cheap backpacker hotels. Well, believe it or not, Club Med is the "cheap" option on Bora Bora. It is recommended by Lonely Planet as being the [...]
