#87187 - 10/04/10 06:09 AM
September 2010: Fakarava & Moorea
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SoDak Honeymooners
Member
Registered: 12/30/04
Posts: 47
Loc: South Dakota, United States
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We spent 11 days/10 nights in FP in early September to celebrate our 5-year anniversary. We had honeymooned there in 2005, visiting Rangiroa, Bora Bora, and Huahine over 14 days. We enjoy the multi-island experience, so elected to hit two different islands again this time. We also enjoy the varied topography of different island groups, so we paired an atoll in the Tuamotus with an island in the Societies.
Overview of itinerary (details will follow below):
Flew Air Tahiti Nui from LAX to PPT on 9/1
Overnight in Papeete at Fare Suisse on 9/1
Flew to Fakarava on 9/2
Overnights at Raimiti 9/2 - 9/6
Flew back to Papeete on 9/7
Overnight in Papeete at Fare Suisse on 9/7
Ferry to Moorea on 9/8
Overnights at Residence Linareva 9/8 - 9/10
Ferry back to Papeete on 9/11
Day to shop in Papeete on 9/11
Fly home PPT to LAX on 9/11
* The following are our reviews for each place we stayed.
[u] [/u] Fare Suisse in Papeete
We couldn't be more pleased that we took the advice from previous guests and spent 3 separate nights at Fare Suisse. Everything good that you read about the place and its owner was found to be true during our visit.
Our trip consisted of stays on two islands over the course of 11 days. In between, we needed a place to stay in Papeete a couple of times. This is where Fare Suisse was perfect for us.
Our flight from LAX arrived in Papeete around 6pm. Beni was there waiting for us at the airport when we cleared customs. He loaded us and our bags into his vehicle and drove us to Fare Suisse. This is one of the big benefits that he provides - transportation to/from the airport and the ferry terminal is included in his already reasonable nightly rate.
We stayed the night of our arrival and the room was very comfortable. The common area provided a place to relax and unwind, while enjoying a cold Hinano from the honor bar in the kitchen area. By the way, his prices in the honor bar are not outrageous.
Early the next morning, I was able to use the free wi-fi (another great benefit) on the patio before heading to the Champion supermarket which is just a few minutes walk from Fare Suisse. It's the best option for loading up on food and beverages at a reasonable cost. You can bring stuff back and store in the kitchen at Fare Suisse.
Beni then drove us to the airport to catch our flight to Fakarava. We had re-packed our belongings to consolidate our stuff into one suitcase for the Fakarava part of our trip. Beni gladly stored our second suitcase, as we were booked for another night at Fare Suisse in between Fakarava and Moorea.
Upon our return from Fakarava, Beni met us at the airport again and transported us back to his place where we enjoyed a few more Hinanos while re-packing our suitcases for our Moorea departure the next day. That night we walked from Fare Suisse to the waterfront area where we enjoyed a meal at the roulottes. The walk was roughly 20 minutes from Fare Suisse and so long as you remain on the main route along the waterfront we didn't feel like it was sketchy after dark.
Beni again stored a bag for us when we headed to Moorea. He dropped us right at the ferry terminal with instructions on where to deposit our luggage and promised to meet us upon our return by ferry a few days later.
On our return from Moorea, Beni was there to pick us up at the ferry terminal...his always-present smile and cheerful attitude on display. We had a midnight flight that evening, but paid the very reasonable rate for one more night at Fare Suisse. We used the place as a base camp that last day, allowing us to re-pack our bags one final time for our return trip. We also walked to the big market to do some souvenir shopping (roughly a 15 minute walk from Fare Suisse) and ate our last meal in French Polynesia at the roulottes that night. After a shower and final round of Hinanos, Beni drove us to the airport for our flight back to the States.
We fully intend to return to French Polynesia to continue exploring these amazing South Pacific islands. As long as Beni is operating Fare Suisse, we'll continue to stay there. The accomodations are very comfortable (air conditioning!), the added benefits such as transport and wi-fi are great, the location is convenient to the downtown attractions, and the rate offers a tremendous value.
Keep it up Beni! But don't wear yourself out. We'll sing your praises to anyone headed to Papeete.
[u] [/u] Raimiti on Fakarava
If you dream of a desert island...then you should strongly consider Raimiti.
If, however, you dream of a luxury resort and a place with lots of nightlife...you can save yourself some time and stop reading right now.
Raimiti's high rating by previous guests is justified in our opinion. We're not going to go over all the wonderful details which have already been written here. We'll just say that we agree that Raimiti is a little slice of heaven tucked away in a remote corner of a remote island in a remote archipelago in the South Pacific.
We stayed in the 4th bungalow (of 5) down the shore from the communal dining building on the lagoon side. These are the bungalows which have a detached bathroom, just steps from your main hut. This did not pose a problem for us, so don't let that setup prevent you from considering the lagoon side bungalows. (The ocean side bungalows are a bit larger, with a bathroom inside the bungalow.) We found the solar-heated water to be plenty warm.
We used the mosquito netting over the bed on only our first night. We found there was sufficient breeze that we did not need the netting, and were not bothered at all by insects. NOTE: The staff at Raimiti did remark that we were there during an unusually windy period, so this might have played a part in us not using the netting. Also, some of the guests staying in bungalows on the ocean side remarked that it was very windy on that side...compared to a comfortable breeze on the lagoon side.
The number of guests during our stay varied from 9 to 14, but since the property is pretty expansive and you are offered the opportunity to partake in the daily group actvities (more below) or stay back and do your own thing...the only time you're with the entire group would be at meals. It's a diverse mixture of nationalities. While we were there, other guests were from USA, Italy, Germany, Australia, and the Netherlands. I imagine that's a pretty regular occurence so you'll get to meet interesting people from all over the world.
The meals were fantastic. Breakfasts consisted of warm croissants (impossible to resist, try as you might), baguettes, cheeses, and fresh fruit, juice, coffee and tea. Lunches and dinners usually included a seafood dish, so you had better like seafood or the menu may be a challenge. Lunches included salads. Dinner included dessert.
The organized daily activities included trips to Hirifa (pink sand) beach, snorkeling at the south (Tetamanu) pass, and "the moon" (a lunar-looking landscape). If you hit it right, you might be the only ones at the pink sand beach, giving you that "last persons on Earth" feeling that's hard to find. Make sure you snorkel at the south pass, it's right up there with any places we've been (including Zanzibar, Hawaii, other islands in French Polynesia, and Belize)...black-tip reef sharks, moray eels, Napoleon wrasse, and scads of all the usual bright suspects. NOTE: When drift snorkeling at the pass, we were told not to go too far past the area where the boat goes ashore, as there is a restaurant further down that feeds scraps to the sharks. (We were told this on our 2nd visit to the pass...the guide the first day didn't point that out.) "The moon" offers more of a "walk around and investigate the tidepools" experience, but it was also a nice excursion. We saw octopus and found lots of cool shells, including 2 large sand dollars which managed to make it back home in one piece each.
If you don't take the daily organized excursion, you can hang out and do nothing or borrow a kayak to explore the lagoon...finding many spots to stop and snorkel or pull ashore on a deserted stretch of beach. You can walk the shoreline looking for crabs and other creatures. Additionally, for those so inclined, the fishing was decent from shore. I brought a couple fly rods and landed several bluefin trevally and grouper. Finally, one other guest did accompany one of the staff on a spearfishing excursion in search of that night's dinner. After dinner, take time to sit on the beach or at the end of the dock...you'll see more stars than you ever knew existed, and the Milky Way is spectacular.
We found the staff to be very accomodating. They all spoke French, of course, and some spoke English (some better than others). This is not a critique, just noting a fact. We only speak English, but managed more than just fine. In particular, we should pay special accolades to Francis who runs the dining room...he remembered our names from the very first day (as well as the fact we enjoyed Hinanos each afternoon before dinner!), his service in the dining room was incredible, and he also shoots a pretty mean spear gun to provide your table fare. He accompanied us on our excursion to "the Moon" and harvested several fish as well as clams which he offered to the group in the raw with a bit of lime.
Finally, expect the unexpected at Raimiti. It's hard to describe how unique and wonderful the experience is. Although we seem to have tried with a lengthier review than originally planned. That probably says something for how much we enjoyed the place and the experience.
[u] [/u] Residence Linareva on Moorea
We found Linareva to be an excellent choice on Moorea, again living up to the praise of prior guests.
We spent 4 days/3 nights at Linareva, at the tail end of a longer trip to French Polynesia to celebrate our 5-year wedding anniversary.
We stayed in Beach Studio # 4, which is at the southwest corner of the property, just steps from the beach. It's adjoining to another unit, so you do share a wall and the patios are right next door to each other, but also separated by an outside wall. We didn't find this to be much of an issue, but if you desire 100% privacy check out one of their other units that are not connected to another.
The unit was very comfortable, with a double bed and a single day bed. The kitchen allowed us to prepare some snacks and also keep the Hinanos cold! You could easily prepare your meals here to save some money, although we visited a few restaurants on our nights there. Pizza Daniel (just a 5-minute walk from Linareva) was excellent and a very good value. We also had a very nice meal at Coco d'Isle (free taxi ride at least one direction - we got free both ways). Linareva has a list of recommended restaurants and they also provide an evening meal on site if you reserve in advance. We didn't eat any of the meals at Linareva, but heard good things from those who did.
Linareva is located on the west side of Moorea, and it's not near the busy resort areas if that's important to you. We loved the quiet location. Linareva has bicycles to use if you wish to explore the island or just bike to either of two small villages to pick up some groceries at the market. The markets are less than 10 minutes away. Another bonus of the west-side location = fantastic sunsets.
Roland and Edmee were terrific hosts, answering any questions and providing recommendations on what to do. We took a 4x4 island tour one day which was interesting and fun. Moorea's a very beautiful island and if you don't take an organized tour, we'd recommend at least cycling or renting a car or scooter for a day to tour around the island. We also took a dolphin and whale viewing trip one day. We got in the water several times, snorkeling with many black-tip reef sharks, dolphins, and even humpback whales in the open ocean! At the end of the excursion we stopped at the area where they feed the rays in shallow water, which was also a cool experience.
Roland's nightly shark feeding at the end of the dock is neat. You can choose to watch from the dock and stay dry, or get in the water with your snorkel gear and watch from below. I got in the water and it was pretty neat to see the larger lemon shark (probably 10') show up along with the smaller, more numerous, black tips. The long dock extends right to the edge of the reef dropoff into deeper water. The snorkeling right around Linareva is OK, but I'd recommend taking one of their free kayaks and heading straight out from the property toward the reef. The water was more clear and there were a lot of fish...I even say my only turtle of the trip out there.
One thing to point out to those with opinions about cats: There are 3 cats that live at Linareva. They're friendly if you want to be social with them. They prowl around the property, and if you don't pay them any attention they seem to move on. However, if you are missing your companions from back home (as we were) the cats are more than happy to hang out with you. One of them apparently recognizes the sight of pizza boxes and the smell of pizza! We brought pizza home one night from Pizza Daniel, and one of the cats joined us at our picnic table on the patio for the meal. We didn't mind the cats, but thought others might be like to be aware of them if you have feelings either way.
All in all, we would certainly return to Linareva if we get back to Moorea. We intend to make trips to French Polynesia every 5 years for our anniversary (we also honeymooned on Bora Bora, Rangiroa, and Huahine), so not sure which islands we'll return to next. However, with Moorea being so close to Papeete it's probably the easiest island to visit.
We took the ferry and the ride was nice both ways, excellent views of Moorea and Tahiti. Not sure why anyone would take a 7-minute flight versus a 30-minute ferry ride but to each their own. Ferry certainly is more cost-effective if that's a concern.
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We also were happy to enjoy a few meals at the waterfront roulottes in Papeete, something we somehow missed on our honeymoon.
Our tentative plan is to return to FP every 5 years to celebrate our anniversary. However, after our 2nd visit Nicki seems to think we may not be able to wait that long to return!
If anyone has questions, feel free to ask. We'll try to check the message boards over the next few weeks.
Scott & Nicki
South Dakota, USA
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#87191 - 10/04/10 07:44 AM
Re: September 2010: Fakarava & Moorea
[Re: SoDak Honeymooners]
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Old Wife
Expert Advisor
Registered: 02/21/03
Posts: 2369
Loc: Burlington, Ontario, Canada
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Wow, great trip report! Thanks for taking the time. It's interesting you were told on your second drift snorkel at Raimiti not to wait to turn into the restaurant 'bay'. That's where Maluha had us get out on our 7 drifts and I was in there by myself at one point (Maluha only guided us once or twice and then realized we were safe to go alone). Anyway, the time I ended up in the restaurant bay alone, there were about a dozen blacktip sharks circling around, waiting for scraps from the restaurant. That was a weird thing to experience all alone.
We, too, took the ferry to Moorea our first time there and loved seeing the island get bigger and bigger as we approached. Our second trip there, we visited 3 islands and had an airpass so the flight to Moorea was already included. I must say the flight was pretty exciting, especially since it was just a few months since one of their planes had crashed into the ocean with all souls lost. It sure made us hold our breaths a bit until we landed on Moorea (and what a wild and bumpy landing we had!).
Gosh, now I really, really want to go back. Fare Suisse sounds like our kind of place for a stopover in Papeete!
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#87192 - 10/04/10 07:49 AM
Re: September 2010: Fakarava & Moorea
[Re: SoDak Honeymooners]
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Patti.
Expert Advisor
Registered: 03/28/04
Posts: 2460
Loc: Las Vegas, NV
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Ahhhh...it seems you have the Polynesian flu! There is no cure! Only repeated visits will hold the symptoms at bay for a while. :-)
So glad you had such a great time. And I am so happy you were pleased with Fare Suisse and Raimiti. I happily sing the praises of both.
Great report. Thanks!
Sooooo....what islands are on tap for your next visit? :-)
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#87196 - 10/04/10 08:52 PM
Re: September 2010: Fakarava & Moorea
[Re: Patti.]
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holte
Expert Advisor
Registered: 11/19/04
Posts: 2417
Loc: Duluth, Minnesota
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Wonderful report!
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#87203 - 10/06/10 04:56 AM
Re: September 2010: Fakarava & Moorea
[Re: holte]
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BarbiJKM
Supreme Advisor
Registered: 02/14/07
Posts: 6150
Loc: Mesa, AZ
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Fantastic trip report on three great properties! Thanks for taking the time -- great detail! I'll bet you go back SOONER than your next 5-year anniversary! (Happy Anniversary, by the way!)
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#87204 - 10/06/10 06:46 AM
Re: September 2010: Fakarava & Moorea
[Re: BarbiJKM]
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DenverJoe
Expert Advisor
Registered: 09/10/02
Posts: 1878
Loc: Denver, Co.
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Now you know the pull of Raimiti. Welcome to the club. Thanks for the report. Made me want to go back.
_________________________
Nothing better than a Hinano in hand and toes in the sand.
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#87209 - 10/06/10 10:59 PM
Re: September 2010: Fakarava & Moorea
[Re: DenverJoe]
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Suki (689)
Senior Advisor
Registered: 10/29/07
Posts: 920
Loc: ELA US of A
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Wow great 3 island trip pure heaven*******FP4LIFE*******
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#87220 - 10/07/10 04:05 PM
Re: September 2010: Fakarava & Moorea
[Re: Suki (689)]
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Gary & Cath
Expert Advisor
Registered: 04/01/06
Posts: 1284
Loc: Wollongong, Australia
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Thank you for detailed trip report SoDak - we are going to try and book Fare Suisse for our 2011 trip.
_________________________
Is there anything better than a sipping a Tahitian Mai Tai on an Overwater Bungalow in FP?
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#87306 - 10/13/10 05:35 AM
Re: September 2010: Fakarava & Moorea
[Re: Gary & Cath]
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SoDak Honeymooners
Member
Registered: 12/30/04
Posts: 47
Loc: South Dakota, United States
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Just checking in. Glad to see you all enjoyed the report. As for which islands we'll visit next time...probably someplace in the Tuamotus for sure, then it's up for discussion.
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#87419 - 10/24/10 12:29 PM
Re: September 2010: Fakarava & Moorea
[Re: SoDak Honeymooners]
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Pago
Member
Registered: 12/10/05
Posts: 189
Loc: Ohio
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And you used "great readable paragraphs"! {:"}
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