#92687 - 01/04/12 02:06 PM
Tahiti, Huahine, Moorea, Bora Bora, Tikehau, Tahiti 2011
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Gary & Cath
Expert Advisor
Registered: 04/01/06
Posts: 1284
Loc: Wollongong, Australia
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2011 trip was AWESOME!
Tahiti Sofitel (a bed and a shower which is all we needed) then on to Huahine. We arranged to get our taxi lady (727 220) – weird that we don’t know her name – to pick us up and take us to the airport via the Champion to pick up supplies for Huahine. We may have bought a few too many items, as Air Tahiti was weighing everything (except their actual passengers) and our check-in bags were 9kg over. Obviously we weren’t going to donate any rum or Tahiti drink to the Air Tahiti employees, so we just paid an excess fee of around $50 USD.
Te Tiare was superb. We got our requested room (39) and it was the best (we actually found out later that #15 and #39 are the only ones which have double insulation). This is what French Polynesia is all about. Great staff, perfect room, food to die for and diving with Annie was excellent. Catching up and having dinner with Rudy again was a blast and Jacques (the manager) had everything in order for our stay as usual. Catching up for lunch with Holte at La Pita – new resort - was a bonus (thanks to this website) and the weather was perfect (photos to come). Huahine is fast becoming our favourite island. The weather was perfect, the room is the most practical and spacious we have ever stayed in and the bay is SO tranquil and calm it just cannot be beaten.
On to Moorea. The Hilton is unbelievable. The management have really got their stuff together. Perfect room, perfect food, perfect staff, perfect ambience, great diving with Nitrox (courtesy of Bathy’s) and a must stay if going to Moorea. I met Ryan and Steff diving – it was their first dive in salt water after getting their certifications in freezing fresh water in the Great Lakes. When Steff asked about sharks, the divemaster said not to worry because they only eat American females, followed by a “Whoops, no you SHOULD be OK! We also did the ray and shark feeding tour with Alberts and had a great day with an awesome motu picnic to complement the lagoon activities. I just love playing with these stingrays. A few nervous travellers (not us) when the black tips started swimming amongst us was a laugh and worth the price of admission alone. On our last day we hired a car from Alberts – (got a manual with left hand drive and gear change with the right hand – a struggle for an Australian) and drove up to Belvedere (it never agrees with us) with crappy weather again once we reached the lookout. We stopped at the distillery on the way back and loaded up with rum and Tahiti Drink (because we are Aussie Booze Hounds, after all). We got back to the Hilton and pondered how we were going to carry the stash all the way out to OWB 86, when a staff member saw us and offered us a lift in the electric golf cart. How good is this? We are DEFINITELY coming back here!!
On to Bora Bora. We have stayed at Club Med, Le Meridien (twice), Pearl (twice), Thalasso and now the Sofitel Motu.
We arrived and got onto the boat – no problems. The boat was making a few strange clunking noises, then the motor died. The captain made a radio call, we waited and then climbed from one dead boat to another live boat out the front of the Four Seasons in the middle of the lagoon. OK, stuff happens. Little did we know that it was the start of more to come.
Shuttle on request from the motu to the mainland resort. This term needs to be replaced with a different term – shuttle whenever. We waited 40 minutes for the trip to dinner (the restaurant on the motu is closed for dinner), 30 minutes for the trip back, 30 minutes for the next night and 35 minutes for the trip back. As I was pacing up and down the deck on the second night, cursing about the “on demand” shuttle, another family were also waiting. It turned out that the father was a high end manager for Sofitel. We were greeted by the resort Manager the next day (Didier) who was as apologetic as he could be and promised that he would fix the shuttle issue. It didn’t happen. The next day I was diving, and we were intending on going to Muri Muri, which was an early start. I had arranged with Gilles at Blue Nui to be picked up at the mainland dock at 0715 after Ryan and Steff (staying at Thalasso) were being picked up at 0700. Guess what? No shuttle until the boat with the laundry turned up at 0745. Missed the shuttle to Pearl for the diving and couldn’t dive Muri Muri because of the later swell. We ended up diving Haapiti instead, which was sensational, so no big loss. Diving at Anau the day before (manta cleaning station) convinced us to go back again to dive with the manta’s – a must do dive! Diving with Fred at Blue Nui is a blast – highly recommended. Never a dull moment. We got back later that day and spoke to Didier and told him of our disappointment. He asked what he could do and offered to fix things for our next stay at his resort (NOT LIKELY). We asked for room service for the rest of our stay and he agreed. We asked for meals that were not on the room service menu and his Food and Beverage manager was squirming, but he agreed. So the rest of our stay was perfect. We also asked for a shuttle to bring two local friends across on the last night for a party. He reluctantly agreed, and Toby (Love Boat Tours), Yayoi, Fred (Blue Nui Diving) and his girlfriend Yumi came over to our room. We had a ball!! We had such a great time consuming Mai Tais that the camera didn’t even make an appearance – not very happy about that!’
On to Tikehau. There is nothing that can be said to improve this resort’s reputation. The resort is as beautiful as ever. The rooms are sensational (we had overwater suite number 47 again) and the view is UNBELIEVABLE! The staff are perfect, the food is great and the management have REALLY got their stuff together. Anne Tran-Thang is the best. She is the General Manager there and she runs the perfect ship. Gotta love the Pearl Resorts! The diving was spectacular as usual and Vincent at Blue Nui Diving is a legend. We spent Christmas day there diving with Mantas and sharks (beats turkey any day). The last day we both had a Sand Scrub, followed by a Monoi Massage by Raiana at the spa. Doesn’t get much better than that!
Back to Tahiti. We’ve stayed at a lot of resorts on Tahiti, so this time we tried the Radisson. WOW! What a nice resort. The room (1104) had a jacuzzi and the perfect view of the BLACK sand beach – it is truly black. I found out later (after swimming in the bay, that there are resident tiger sharks in this bay). I went diving with Bathy’s on Tahiti island for the first time and it was sensational! Why haven’t I dived here before? We had room service, kicked back and loved the Radisson. Weather was pretty ordinary, but it didn’t matter. We took advantage of the free shuttle into Papeete to browse the markets (bought some really cool stuff) then finished with a Christmas beer at Les 3 Brasseurs. Great spot to kick back. We loved the Radisson. We found out on the last day that they are turning the Radisson into a Condo complex (the last 3 buildings) and the remainder will stay as the hotel. Easily the nicest hotel on Tahiti. Our taxi lady was already waiting for us to go back to Faaá (taxi lady 727 220).
Flight home. Used the points to upgrade to Poerava (Business Class) on the flight from Tahiti to Auckland. First time for us both and it was nice, but not worth the extra money if you’re paying for it. Had a better meal on the Qantas Auckland to Sydney flight in cattle section and better entertainment system on the Boeings.
Starting to plan the next trip now – probably all Pearl with maybe 4 Seasons thrown in. Definitely no Sofitel’s anywhere in site.
The funniest part of the trip was that the weather turned nasty on the last day at each island – then was perfect when we reached the next island/atoll? The whole trip was planned around the advice of PacificAndy (new moon always has rain associated with it). Great advice and proven again for the fifth time. We strongly recommend this advice. We just told the locals that we left the bad weather at the last island/atoll, that’s why it is so nice now! Thanks again, Andy.
Photos to come soon.
_________________________
Is there anything better than a sipping a Tahitian Mai Tai on an Overwater Bungalow in FP?
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#92688 - 01/04/12 02:22 PM
Re: Tahiti, Huahine, Moorea, Bora Bora, Tikehau, Tahiti 2011
[Re: Gary & Cath]
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DenverJoe
Expert Advisor
Registered: 09/10/02
Posts: 1878
Loc: Denver, Co.
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G&C, sounds like you had a great trip.
I'm really surprised at the Sofitel problem. Have stayed at the Marara numerous times and never had ANY problems. At least they tried to make it up to you.
_________________________
Nothing better than a Hinano in hand and toes in the sand.
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#92689 - 01/04/12 04:08 PM
Re: Tahiti, Huahine, Moorea, Bora Bora, Tikehau, Tahiti 2011
[Re: DenverJoe]
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Gary & Cath
Expert Advisor
Registered: 04/01/06
Posts: 1284
Loc: Wollongong, Australia
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Yeah, Joe. We were unpleasantly surprised as well? Beautiful resort, great rooms, lovely staff - I suspect it is a managerial issue, as the people in charge really weren't that keen on fixing the problems - just trying to explain away any hidden issues. Plenty of apoligies, but not any fixes. Apparently the manager is new - may explain a thing or two?
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Is there anything better than a sipping a Tahitian Mai Tai on an Overwater Bungalow in FP?
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#92691 - 01/04/12 04:42 PM
Re: Tahiti, Huahine, Moorea, Bora Bora, Tikehau, Tahiti 2011
[Re: Gary & Cath]
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Old Wife
Expert Advisor
Registered: 02/21/03
Posts: 2369
Loc: Burlington, Ontario, Canada
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That is too bad about the shuttle. We had to wait each time (it was never at the dock of wherever we were), but as soon as we'd phone, we could see them start the boat and head out for us. We spent the 5 or so minutes feeding the fish while we waited. There was only one time the shuttle wasn't available (it was off doing something else) and the staff were very apologetic about it, but we were on island time and it didn't matter (we didn't have anything booked like you did). I'm glad you got room service and a party to make up for it!
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#92695 - 01/05/12 07:23 AM
Re: Tahiti, Huahine, Moorea, Bora Bora, Tikehau, Tahiti 2011
[Re: Old Wife]
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BarbiJKM
Supreme Advisor
Registered: 02/14/07
Posts: 6150
Loc: Mesa, AZ
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C&G, GREAT report -- I can't wait to see the photos!
(I think your taxi lady's name is FiFi -- we use her too!)
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#92696 - 01/05/12 01:04 PM
Re: Tahiti, Huahine, Moorea, Bora Bora, Tikehau, Tahiti 2011
[Re: BarbiJKM]
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Old Wife
Expert Advisor
Registered: 02/21/03
Posts: 2369
Loc: Burlington, Ontario, Canada
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I just booked Fifi Taxi for our trip, too. I don't think her name is Fifi, though. I think that's the taxi service (it's pretty easy to remember). I don't know which name in her email is first and which is last, but judging by other FP email addresses/names, I think her first name is Lowyna.
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#92700 - 01/06/12 06:29 PM
Re: Tahiti, Huahine, Moorea, Bora Bora, Tikehau, Tahiti 2011
[Re: Old Wife]
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Gary & Cath
Expert Advisor
Registered: 04/01/06
Posts: 1284
Loc: Wollongong, Australia
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Thanks everyone, I'm just going through the photos now (over 2000 taken!!)
FYI, we were in Tahiti for 25 days and had prepaid our flights, accommodation and had breakfasts included. We ended up spending almost $4500 USD (but this included approx $1500 for Gary's diving) and we also bought a few more pearls, we just couldn't resist!!
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Is there anything better than a sipping a Tahitian Mai Tai on an Overwater Bungalow in FP?
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#92705 - 01/07/12 10:30 AM
Re: Tahiti, Huahine, Moorea, Bora Bora, Tikehau, Tahiti 2011
[Re: Gary & Cath]
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YosemiteGirl2
Member
Registered: 09/17/07
Posts: 373
Loc: California
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I'm so sorry you had problems at the Motu! We haven't been for a while, but we loved it the two times we stayed. Sounds like it's changed a lot. It's a shame -- it's a quite place with great views, by good snorkeling.
Any work on if the Te Tiare has a deal in the works? I hope if it sells that it goes to someone who will love it like we all do.
Glad to hear the rest of the trip was awesome!! I've been reading your rave reviews of Tikehau for years and have decided that our next trip may be entirely Tuamotu, because we can't _not_ go to Rangi, I am desperate to get back to Raimiti, and I can't imagine another trip that didn't include Tikehau!! :o)
Thanks PA and G&C for the new moon tip. We'll keep that in mind for our next trip. I'm trying to figure out when that will be!
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#92711 - 01/07/12 03:44 PM
Re: Tahiti, Huahine, Moorea, Bora Bora, Tikehau, Tahiti 2011
[Re: YosemiteGirl2]
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Gary & Cath
Expert Advisor
Registered: 04/01/06
Posts: 1284
Loc: Wollongong, Australia
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Thanks YG2, definitely stay in the O/W Suite (although they have just finished remodelling the normal OWB which have better snorkelling under them BUT some of them don't have ladders into the lagoon).
The link to the moon phases courtesy of DJ is below:
http://lunaf.com/english/moon-phases/lunar-calendar-2011/
In our experience the full moon (and either side of it) is the nicest weather
_________________________
Is there anything better than a sipping a Tahitian Mai Tai on an Overwater Bungalow in FP?
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#92712 - 01/07/12 03:53 PM
Re: Tahiti, Huahine, Moorea, Bora Bora, Tikehau, Tahiti 2011
[Re: Gary & Cath]
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Poehere
Expert Advisor
Registered: 08/18/07
Posts: 2362
Loc: FP
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Good to see you had such a great time again G&C! Cute and curly Vincent is indeed a wonderful guy!
BTW the Tikehau old OWB's got quite some damage during the huge swell last August, that could be why some have no ladders?
Yosemite, no buyer yet for the Te Tiare but there may be hope... a Samoan company just bought the Tahiti Meridien and they're looking at other properties to buy on different islands. Nothing against Raimiti but there's so many great places and atolls in the Tuams... you might want to consider trying something different?
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* with sunshine *
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