Tahiti and Moorea Trip

Tahiti and Moorea

Start Dreaming
The time has come, less than 24 hours before I depart to my fantasy vacation, an over-the-water bungalow in the Tahitian isles. I took a break from packing to record my first thoughts of the trip. How will the 12 hour plane ride from JFK to Papeete be? Did we convert enough money to Pacific Francs?


The ride from Newark airport to JFK airport on the airporter shuttle was on time and interesting. We met Stephanie who was taking her first trip out of the US. She was going to Russia in hopes of adopting a child. Since we were adoptive parents we bonded and were able to ease her nervousness about arriving to her flight on time and the long 10 hour flight to Russia. Off she went in an easterly direction and off we went headed west on our 12 hour flight. Check in was interesting, our carryon bags were over weight and we had to shift some carryon items and check one extra bag. International flights require carryon bags to be no more than 15 pounds and within size limits of the over the head compartments. We met one of our flight attendants and he seemed nice. He told us we would have plenty of room because 120 seats were empty.

Take Off



The 12 hour flight was great. Everyone had their own personal movie theater to watch first run movies. I watched two very good movies that kept my interests, Zorro and Memories of a Geisha Girl (I now dream of visiting Japan). The meals were excellent. Can you taste the light fish with a zesty tomato sauce or the Penne pasta with a delightful smoked salmon.



We took a stretch break every two hours which is recommended on long flights and we dreamed of our island paradise for at least 3 hours. My wife is dreaming of dancing the seductive polynesian hula now. I met a fellow travel agent on the flight and we had a good conversation about travel to Asia. We landed around 12am and walked off the plane and smelled flowers. We were greeted with a tiare flower and Tahitian songs from a duo in the reception lobby. Customs was quick because we used some of the 12 hours to fill out the forms instead of waiting till we got on line. Our checked in bags were among the first to come off the conveyor belt off we went to our hotel. We had an ocean view room facing the over-the-water restaurant and from our deck we could clearly see planes as they took off and landed.

First Stop Tahiti


It will be interesting to see if that affects our sleep in the evening. The room was nice with dark wood floors and a very firm mattress. The bathroom had a very high step in tub but once you managed the climb the shower was great and the water pressure was good. The towels were average and the tiled floors were a nice touch. The first romantic night was spent on our balcony watching the dark tahitian sky and listening to the gentle waves lapping below.


The morning greeted us with warm light rain and I took a walk around the property to get a feel of the place. The shops and the tour desk were not open till 8am but the restaurant was open. A three piece band was entertaining the dinners with Tahitian songs while the patrons enjoyed the fish show below.

At breakfast we chose the full buffet and I started off with fresh fruit, watermelon, pineapple, peaches, pears and a freshly baked croissant. My wife had scrambled eggs, hash browns, french toast and coffee. She felt the coffee was very rich. I went back for the fish, mushrooms, french toast, hash browns and another croissant (they were light buttery and melted in my mouth). The over the water restaurant was nice and airy which was good because we had several smokers near us. There were schools of fish below which we could see clearly.

The Fish Show



My wife was enamored with the bright colors of the fish and she commented that she could not wait to see them up close and personal when we went snorkeling.

After lunch I met with the hotel and sales managers, Gilles Fraissange and Vincent Gverin who showed me the deluxe rooms, the spa and the two restaurants. We crashed that evening after unsuccessfully trying to arrange spa appointments.

Off to Moorea

In the morning we ate breakfast with our fish friends then packed for our trip to Moorea. When we got into the cab with Donut (No Dunkin jokes please) we asked him to take us to the ferry port but he said since it was Sunday the next ferry would not leave till 3pm. We changed plans and went to the airport for the 1130am flight to Moorea. We bought a roundtrip ticket for $120 for the both of us. The flight was a quick and enjoyable 7 minutes to Moorea. When we arrived we received our manual drive Twingo from Renault and off we went to the hotel. On the way we passed the Moorea Pearl, Club Bali Hi and the Sheraton.

The Intercontinental Beachcomber resort had large mountains on one side and a breathtaking lagoon on the other. The lobby was open aired and when we gave our names we were seated and greeted with a welcome drink. We were told our rooms were not ready and we were offered a transit room to change into our swimwear. We went to the gorgeous pool and took a dip for a half and hour or so until our room was ready.

After we received our keys we were taken by golf cart to our over-the-water bungalow. It was as pretty as I pictured it. When we opened the door our jaws dropped. We went straight to the sliding glass doors and went out on the deck to enjoy the view. This is what dreams are made of. Yes it is as pretty as the pictures.





I imagined what the sunrise would look like from the viewpoint and here it is in all its entire splendor:



When we turned in towards the room we saw a living room area complete with desk, couch and lounge chair.



The bedroom had a king size bed with large ceiling fan and air conditioner. The bathroom had a separate tub and shower with double sinks.




The room also had a safe, ironing board, TV, coffee maker and mini bar. This resort had the dolphin experience.

The resort also had a dive shop, jet skis, Kayak and every other imaginable water sport along with the Aqua blue experience. My wife finally had the chance to experience the underwater world like I had when I went diving. Here I am with my helmet saying hello to and feeding the local fish.

Swimming with the Fish


After we put our clothes away we went for our massage treatments. The Intercontinental has the Helena Spa which features Tahitian made products. The treatments were great and we both left feeling refreshed and re-energized. Since we planned to eat at the hotel tomorrow we decided to eat off property tonight. The hotel manager suggested that we eat at the La Plantation. La Plantation was a charming restaurant about 2 miles from the Intercontinental. The restaurant also picks up passengers from all Moorea hotels and from Tahiti in their private helicopter if you have a party of 5. The food was excellent and we had the restaurant all to ourselves. I had the Slippery Lobster which is the local variety which they claim has more flavor than the imported. My wife had the Steak which was tender and tasty. We both shared a Louisiana Crab Cake which was not as spicy as we were used to. After we finished our main course we could not fit another morsel into our stomachs even though they almost begged us to have dessert.