Hope you enjoyed part 1 of the trip yesterday. We finished up with Bora Bora and we headed back to the airport for our flight over to Tikehau. That’s where we pick this back up today.

The boat brought us back to the airport an hour before departure, so again, we had plenty of time to wait. I marveled over the fact that I was actually allowed to bring my bottle of water on the plane. Amazing. We watched a private jet take off and then our plane came in to pick us up for the longest interisland flight of our trip and the only one over an hour.

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April 19, 2009
Air Tahiti #541 Lv Bora Bora (BOB) 1015a Arr Rangiroa (RGI) 1125a
BOB: Runway 11, Dept 15 Minutes Early
RGI: Runway 9, Arr 15 Minutes Early
Aircraft: F-OIQU, ATR 72-212A, Named Tiairani, Three Quarters Full
Seat: On the right near the back
Flight Time: ~1h5m

We departed to the east and turned northeast for the hour plus flight over open ocean to our first stop, Rangiroa. They actually fly nonstop from Bora Bora to Tikehau once a week, but that didn’t work with our schedule.

The service was pretty much the same as it was over to Huahine – they served us pineapple juice again, and I read most of the way. As we got toward Rangiroa, it started to cloud up in the distance but we slid right into the airport without a bump. We thought we would be able to wait on the plane again, but we were wrong. They were refueling in Rangiroa, so we had to all get off the plane and wait in the terminal.

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April 19, 2009
Air Tahiti #541 Lv Rangiroa (RGI) 12p Arr Tikehau (TIH) 1220p
RGI: Runway 9, Dept a Little Early
TIH: Runway 6, Arr a Little Early
Aircraft: F-OIQU, ATR 72-212A, Named Tiairani, Half Full
Seat: On the right near the back
Flight Time: ~13m

After they finished refueling, they let the transit passengers back on to take our seats. Then everyone else boarded and we took off toward threatening skies. Fortunately, they stayed in the distance for the 15 minutes it took us for to get to Tikehau. Yep, it’s not far away at all. We landed and took a shuttle through town to a dock to wait for our boat to the resort. Here’s some video of us descending into Tikehau. (Click if you can’t see the video)

While Bora Bora and Taha’a both have islands in the middle, Tikehau’s island is long gone. It’s just a circular coral reef that goes nearly continuously for miles and miles all the way around. The southern edge has the largest land area and that’s where the main town (Tuherahera) is. We’re not talking about a big place here – the total population on all of Tikehau is less than 500 people.

We got on the boat and 15 minutes later we were pulling up to a small motu where the Tikehau Pearl Beach Resort is located. This place was incredibly secluded and felt like a mini version of Le Taha’a. It certainly wasn’t as grand as Le Taha’a. There’s only one restaurant at the resort and the front desk doubles as the activity desk and is only open from 7a to 7p. The price is also a scaled down version of Le Taha’a. We were upgraded to an overwater suite, one of the nicest rooms on property, and it usually goes for just over $700 a night. We paid a quarter of that.

After a brief downpour, we walked to our room and were honestly surprised at how nice it was. I had been told that there wasn’t any air conditioning here, but that wasn’t the case. The regular and premium overwater bungalows have no air conditioning because they sit right in the path of a strong, cooling breeze. But the suites have air conditioning as do the beach bungalows, which may very well be the best bargain around at around $500 a night. (Yes, I know it’s funny to think of $500 a night as a bargain.)

The room here was set up a bit differently than at the other two hotels. While Le Taha’a and Bora Bora Pearl had the bed in the middle of the room staring out toward the water, Tikehau had the bed on one side away from the windows. A large sitting area was in the middle where the door to the outside was, and then the bathroom was on the far side. Here’s a video of our room along with the stellar view out from our patio. (Click if you can’t see the video)

In case it wasn’t clear, this was our favorite place by far. Everyone was extremely friendly here, even though some didn’t speak English very well. People in French Polynesia sing their hellos (“Ia Orana”) and thank yous (“Mauru’uru”) and it’s incredibly pleasant, but they never felt more genuine than they did here.

Tikehau was as close to paradise as I can imagine. The number of fish around was astounding. If you threw one piece of bread in the water, within 10 seconds hundreds of fish would appear. Some of the fish are apparently regulars. We were walking by the reception and one of the staff pointed out “Fiona.” Huh? Oh yeah, there’s an octopus that hangs out in the water over there that they’ve named. There’s also an enormous triggerfish named Ernest.

One day, we went into the village (Tuherahera) and walked around in the sweltering heat. At the end of the road, we literally ran into the runway just as a plane was landing. Perfect. I made my wife wait for it to take off. No fences, no suspicious cops, just pure spotting joy. Here it is. (Click if you can’t see the video)

Another day we went over to the bird island (one of the many excursions that can be arranged by the activity desk) where an insane number of birds live. We saw all kinds of babies in the countless nests, and we even saw one hatch in front of our eyes. On the way back, we snorkeled a little. Tikehau is known to have an incredibly high concentration of fish and is a great diving spot.

At night, as you’d imagine, there wasn’t much to do, so we would just sit out and look at all the stars twinkling in the sky. I get excited seeing the Southern Cross since we can’t see that in the US, but there was so much more up there to see since it was so dark.

After three nights, it was time to go, but we weren’t ready. This was the first place that we would have liked to have had another night. But, we couldn’t do that (nor could we afford it), so it was back to Tahiti for another three nights.

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April 22, 2009
Air Tahiti #543 Lv Tikehau (TIH) 130p Arr Papeete (PPT) 225p
TIH: Runway 6, Dept a Little Early
PPT: Runway 4, Arr a Little Early
Aircraft: F-OIQC, ATR 42-500, Named Ra’i Moere, Three Quarters Full
Seat: On the left near the back
Flight Time: ~45m

Our boat/van shuttles dropped us off at the airport a far-too-early 1 1/2 hours before departure. Within 5 minutes, we were checked in and waiting. There isn’t much to do at this airport. Check out my quick tour of the terminal. (Click if you can’t see the video)

After I finished taking that video, I sat and read a book (one of about 10 on the trip) and waited it out. Our plane pulled up early, we boarded, and then we took off to the east.

This flight was about 45 minutes, so once again we got the pineapple juice service and I had some time to read. On the way down, we came down just over the top of some storm clouds and even dipped in for a few seconds before busting out on the other side with Tahiti on our left. We flew right by downtown and then looped around to land to the north. (Click if you can’t see the video)

A lot of people told us to just skip Tahiti entirely if we could. They said the outer islands were fantastic but Tahiti itself wasn’t much. I couldn’t disagree more. Due to scheduling quirks on Air Tahiti (most flights aren’t daily), we ended up having 3 nights at the end of the trip in Tahiti and we used those days very well.

We’re probably some of the only people on Earth to have stayed at a Hilton using Starwood Preferred Guest points. We originally booked our stay at the Sheraton Tahiti, but in January I received an email saying that it was no longer a Sheraton but the hotel would still honor all existing reservations. Hilton picked up the management of the property and so that’s where we stayed.

The hotel was ideally located between the airport and downtown Papeete, but it wasn’t anything special. The rooms were nice and the air conditioning worked great – those were my main requirements. But the details were lacking – our lamp had a severely ripped shade, for example. We also didn’t have the best food there. Quick tip: the appetizers at Quinn’s Pub are awful. But I guess I can’t complain about the place too much since it only cost me 10,000 points a night.

The first evening, we took the public transport “Le Truck” into town (130 francs each way) and walked around the public market. It’s a busy little downtown and there’s a lot of traffic, but it was a fun place to walk around. We wandered over to Restaurant Jimmy that night and had some really good Chinese food. (Chinese people make up the largest group outside of Tahitians and French.)

The next day, we took the ferry over to Moorea. The fast boat takes 30 minutes and it cost us something like $30 roundtrip a person. We rented a “bugster” which promptly broke down on us. But they came by and replaced it for us and we were good to go. It was a great day trip, and I didn’t feel like we missed a lot by not spending more time on the island.

The second full day there, we rented a car and drove all the way around Tahiti Nui (the big part of the island), stopping at a bunch of spots as we went. There was the King Pomare V tomb, the blowhole, some waterfalls, lunch in Taravao, the grottos of Mara’a, and the Museum of Tahiti. It was an incredibly fun and relaxing day. But the next day it was time to go. So we woke up early and returned the car and then, well, you know the rest of the story.

[See more of our pictures on Flickr]
[See more of our videos on YouTube]

Ok, I’ve finally been able to get the trip report together and it’s a long one so I broke it up. I have Taha’a and Bora Bora in part 1 today and Tikehau and Tahiti in part 2 tomorrow. I apologize to those who aren’t trip report fans. I’ll be back to more normal posting next week.

Flying on Air Tahiti was fantastic, and the places we stayed (thanks for the media rates, Pearl Resorts) were unreal. Let’s pick up after we landed in Papeete at 345a.

After more than half an hour of sitting in the Papeete airport snack shop in the hot, humid night, we saw people lining up at the Air Tahiti ticket counter for check in. It was 430a, and getting in line was the best thing we could do to stay awake, so we did. One agent came out and started checking people in. Then another one. And they all trickled out slowly until 5a when they were all staffed up. Right at 5a, we reached an agent (it was slow going), and we were checked in for the first of our six interisland flights in no time.

We bought a Bora Tuamotu pass for this trip which cost 56,200 French Pacific Francs per person ($640.49 on my credit card). That seemed like a lot of money at the time for a few flights on puddlejumpers, but now after seeing prices in Tahiti, that seems like a bargain.

After we checked in, we walked through the last security screening we would face until our return flight to the US and passed in and out of consciousness in the dark waiting room for half an hour until our flight boarded.

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April 11, 2009
Air Tahiti #311 Lv Papeete (PPT) 6a Arr Huahine (HUH) 640a
PPT: Runway 4, Dept a Little Late
HUH: Runway 7, Arr On Time
Aircraft: F-OIQB, ATR 42-500, Named Hiriata, Half Full
Seat: On the left next to the prop
Flight Time: ~30m

I was half asleep as I boarded the airplane and the sun started to rise. I asked the agent which side gave us the best view and she said the left, so we parked ourselves right next to the prop and awaited departure. Soon we were airborne for the 30 minute hop to Huahine.

This was my first time on an ATR and I was impressed. It was very quiet and a heck of a lot more comfortable inside than a regional jet. The flight attendant passed through with some pineapple juice and then sat back down for the short duration of the flight. We had a great view of Moorea and then descended into Huahine for a short stop.

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April 11, 2009
Air Tahiti #311 Lv Huahine (HUH) 655a Arr Raiatea (RFP) 715a
HUH: Runway 7, Dept a Little Early
RFP: Runway 7, Arr a Little Early
Aircraft: F-OIQB, ATR 42-500, Named Hiriata, Half Full
Seat: On the left next to the prop
Flight Time: ~15m

Some people got off and others got on, but we didn’t go anywhere. Fifteen minutes after we arrived, we were airborne again for the 15 minute (or less) jump to Raiatea, our destination that day. We didn’t even get above the cloud bottoms before we were descending into the airport. We landed, taxied back on the runway (no taxiways around these parts), and walked into the open-air terminal where a tractor brought our bags up on to a shelf for pick up. The whole trip was like this. Here’s a video of Raiatea as we came in to land. (Click if you can’t see the video)

Raiatea is just across a shallow lagoon from Taha’a, and we were staying at the Le Taha’a Island Resort and Spa which is situated on a motu (small islet) at the edge of the lagoon off the coast of Taha’a. A boat took us directly there in 30 minutes. It wasn’t even 8a when we arrived, but we felt like it was bedtime.

Le Taha’a claims to be on a private island, but it’s not actually the case anymore. A few locals have moved in to other parts of the motu but except for an occasional dog running through, you don’t see them. This was the most expensive of all the hotels we stayed at on this trip by far. The rack rate on the overwater bungalows can easily top $1,000 a night but we were offered a media rate that averaged out to be around a third of that price.

This was the perfect place to start our trip, because we just wanted to relax and do nothing. It’s easy to do that here. They put us in an overwater bungalow with a premium view. From our (really comfortable) bed we looked out on a small palm tree-filled sandbar with Bora Bora beyond. We had a private patio area and we spent a great deal of time out there just reading and watching the fish in the shallow water.

Sounds like paradise, right? It was, but was there anything not to love about this place? The one thing that plagued us throughout the trip was the high cost of food. We had heard stories, but we didn’t realize truly how expensive it was. At any given time, Le Taha’a had one restaurant serving meals. (There’s a fancy restaurant that was being renovated, but our meals alternated between the tree-top restaurant and the poolside one.) Appetizers of $25 and main courses of $40 or more were pretty standard. And breakfast was a $40 buffet – that was it. I’m fairly sure I forced myself to eat more than $40 worth of food on the days we had breakfast, and I became an expert at hoarding delicious rolls to sustain me through the day.

We did go on to Taha’a itself one day – they had frequent boat shuttles on the 5 minute trip – but there wasn’t much to do there. We rented a buggy and drove around the island to pearl farms and vanilla plantations, but after four hours, we had seen most of what we wanted to see. The scenery was fantastic, and I would highly recommend doing this if you go. You can also stop at the general store and pick up some snacks and drinks for relatively cheap.

After our drive, we went over to the famous Chez Louise for beer and some poisson cru (I’d describe it as Tahitian ceviche). This place is an excellent dive sitting on the water on Taha’a. The poisson cru was fantastic, and the local Hinano brew washed it down quite well.

Other than that, we just relaxed. We walked out to the coral garden one day and Kirsten went to the spa another day, which was in a very relaxing setting on a private lagoon. By the end of our five nights there, we were definitely ready to keep moving on to find a little more action. Bora Bora was next.

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April 16, 2009
Air Tahiti #262 Lv Raiatea (RFP) 930a Arr Bora Bora (BOB) 950a
RFP: Runway 7, Dept A Little Early
BOB: Runway 11, Arr A Little Early
Aircraft: F-OIQU, ATR 72-212A, Named Tiairani, Two Thirds Full
Seat: On the left near the back
Flight Time: 12m22s

The boat from Le Taha’a got us to the airport about an hour before the flight, and that was way too early. Check in took 10 seconds and without any security screening to worry about, we had plenty of time to wait. When the plane pulled up, some people jumped off and then we hopped on. This ATR 72 felt a lot like the 42 but longer. It was even quieter since you could get further away from the engines.

This was the shortest flight of the trip, and the shortest I’ve ever been on. We took off, turned past a cloud towering over Taha’a, saw Le Taha’a down below, and then began our descent. As you can imagine, there was no service on this flight. We landed 12 minutes and 22 seconds after we departed. Here’s some video of Bora Bora as we passed to the north. (Click if you can’t see the video)

The Bora Bora airport looked like a palace compared to Raiatea. It even had separate corridors for people arriving and departing – probably just to be able to handle the desks for all the different resorts on the island. We found the Bora Bora Pearl Beach Resort’s desk and we were whisked away on to a boat for the 15 minute ride to our hotel.

The Bora Bora Pearl Beach Resort and Spa is also on a motu on the northwest side of its island, but the vibe is completely different here. There were more people, and there was a lot more action at the resort itself. That’s not better or worse than Le Taha’a, but it was a nice change of pace.

Overwater bungalows here run more than $700 a night, but we paid far less than that. We spent three nights here, and we really enjoyed the place.

The restaurants here had slightly more to offer, and there was a bar with a pool table and a nightly happy hour. The spa here is large and impressive, and Kirsten again decided to pay it a visit. One thing we really liked was that they had a DVD library in the boutique from which you could borrow to watch movies in your room. It was a nice change from our daily check of CNN (the only channel in English we had) to make sure the world hadn’t melted down (any further, I mean).

One thing that really surprised me here is that they have a large number of “garden” cottages around the grounds. I loved the overwater bungalows, but the garden setting was truly beautiful and it could save you some money. Still, nothing can beat the bungalows for uniqueness. Ours was near the coral nursery they had planted to start attracting more fish to the area. It was just fantastic.

What else did we do? Well we took a waverunner tour of the island. That was a lot of fun, and we even got close to some dolphins in the lagoon. We went by the now-closed Hotel Bora Bora (the first overwater bungalows on the island) and the Club Med that’s also closed. On the northeast side, we went by some of the newer hotels, including the absurdly luxurious St Regis and Four Seasons. Those bungalows look like houses (with pools) over the water. Incredible.

We also went on to Bora Bora on one of the frequent shuttles in order to have dinner at the incredibly tasty Villa Mahana. This place is very tiny with only six tables inside, and the French chef personally cooks every meal. I had some of the best foie gras I’ve ever had there, and the fish was exquisite.

Any complaints (besides the food prices)? I do have to say that the bed was very uncomfortable. It must have been an old mattress and it sagged in the middle making for a rough night’s sleep. The bungalows were also not completely sealed from the outside so that left them open to noise. And each night, the wind carried techno beats from the main island right into our room. That’s certainly not the hotel’s fault, but it made for some long nights.

But those were relatively minor issues. We had a great time with the faster pace at this hotel. It appears that others like this place as well because there were a good number of people milling around. That’s more than I can say about some of the other hotels.

Next, we were off to Tikehau, the atoll up in the Tuamotu chain and easily our favorite spot on the whole trip by far. But you’ll have to wait until tomorrow for that one.

[See more of our pictures on Flickr]
[See more of our videos on YouTube]