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Popular General Tips | Miscellaneous General Tips Tips | All Tips (97)
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The Many Shades Of Blue In Bora Bora
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  • Seeing Bora Bora from the air for the first time is an experience to which nothing can compare. The island looks just like a necklace of emerald and pearl on a background setting of turquoise velvet. Then the plane lands, you board a motor launch to get to the island, and the incredible sight from the air suddenly becomes nothing when comparing with what lays ahead. The world breathtaking is neither an exaggeration nor a figurative term to describe this spectacular lagoon. There is not one shade of blue, or two, or three. The many shades of blue are like waves that come upon you, one after another, and the crystallized water only makes you feel more overwhelmed with its beauty. More than likely, your first thought would be, "This must be heaven." No, it's not heaven. It's only Bora Bora, but that makes it even better than heaven because it is within reach.

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    Welcome Home To French Polynesia
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  • Every time we are back on the islands, it feels like coming home. We would look for each curve on the road to tell us where we are. When we stay at Club Bali Hai, which is most of the time, we could know the distance from any point between the airports to the hotel and we could feel ourselves become more relax with each kilometre. French Polynesia does that to you, even if you are not a frequent visitor. On the first visit, you will feel awed by the beauty. You will go snorkelling, swimming with the dolphins, riding around the island, buying pareo, postcards, and souvenirs, watching a Polynesian show, snapping a lot of pictures, the usually tourist stuff. On the second visit, you will still feel awed by the beauty but you also expect the tranquillity that comes with it, you will do snorkelling and taking pictures but you will feel less inclined to do many other activities, and writing postcards become an obligation instead of pleasure. On the third visit, you will just take in the beauty without being overwhelmed by it, and you will not buy a single postcard. With each frequent visit, you will do less and less. You will think a quiet swim by yourself or snorkelling with your companion is enough activity for the day. When you call Moorea your second home, you will become part of the land and the people, you will do as little as possible and feel not a tinge of guilt about it. After all, you are on the islands; there is no must-see or must-do here. Just let yourself be, and that is enough. Drop your luggage in the bungalow, go outside to lie on a hammock, and take a snooze. When you wake up, just listen to your body. It will not demand for a swim with the dolphin, believe me. If you listen to your body and your mood, you will have the best of vacation whence you do nothing but feel very full and content about it.

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    The Arrival And Departure Point
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  • Tahiti is the name of only one island in the 115 islands and atolls that make up French Polynesia; it just happens that it is the largest island on which Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia, is located. This fact sometimes lost on would-be first time visitors who say they dream of a vacation in Tahiti when it is more than likely a bulk of their time would (and should) be spent on other islands instead of Tahiti. Tahiti is perhaps the least attractive island in French Polynesia. You need to arrive on Tahiti and fly out of Tahiti, but you don't need to stay on Tahiti long. We never did, a couple of days on Tahiti was enough for us. However, if for some reason you decide to stay on Tahiti anyway, don't spend your entire stay in Papeete. There are many smaller towns on Tahiti-Nui (Big Tahiti) and Tahiti-Iti (Little Tahiti) where better images of French Polynesia are waiting to be found.

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    Find Tranquility And Romance In Manihi
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  • I absolutely love Manihi, I love it even more than Moorea where we have spent many months of our lives. Manihi is not an island but an atoll in Tuamotu. The water is Manihi is not blue, but true emerald, different shades of it. There is only one hotel on the atoll, and that's Pearl Resort. There is never a sound to be heard. There is rarely a person to be seen. The sea breeze is always soft, the lagoon is always calm, and the fish are always playing just below the surface of the water. When one is on the veranda of one's own water bungalow, the privacy is so special that one feels removed from the mundane of every day's living. If there is a place that is closest to heaven on earth, that would have to be Manihi.

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    The Society Islands
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  • The Society Islands are some of the most beautiful islands in the world, offering countless photogenic scenes of saw-tooth mountain ranges, deep blue bays, green valleys and turquoise lagoons. These are the islands of Tahiti, Moorea, Huahine, Raiatea, Tahaa, Bora Bora and Maupiti. On most of these islands you can explore the valleys, waterfalls and marae stone temples on a safari tour, you can swim, snorkel, scuba dive, paddle an outrigger canoe, feed the sharks and rays, go sailing and picnic on the motu.

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    The Lagoonarium
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  • Lagoonarium Price List - French Polynesia
    Lagoonarium Price List
    by easyoar
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    The Lagoonarium is one of the real must-see sights on Moorea. It is also very good value, but with one caveat! When we asked at our hotel, we were told it would cost at least 7,500 per person to go. A man on a boat would take us from the hotel and bring us back, and we would be there for about an hour, they also said it wasn't open everyday. HOWEVER, we drove past the Lagoonarium (well we drove past a little kiosk, as the Lagoonarium is actually on a little Motu [small island] out to sea). If you stop at the kiosk, there is a radio in there, and you can call them up, so I tried, and had a conversation in French/English, where it turned out that it cost 2,300 per person to get in (checkout that markup!!!), and that included a man coming over on the island in a boat to pick you up (and later bring you back) - he comes when you radio in. You were free to stay as long as you liked (within reason!). For the money you can swim with sharks, turtles etc. You can borrow snorkels, flippers and canoes. It is very good value. The reason they can guarantee sharks and turtles etc is because they have an area in the sea that is surrounded with mesh, so keeping the fish in.

    I think one of the reasons that it is good value is that it seems to be looked after by a bunch of hippies that live on the island and aren't very materially minded. They are all very friendly and decent, and just make enough money to be comfortable on the island. They are therefore divorced to degree from the crazily priced Moorea. I highly recommend this place, it is not to be missed!

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    The Tiki Village Theatre on Moorea
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  • The Tiki Village Theatre on Moorea. - French Polynesia
    The Tiki Village Theatre on
    Moorea.
    by easyoar
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    The Tiki Village Theatre is around PK31 on Moorea. It puts on a show in the evenings that has Polynesian dancing, fire dancing, a Polynesian feast where you see them cooking the food too. See some of my Must See tips for these. You are led to believe that the Polynesians there all live in the village, and perhaps they do. They certainly practice crafts like tattooing, carving etc there, and there is living accommodation there too. Talking to some of the performing artists there, they had worked in Spain before in Port Aventura (now called Terra Mitica I think), as they have a Polynesian land there and have dancing etc going on. Whilst the evening was excellent (although very pricey), the one thing that disappointed me at the end was when a French guy was introduced as the man who had made it all possible. Up to that point I had thought the Polynesians had set it all up themselves. It disappointed me somewhat.

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    Island versus Atoll
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  • In French Polynesia there are volcanic islands (Tahiti, Marquesas), barrier reef islands (Moorea, Maupiti, Tahaa & Raiatea, Bora Bora) and atolls (Tuamotus). Evolution: First there is a volcanic island. Coral begins to grow around this island. The formation of a coral reef is very slow, it rises from 0,5 to 2 meters in a hundred year. It is made of coral polyps, shells and skeletal remains of marine plants and animals. Due to erosion after a million of years the soft volcanic stone starts to sink into the ocean where it becomes a barrier reef island (coral reef with lagoon and a volcanic island in the middle), and finally only the coral reef is left, which is called an atoll.

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    Beneath the sea
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  • Sea Turtle in French Polynesia - French Polynesia
    Sea Turtle in French Polynesia
    by easyoar
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    There is a lot of wildlife beneath the sea in French Polynesia. This includes Turtles (as in the picture here), sharks, rays (incredibly these fish really do enjoy being stroked) and lots and lots of multi-coloured fish of all sorts of hues and colours. If you don't pull on a mask and a snorkel you will really miss out. The waters are clear and warm(ish). The reefs around these islands protect the waters just off the coastline and the water tends to be very shallow and typically pretty calm so it is a great place to swim and dive. Of course if you can scuba dive, then all the better!

    The Lagoonarium on Moorea made exploring the sea very easy in a very sheltered environment. Please see separate tips for more info on this.

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    Dove Nesting In Bananas in Tahiti
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  • Dove Nesting In Bananas in Tahiti - French Polynesia
    Dove Nesting In Bananas
    in Tahiti
    by easyoar
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    Please enlarge the photo for this one! When I was visiting the Tomb of King Pomare V in Tahiti, I was walking past a bunch of bananas (they are all over the place in Tahiti, so you stop paying too much attention to them), when something caught my eye and I took a better look at them. There right by my head was a dove nesting in the actual bunch of bananas on the plant! Needless to say my camera came out, and being careful not to disturb the bird I took a few pictures. Whilst it didn't appered to be overjoyed to see me, it didn't really appear that fussed by my presence, but then it hadn't exactly chosen a quiet place for nesting...

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    More French Polynesia Tips
    Overview
     
    General Tips
    Tips: 97 - Photos: 80
    Restaurants
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    Hotels and Accommodations
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    Things To Do
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    Nightlife
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    Off the Beaten Path
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    Tourist Traps
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    Warnings or Dangers
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    Transportation
    Tips: 60 - Photos: 47
    Local Customs
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    Packing Lists
    Tips: 27 - Photos: 16
    Shopping
    Tips: 17 - Photos: 13
    Sports Travel
    Tips: 9 - Photos: 9

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