Safety Tips in French Polynesia

STAYING IN TOUCH:

Your best bet for communication is either the post office or the local public telephone system.

MAIL: Mail typically takes from one week to 10 days traveling to and from the U.S. The post office is open from 7:30 am to 5 pm Monday - Friday, and 7:30 to 11:30am on Saturdays.
PHONE: Your cell phone will not work here, but there are services that will let you rent a cell phone. Usually these services will deliver a phone to you in the U.S. before you go. Rental costs are approximately $75.00 per week, (less for successive weeks.) When compared to they typical fee for international calls from a hotel, ($10.00 per minute,) renting a cell phone might be a bargain.
Public phones are reliable. To use them you'll need to purchase a phone card that works in much the same way ours do in the U.S. - they have a prescribed number of minutes on them. Cards are available for purchase at the airport coffee shop, the post office, and some magazine stands. To dial home, or anywhere else in the world from Tahiti dial: 00 + country code + area code + number.

French Polynesia is famous for the size and quantity of its biting insects. Whilst most of them come out at night time, there are also plenty that will happily bite you during the day as I found out to my cost (in bright sunlight!)

The only solution is to cover up as much as possible and to wear plenty of insect repellent, even during daylight hours.

Some of the flies in French Polynesia are known to carry some pretty nasty illnesses so make sure you take care.

Note:- To the best of my knowledge however Malaria is NOT a problem.

If you go swimming with Turtles, you will probably think they are very friendly as they come right up to you and will almost swim into you.

However they do have pretty strong beaks, and they like to try and bite bits off you as this picture shows!

When we were leaving the Lagoonarium where we saw these Turtles, we spoke to one of the keepers and asked if the Sharks bit people, and he dodged the question a bit, but when I mentioned the Turtles his response was:

"Paaaah - Turtle?!"

He then showed us his legs and arms that were covered in scar tissue all in the shape of turtle bite marks. His attitude was that this was nothing to even be concerned about.

You may choose to disagree!

The good news is that the Turtles aren't that quick, so you can either move out the way or just turn them around a bit (do this gently please...).

Petty theft is an ever present danger in French Polynesia. I am not aware of any violence associated with it, but don't leave anything unattended ever.

If something isn't bolted down, it will walk away. This includes items left in locked cars, bags, valuables on beaches and the like.

Part of the problem probably stems from the French closing their Nuclear testing station in French Polynesia, and with it no longer spending as much money in the region, so people look for an easy option to maintain their standard of living, but the problem seems to be rife.

I suspect that it also has a lot to do with the vastly over inflated prices in French Polynesia, but petty theft is a real problem. Never leave a car alone with anything in it.

We had to carry our stuff with us on our last day, and made sure we never left the car unattended, even if it meant one of us staying back with the car at all times.

Sad but true. My own attitude when I have had things stolen from cars whilst on holiday is that it p's me off so badly that I would rather take preventitive action than let it happen.

On some of the islands you will encounter the "nono". This is a minuscule "no-see-um" sand fly with a nasty sting. They are most common at daybreak and late in the afternoon, when they come to chew on your ankles. You might not even know you've been bitten until hours later, when the itching starts.
Do not scratch it, however, as that will only aggrevate the pain and cause an infected sore.

The only way to keep these little buggers away is to slather yourself in oil.

Leave your bright jewelry at your hotel when you go swimming, snorkeling or scuba diving, as it can reflect the sun, and attract the attention of moray eels and sharks; and wear protective footgear when you're swimming in the lagoons and walking on the reef.

1. Bring sunscreen.
2. At the beach, mind the sea anemones.
3. On Venus Beach, there is black sand. Wear sandals because...
a. Dark colours absorb heat which is bad for bare feet.
b. White tennis shoes will turn black straightaway.

Many of us tried to withdraw money from the ATMs in Tahiti and Moorea and failed, although there exist the PLUS (for VISA) and CIRRUS (for MASTERCARD) logos.

A French lady with several cards informed us that finally, her FRENCH card worked. An Australian guy said that if your card has got both the CASH ADVANCE (credit card) and ATM-LINK (debit card) features, it would fail. If it is purely an ATM-LINK card, it would be fine. If it is purely a CASH ADVANCE card, it would be fine too.

I don’t know. All the above are my failed experiences and heresays. I cannot vouch for them as I did not experiment all over the islands with my different cards.

What I can say is BRING US DOLLARS, just to be safe or TRY TO CHANGE POLYNESIAN FRANCS before you enter the country, especially since most flights arrive in Tahiti in the wee hours of the morning. For example, LAX airport changes Polynesian Francs.

The bank at the airport DOES NOT DO cash advance over the counter either. My friend went to three or four banks in the centre of Tahiti before successfully getting cash advance over the counter! It was a conspiracy, he claimed.

The bank at Hauru Point in Moorea does not provide cash advance over the counter either. The staff was there mainly to look surly, tap something on the computer and pretend to use the telephone. She claimed the one at Cook's Bay does.