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Our 4th trip to FP in 4 years. Not bad, considering the first one was a “Once in a Lifetime” trip. This time we decided to try Fakarava for 6 days at Pension Raimiti, in addition to a week long stay on Moorea at Club Bali Hai.
The island of Fakarava is in the Tuamotu chain of islands in French Polynesia, about an hour’s flight east of the island of Tahiti. The Tuamotu’s flat coral ring atolls rather than high mountainous islands. The land is no more than 4-6 feet above sea level. The islands are in long thin strips, averages anywhere from 50-300 feet in width and could be up to several miles in length or as small as 20-30 feet. Often a circle, or oval shape, they surround a large shallow lagoon, with one or more passes open to the ocean. Fakarava is the second largest atoll in French Polynesia. It has a population of around 600 people. Most of them live in the village in the north east corner near the airport. We were at Pension Raimiti in the south east corner, where there are a grand total of 10 residents. 2 of them live at our pension (the local name for a bed and breakfast). The other 8 live about 15 miles away. Moorea, on the other hand is one of the high (volcanic) islands of the Society island chain in French Polynesia. It has a population of about 15,000 and is only 10 miles from the island of Tahiti.
Our trip started out on a bad note….before we even left home. 2 days before we left, I had some trouble with my car… took it in….over $500 in repair bills. Not a fun way to prepare for a vacation. I charged it and vowed not to even think about having to pay it until we got home. Sadly it wasn’t the last of our misfortune on our vacation. But still, even with the few problems we had, it was the most spectacular vacation we have ever had.
Most every vacation, we end up with a little joke or a song or something that comes into play that makes our trip both funny and memorable. On this trip, one of us seemed to say “I can’t see” with alarming regularity, and then the other would start singing. For those of you who know Frank Zappa’s music, keep in mind this lyric from Nanook of the North, when Nanook gets the yellow snow in his eyes. It goes like this (in this slow deep voice) “I can’t see…no, no, no, no”. We sang it often on this trip. Several times daily it seemed!
While we were waiting at our gate at LAX a man walked by in a UCLA shirt and a Bruin ball cap. Being a UCLA Alum, that immediately caught my eye. He was handing out sun hats to certain people. Paul went up to talk to him to see what was up. Turns out various colleges had an Alumni Association Travel trip scheduled to FP on the Star Clipper, a 4 mast sailing ship doing a 8 day cruise around the Society Islands of French Polynesia. I think he said they had booked the entire ship for their trip for their group. It’s a very small ship, only 75 staterooms. All the people going on that cruise had this yellow tag hanging from their carry on bags, so it was pretty easy to see how many people on our flight were on that cruise. Sounds like a pretty fun and educational way to see the islands.
Food on Air Tahiti Nui has progressively gotten worse in the past few years. It is to the point some of it is barely edible. It actually used to be pretty good food (as far as airline food goes). Thank God they serve you unlimited French bread. You just fill up on the bread if the entrees suck. Naturally when they got to us, only one of the two entree selections was left. Not the one Paul had wanted. He was not a happy camper. I ate most of his entrée and he ate most of my other stuff, so we each ended up with enough to eat. The second meal wasn’t any better. They kept the free Hinano’s (Tahitian beer) flowing, so that kept him satisfied.
After landing at Faaa Airport in Tahiti, we naturally got in the wrong Immigration line AGAIN!!! Seems it doesn’t matter which line we get it, it’s the one with the slow guy. He’s really a nice guy, we remembered him from previous trips. We have a great time visiting with him, but he’s slow as molasses! Next time, I’m going to look to see who’s working which booth before I commit to a line. By the time we got to the luggage carrousel more than half the people had already taken their luggage and left. We immediately found one of our bags and then waited and waited…no second bag. But there was one that sure looked a lot like ours. So we continued to wait and wait. Finally…. no more bags coming, no more people waiting. But that bag that looked an awful lot like ours was still there. It had a yellow tag hanging on it like all the Star Clipper bags. While we were in the adjacent small office there filling out a missing bag report, one of the women in charge of the Star Clipper group came in and saw the bag sitting there with the yellow Star Clipper tag on it, read the name on it, and said she knew how it belonged to. So we went out with her and the luggage people to investigate. All the Star Clipper people had been loaded onto 2 large buses, but thankfully they had not left the airport yet. So they had to dig through the luggage holds on the buses to find our bag and put in the correct bag. Thankfully the switch was able to be made before the Star Clipper left port that night, and we were at Raimiti. Otherwise it would have taken some serious time and effort to get our bag to us. Also thankfully, I had packed our bags so half of each of our clothes was in each bag. So if one did get lost, we’d still have stuff to wear. Always a good way to pack!
Soooo…we finally meet up with our tour operator at the airport to get our vouchers for our flights and transports and such. As they are going through our vouchers and telling what each is for, I said…”where’s our flight voucher of Fakarava”? He looked through everything again and at our itinerary……no flight vouchers, and only a one way voucher for Moorea. So he went back to the podium to look through all his stuff and finally found our paper tickets. He couldn’t figure out if we were supposed to have the paper tickets or the vouchers. (I found out later he was new on the job). He gave us both and said they would fax us at the Intercontinental the next day before we left to set us straight. Turns out we were supposed to have the paper tickets, not the vouchers. All in all, NOT a great start to our vacation.
We check into the Intercontinental Tahiti and spent our first night there, as it was too late to fly to Fakarava (there’s only 1 flight a day to Fakarava anyway) It’s a beautiful luxury hotel. It is easily the best hotel on the island of Tahiti. Normally I wouldn’t stay there, but we got a very good internet rate, and I knew we wouldn’t be leaving until around noon the next day, so I wanted a nice comfortable place to relax and spend a half day. A couple hours after getting there I ask Paul what time it is. He looks at his watch (a cheapie Timex that he usually takes on vacation). The indiglo button it isn’t working, so he can’t see the time. “I can’t see…no, no, no, no”. We had a good nights sleep in a very comfortable bed. I took lots of pictures of the hotel grounds the next morning. The view of Moorea from the island of Tahiti, across the Sea of the Moon, is absolutely beautiful.
We catch our flight to Fakarava the next afternoon. About 5 minutes before we land, it starts raining. I had planned on taking pictures of the atoll as we approached, but with all the rain and clouds…”I can’t see…no, no, no, no”. We land, it starts raining harder. We get off the plane, it starts pouring buckets. I wasn’t able to take a picture of the Fakarava sign at the airport because we were huddled up under the umbrella they gave us. Paul and I both have raindrops all over our glasses because it is now raining sideways. Naturally…”I can’t see…no, no no no”. Shortly after we get in the terminal it stops raining.
We collect our luggage and look for our transport. It’s a good thing we had been warned about this part by so many others who have been to Raimiti. It’s a little disconcerting to have all the other pensions there with signs and representatives and we see no one with a Raimiti sign. We were very glad we took this opportunity to go to the bathroom BEFORE the boat ride to Raimiti….(it’s an hour and half ride across the lagoon!) Finally a young woman walked up to us and asked where we were going. We said Pension Raimiti and she told us to come with her. She took us to a small truck, put our luggage in the back, told us to go over and get in another truck because that one was full. The second truck already had people in the front seat, so we had to get in the back and sit on some wood benches over the wheels. Paul was a bit freaked that we were in one truck, our luggage was in another, and we were not absolutely sure we were even with the right people. But…off we went. As we approached the village, we began going over speed bumps….every couple hundred feet or so. Paul, who has 2 herniated discs in his back, another with no fluid at all, and a degenerating hip, did NOT enjoy sitting in the back of a jeep on a wood bench going over 20 or 30 odd speed bumps! All in all, not a great arrival on Fakarava.
We finally headed down a dirt road, pulled off at a lagoon side restaurant and saw the Raimiti boat waiting for us. Patea (one of our hosts at Raimiti) greeted us and asked us to wait under cover at the restaurant (it had started raining again) while he went to the market to buy a few supplies. About 15 minutes later we were on our way. As we headed south across the lagoon, signs of civilization became more and more sparse. We passed miles and miles of shoreline with no signs of civilization at all. Finally a small dock appeared. As we neared we saw the welcoming committee waiting for us at the end of the dock. One adult, 3 canines! We were greeted by Maluha (Patea’s girlfriend and daughter of the owner), and the canine contingent~ Castor, Pollux, and Rutu….the 3 resident dogs at Raimiti (Rutu is the son of Castor and Pollux).
Ahhhh..Raimiti…we are finally here. After 2 years of reading reviews and trip reports we are finally here to experience it for ourselves. All I can say is I had very high expectations and I was not let down one bit! It exceeded even my high expectations. It is not for everyone. You have to know what you are getting yourself into. You have to be the kind of person who enjoys this kind of solitude and serenity. You have to be able to live with out air conditioning, without electricity, hot water, doors, windows, locks, TV’s, phones, computers… it has none of the comforts (or trappings) of home and yet we missed none of that stuff. I have never heard the sounds of silence quite like I heard them here. Nothing but the quiet lapping of the water, the birds chirping, the trees rustling, your own footsteps in the crushed coral…even the dogs are quiet. You will unwind like you have never been unwound before.
Raimiti is not a large resort. It only had 6 bungalows. So the very most that can bet there is 12 people. We were the ONLY guests for the first 4 ½ days. Then on the afternoon of our 4th day, another couple arrived (locals from Tahiti on a Valentines Day/weekend getaway). Being the only ones on a totally secluded island with our own staff made us feel like millionaires…only we were paying a mere fraction of the cost for the privacy and seclusion of being alone on your own island that some pay hundreds of thousands for.
Because we arrived late in the afternoon, there was no time for any excursions that first day. After having a drink, we went to our bungalow to get settled in and unpacked while Maluha prepared dinner. Our room, the second lagoon bungalow, named Outukaiga (I think it means second one in Tahitian), had a blue and yellow fabric door covering….blue and gold….UCLA’s school colors….coincidence?? I think not…DESTINY! It was a little dark in our room and still too early to light the lanterns, so we had a bit of difficulty getting things sorted out. …”I can’t see…no, no, no, no”.
Our room had a wooden floor covered in a woven palm frond mat. The walls were made of woven palm fronds and the roof was a palm thatch roof. The door was an opening with a fabric curtain that you closed at night. The side walls had large open sections that had a roof overhang to keep out the rain. The back wall had an adjustable woven window flap that you propped open to let in the breeze. It had a large bed, and hanging mosquito net, and assorted some wood branches to hang your clothes on. The front porch area had these wonderful “curtains” made of pieces of coral strung together….it made for a beautiful “lacy” effect. Each evening we were given 2 gas lanterns for light. The room also had a flashlight to use to go to the restroom in the middle of the night. The bathroom was in a separate bungalow just to the right of our bungalow….also made of woven palm fronds and a palm thatch roof. It had a flush toilet (they have a biodegradable septic tank system), a sink, a shower that was all adorned with shells...including a large shell soap dish. Again, wooden branches to use as towel racks and toilet paper holders etc. The floor was crushed coral. The creativity used in building and decorating the rooms was amazing. They were all built with local materials from the island.
Dinner that night was the first of many amazing meals served on the most beautiful blue plates. All hand crafted designs. Each plate had a different island themed design. Manta rays, dolphins, sea turtles, were carved into the plates. They are made locally at a pottery shop on the island Moorea. The meals were served in the main building…a combination dining room/bar. It was an open air thatch building. All the tables and chairs were made of wood from coconut trees. Again, pieces of coral were strung together for a lacy curtain effect. Close to a dozen gas lanterns lit the room at night. It was a totally funky, yet totally functional room. We spent many hours sitting there reading and playing board games. Maluha would call us to lunch and dinner by blowing a large conch shell.
The meals at Raimiti were completely amazing. Breakfasts were pretty much the same each morning, quite simple and yet they were perfect, and we never tired of it….. A toasted warm croissant, a basket of French bread, butter, 3 tropical fruit jams, a pitcher of juice, an assortment of cheeses, a plate of various fresh fruits…pineapple, banana, papaya,or pamplemouse (Tahitian grapefruit), your choice of hot drink. I had the most wonderful vanilla tea every morning. Lunch was usually a large salad (leafy green, pasta, or otherwise), a basket of French bread, some Tahitian (huge) avocados, or cucumbers, maybe some sliced meats, a hunk of French or Swiss cheese, or the most heavenly onion quiche I have ever tasted! Each dinner was a 3 course meal. First course may be an egg salad with asparagus in a pasty puff, a cold cucumber soup, an endive salad, or crab stuffed clam shell. Main course was usually fish…tuna, parrot fish, grouper, in some sort of sauce…pink peppercorn cream, vanilla, lemon-herb. We did have chicken one night…in an amazing curry sauce with raisins. A basket of bread was served at each meal. Dessert…oh man….dessert….we could never finish the huge dinner portions they fed us…but some how we always managed to make room to stuff down the desserts. Home made vanilla ice cream, bananas flambé, chocolate cream, and a totally incredible lemon tart for Valentines Day! We were never able to finish what they served us at any meal. We are not big eaters anyway. We could have easily shared a meal each time. We felt guilty leaving so much on our plates each meal. We tried to justify it to ourselves to think how happy we were making the pigs…they get all the leftovers…the swine garbage disposals (there are 2 resident pigs at Raimiti). Oink Oink!
Sleeping without air conditioning, or windows and doors was not difficult. It was pretty warm at night, but not horrible. The sheets had an ever so slight dampness to them, but not uncomfortable. Usually there was a good breeze from the ocean side blowing through. But when there wasn’t, you sure felt it. I was really only uncomfortable when I had a hot flash. Getting olds sucks! We slept with the mosquito net very night. And as the nights progressed I got better and better at tucking that dang thing in and securing the opening so well, no mosquito could possibly penetrate it! Nor could Paul find the opening in the middle of the night….”I can’t see….no, no, no, no”.
I just don’t understand what it is with me and mosquitoes. They see me and immediately put on a bib, break out the knives and forks, say their Thanksgiving blessing, and have a feast! Maluha couldn’t believe I was getting bit so much. I went through 2 cans of Aerogard in 5 days! I told her I was beginning to think it was an attractant rather than a repellant. A new perfume…Eau de Bug Spray! She loved that! I was usually safe from 9-4 during the day. But mornings and evening were pure hell. We not only had a mosquito coil burning in the room every night….we had one in the bathroom at night….then I started to burn one near us at dinner and breakfast too. Then I began wearing my (lightweight) long sleeve shirt and pants to dinner and breakfast. So then they’d nail my feet….so I started wearing my socks too…they’d nail my hands! I had one bite me THROUGH my socks! They crawl up inside the leg of my pants and get me! I looked totally hysterically funny for our Valentines dinner. I wanted to dress up a bit and wear one of my tropical print sun dresses. So I put it on, over my baggy cargo pants, under my shirt, with my socks and sandals. I did a little runway modeling show in the dining room for the other guests and Maluha in my sexy Valentine ensemble.
We did not have a problem with cold showers. We just didn’t take a shower first thing in the morning. Instead, we waited until we finished with our water activities for the day to shower and rinse off the salt water. By taking a shower in the afternoon, we never had to deal with cold water. In fact the water was pretty darned warm by the afternoon, even hot on a few days.
The first morning Paul tired to put in his contacts in the mirror in the bathroom…but the lighting in there was so poor…”I can’t see, no, no, no, no”. Both he and I had difficulty with our contacts each morning and evening. We were terrified if we dropped one of our contacts on the crushed coral floor, it would be the end of the contact, if we could even find it because it was so dark…”I can’t see, no, no, no ,no”. The poor lighting in the bathroom also made it impossible for Paul to see well enough to shave. “I can’t see, no, no, no, no”. So he didn’t. Finally on Valentine’s Day he decided to use the community bathroom out behind the dining room to shave. It had electricity and therefore better lighting. They do have solar panels to provide enough energy to run some of the appliances in the kitchen etc.
The day trips …man oh man oh man….the southern part of Fakarava truly has to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. This IS where they shoot all those post card pictures. It is simply stunning.
Hirifa Beach…WOW! Patea took us and the dogs in the boat, dropped us off, and asked what time we wanted him to come pick us up. So we were all alone on this deserted beach for hours. The closest civilization to us was Raimiti which was a 15 minute boat ride away. The dogs (Castor and Rutu) were out of the boat long before we hit shore. Pollux waiting until we were on the beach before she exited. I kept telling Maluha all week, that Pollux was the only smart one in the bunch. It’s funny because she has a decidedly different personality than the boys do. Hirifa Beach is absolutely beautiful. It is probably at least a mile long stretch of pink sand beach. We strolled along the beach, the dogs stayed right with us. We then went out toward the reef to some snorkeling areas, and the dogs took up their frolicking in the water and shark hunting. We had to cross the great sea of slugs to get to the snorkeling area….if any of you ever want to see what one of those sea cucumbers/slugs looks like…this is the place! They’re kinda blackish and cucumber shaped. Hundreds….thousands of them! Big ones, baby ones, skinny ones, fat ones, short ones, long ones…..it was fairly easy to walk through them though with out stepping on any, the water is only about 8-12 inches deep. They’re supposedly kinda mushy gushy if you step on one, but dangerous at all. The dogs, however, probably took out a couple hundred with their sprint though the water. After crossing the great slug sea, we hit the snorkeling areas and the dogs went off on their shark hunt. But they always stayed in our view. Thank God they didn’t corner any this time. A few months earlier Rutu had a run in with one and it gave him a pretty good gash on his leg and thigh. For what ever reason, the dogs like to chase them. Most of the sharks are just black tip reef sharks, around 3-4 feet in size. They usually take off the minute the dogs get near them. Not dangerous, we’ve had them swim within a few inches of us many times. The one Rutu had his run in with was a larger lemon shark, around 5-6 feet. Again, they also are usually not dangerous, but obviously the dogs were harassing it unmercifully and it turned on them and left Rutu with quite a wound….which had healed very nicely by the time we were there. When we finished snorkeling and headed back toward the beach, the dogs also turned and headed back to the beach with us.
The pass…. Another WOW! We ended up doing this excursion twice during our stay because of the arrival time of the other couple. We could have easily done it every day and not get bored. When you pull up to the dock at the pass, you are immediately greeted by 4 huge Napoleon Wrasse …2 of them are REALLY HUGE…probably 3-4 feet long! They are so cool, so docile. They swim right up to you and have the greatest faces. I just hope some of my pictures do them justice. Maluha took us on a little tour of the village there. The church there was built in the 1800’s and is so beautiful. It’s just amazing how creatively they decorated it. The little bay with the Napoleon Wrasse is just teaming with all sorts of fish and sharks. You really don’t even need to do the pass, there’s a ton of great snorkeling right off the beach. The pass itself is beyond anything I have ever seen. Simply amazing. It is only about 1/3 of a mile across. We snorkeled along the side of the pass. It is a huge wall of coral, just teeming with all sorts of underwater critters! The current is always flowing either into the lagoon or out of it, depending on the tides. You can only drift snorkel when the water is flowing in…otherwise the current may carry you out to sea…never to be seen again. You don’t have to swim or kick or anything…..current just floats you along. Paul said it rivaled any place he had even gone diving. It takes about 10-12 minutes to drift along the length of the pass. You can then get out, walk back down to the beach, get back in and do it again, and again….until the water flow changes direction.
Next up….spear fishing. Patea and the Tahitian guest went spear fishing for our lunch. Paul decided against joining them because of his back. Patea got a large parrot fish about 30 seconds after he hit the water! Between the 2 of them they caught a total of 10 fish in like 20 minutes. Not bad. We then went to the most beautiful deserted island I have ever seen in my life! As we approached a group of several small islands, I immediately knew which one we were going to. I pointed it out to Paul and said…”we’re going to THAT one!” Sure enough, it was the one! It is the picture perfect idyllic tropical island. You only see these places in post cards. You never think you’re going to see one in real life. I’m really bad in judging size, but it was maybe 50 feet by 75 feet. More or less oval shaped. Had maybe a half dozen palm trees on it….probably another half dozen other assorted trees and a few large bushes….a couple hunks of drift wood….a beach about 10-12 feet wide that circled the island. Maluha and Patea went to work fixing our lunch and we went exploring the area. The island was surrounded by water 6-24 inches deep. There were several black tip reef sharks cruising in the waters. But they had no interest in us. They would come over and check us out….to see if maybe our splashing was a fish in trouble… as soon as they saw us, they just turned and left. We waded through the water to get to some of the other islands and sand spits nearby. We passed through several tide pools on the way…saw the dozens of the most fantastic spiney star fish….black…long spindly arms (or legs??) …about 8-10 inches in size. WOW! Way cool. I had never seen anything like that! As soon as we got too near to them, they dash back into the rocks. When we returned to the island we were walking along the shore and the sand right at the waterline seemed to be moving. When we stopped and looked closer, we saw there were hundreds and hundreds of really small shells (an inch or less in size) moving along the shores line in unison. Little baby hermit crabs in each shell. It was totally cool. Lunch was fantastic. Maluha made some plates out of woven palm fronds that Patea cut down. Served on them was grilled Parrot fish, a pasta salad (Maluha had made it ahead of time) and coconut bread patties baked on the grill in some leaves she gathered from a tree on the island…..and Hinano beer! There is not a more spectacular setting in the world to have a picnic lunch. It was beyond magical. And the most fantastic thing about this particular island for me personally…there are NO MOSQUITOES!!!!
Another excursion was to a bird island. OMG, how cool it was! We saw tons of eggs and little hatchlings hidden in the trees. They were so cute. I think I took a million pictures there! All sorts of birds were on the island…. Red Footed Boobies, Brown Footed Boobies, Noddies, Terns, and a crazy looking bird with this great spikey punk hairdo. We also explored the tidal pools in reef at the island. The water was only a few inches deep. We saw tons of crabs, blue, turquoise, and purple lipped clams, assorted sized eels all over the place. Again, the WOW factor was in overload. Paul gathered all sorts of shells for me. There were tons of beautiful shells everywhere. We could have easily filled a bag.
When we were not out on the excursions, our time at Raimiti was spent just relaxing, reading, picture taking, playing some games, and just absorbing the beautiful scenery and serenity. We spent one morning building our addition to the rock garden on the ocean side of the property. I’m afraid our creation wasn’t near as spectacular as many of the others. But we were proud of it. We also sat out on the dock for hours and watched the fish, the resident groupers, and the resident octopus. The dogs were so funny every evening at dusk. They’d head out to the dock. They’d take up their positions at the end of the dock, each faced in a different direction, scanning the lagoon for sharks. They wouldn’t make any movement, or sound. But somehow when one of them saw a shark, the others immediately knew it and would dash to that side of the dock. All 3 would stand silently side by side by side and their noses would follow the shark as it neared the dock and then as it swam under the dock and then they’d all immediately dash to the other side of the dock and follow the sharks progress as it swam away….until they could no longer see it. They would then all return to their original sentry positions looking for the next shark. It was just too dang funny to watch.
The sun is amazingly intense here. It was much more intense than we have ever experienced on Moorea or Bora Bora. We wore sunscreen (spf 30) every time we went out. We still managed to get a bit too much sun one day and had some pretty red lower legs. It was when we were on our island picnic. We did so much wading through the 6-18 inch deep water that afternoon, I think it washed a lot of our sunscreen off….even though we did re-apply it….I guess it wasn’t often enough.
My new Olympus underwater camera….well…I was successful in that it did not go kaput on me, like it has been reported to do for many others. I was ultra careful with it, and made sure I rinsed it out in fresh water every time I was finished with it. The main feature I do not like about it is it does not have a viewfinder. But then, most of the new point and shoot digitals don’t. I like a viewfinder! I can’t see the damn screen in the sunlight and especially underwater! “I can’t see…. no, no, no, no”. It was frustrating as heck underwater, ‘cause I had no idea if I was taking a picture of what I wanted to take a picture of. Finally I gave up and just put it on video mode and took a whole video of the pass. I figured at least that way I knew I’d be getting something worthwhile.
And then…all too soon…it was time to leave. L I never thought I’d be saying the words….”Do I HAVE to go to Moorea”? We said our goodbyes to Maluha and the dogs, and hopped on the boat for our ride across the lagoon back to the airport. About ¾’s of the way there, Paul bent down to get something out of our bag and a gust of wind blew his eye glasses off his face and into the lagoon. He had these featherweight titanium frames that he just loved. He looked like he was going to cry. Even though he immediately said…”I can’t see”….I wisely refrained from singing back to him. Always the one to find something funny in any situation, my next thought was of the movie The Incredible Mr. Limpett….I was sure there was a fish down there in the lagoon of Fakarava that was in dire need of a pair of glasses and had just received them. Haruuummmm, Haruuuummmm. I wisely didn’t tell Paul that either. Although I did a few days later and he laughed…..and agreed he wouldn’t have found it funny at the time.
Our next problem occurred after we landed back in Tahiti. We walked over to the Air Moorea terminal, and the lady there told us we were in the wrong place and needed to be at Air Tahiti (where we had just landed)…...although I was certain our flight was on Air Moorea. I took her word for it and we walked back to Air Tahiti…..the lady there told us we were supposed to be at Air Moorea. We explained we had already been over there and they sent us back here. She said she was certain our flight was leaving from Air Moorea, as was I. So…we walked back to Air Moorea AGAIN! This isn’t a real long walk, but it isn’t a short walk either…probably 10-12 minutes…and it was noon time…it’s hot, it’s humid, pushing a luggage cart, and walking it 3 times in a row is a bit much! The lady at the counter asks us what the heck we are doing back there. We explain, again, that this is where we are supposed to be, to which she replied, “no it’s not”. At this point to say Paul is not a happy camper is a gross understatement. As we were asking her to call Tahiti Tours, our local contact company, her supervisor came out, looked in the computer and finally found our reservation, and the root of the problem. It seems our 2pm flight had been cancelled and we were now on the 3pm flight. So we had a 3 hour wait…although we had already used up about 40 minutes walking back and forth between terminals. A couple Hinano’s made the time go by faster.
Being on Moorea after staying at Raimiti was difficult. It took us 2-3 days just to get used to hearing noises again. Paul finally put on his headphones and listened to his ipod so he wouldn’t have to hear the traffic and the chickens and the talking. We never even went snorkeling while we were on Moorea, even though we had a free voucher for a snorkeling trip at Club Bali Hai. To snorkel on Moorea after Fakarava would be like going to a petting zoo right after you had been at the San Diego Zoo. We just had no desire to do it.
This was our third trip to Moorea in as many years. We did pretty much the same stuff we always do there….nothing! It’s a great place to kick back and relax. Aside from daily drips to the market to buy Hinano, chocolate croissants, cheese, and a French Baguette, we just hung out at our bungalow most days reading. I went through 2 more cans of Aerogard, a 10 pack of mosquito coils, and finished off a 2 ounce tube of itch cream! I always seem to get bit when I’m there, but for some reason the mosquitoes seemed to be much worse this year. Even Paul was getting bit this time, but not near as much as I was. We also spent a lot of time at the lobby visiting with some of the hotel workers. They are some of the nicest, most friendly people we have ever met anywhere.
I think our funniest moment (or moments) on Moorea were listening to the rooster next door. There are roosters and chickens and chicks all over the place in Tahiti. I’m not sure if this particular rooster was a juvenile that hadn’t figured our how to do a proper cock-a-doodle-do yet, or if he had a speech impediment. Instead of er-ah-er-ah-errrrrrrrrrr, it was more like errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…….kinda sounded like a woman screaming while being choked. We’d wake up every morning at 4 or 5 just cracking up at this stupid rooster.
The highlight of our week on Moorea was an evening of singing with some of the local Tahitians. A few of the employees at our hotel and some of their relatives had gathered in the lobby and were singing, playing guitars, ukuleles..…and spoons. We sat down with them to listen and enjoy. Next thing we knew they handed us the spoons and showed us how to play them. We didn’t know any of the Tahitian songs they were singing, but after a while we sorta figured out how to keep the rhythm with the spoons. Paul did much better than I. Paul also tried to play their guitar but it was tuned differently than American guitars and he couldn’t figure out the chords. They then tried singing some American songs for us, but it seems all they knew were country songs. LOL! Then they did some old Elvis and Everly Brothers songs….that was absolutely hysterical….but we did actually know some of those lyrics. When Paul and I explained we preferred rock music, one of the young Tahitian guys said…”Oh… like Metallica???” and started playing Sandman. That was too funny!
Although February is considered the hot/rainy season, again we had pretty darned good weather. I don’t count the rain we had a night, because that really doesn’t affect our stay in any way. During the day we probably had 3 or 4 showers of 5-10 minute duration on Fakarava. And on Moorea, we had 3 or 4 showers of 5-10 minutes and 2 showers about ½ hour long. Maybe we are just incredibly lucky with the weather in February, but we have yet to have one of those week long continuous rains that February is supposedly known for.
Our flight home was more of the barely edible Air Tahiti Nui food. And again….they had only one of the 2 entrée choices left by the time they got to our row...again, not the one Paul wanted. From the scowl on his face, I think our cabin attendant had a clue how ticked he was and some how found one of the other entrees from another cart. Then when breakfast was served I noticed she had put aside one of each choice just to be sure she had him covered. Smart lady.
All in all, we had the vacation to end all vacations. Raimiti simply can not be described in words. It’s quite honestly something that has to be experienced to be understood. Hopefully we’ll be back next year, for 7-10 days. Maluha (our hostess and chef) was a delightful young woman. She speaks excellent English and very interesting to talk to on a variety of subjects. She is of French, Greek, and Italian descent. Born in the Congo inAfrica, she was raised in Tahiti (on Moorea). Her father owned a restuarant (le Bateau) and a pension (the Linareva) on Moorea, as well as owning Raimiti on Fakarava. Both she and Patea (he is Tahitian) seem to understand how privileged they are to be able to live and work in such a special place. They both truly seem to enjoy their job. Maluha will be leaving Raimiti in June to go to Moorea to await the birth of their first child in August. I’m sure she will be back at Raimiti as soon as possible.
And that’s all I have to say.
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