Finding Accommodations in French Polynesia

From our last French Polynesia trip, a view of Maupiti.

Taking a trip to a more far flung place like French Polynesia has its pluses (unique vacation, less tourists, more authentic local experience, immersion in a culture and language different than your own), but it also has its negatives (takes longer to get there, more expensive, more of a challenge with language, difficult to communicate with potential accommodations and transportation and to find them and book them). I just received my latest mobile bill and found that I had $58.50 in long distance charges between calling Air Tahiti to sort out the interisland flights on the Bora Bora-Tuamotu flight pass (see previous post) and trying to communicate with three of the pensions that I was trying to book in the Society Islands and the far flung Tuamotu archipelago. But oh well, it's mostly done now.

Four types of bananas grow in French Polynesia.

Our schedule for our French Polynesia vacation is currently as follows:

March 11-12, 2017: Flights from Victoria (YYJ) to Vancouver (YVR) to L.A. (LAX) on Air Canada then to Papeete, Tahiti (PPT) on Delta/ Air France, arriving March 12, 2017 at 5:50 AM.

Photos can't capture the myriad of gorgeous colours in French Polynesia.

March 12, 2017: one night in Tahiti at the Hotel Sarah Nui (booked through Expedia and chosen for its proximity to the harbour of Papeete where we can walk around in the downtown, visit the market, and go to the roulettes for dinner under the stars before we leave). We already spent several days in Tahiti on our last trip and my trip previous I spent five weeks there, so there's no need for us to spend a lot of time on this island.

March 13-20, 2017: fly to Huahine (HUH-also in the Society Islands, all interisland flights are through Air Tahiti) to stay for seven nights at the Pension Meherio (we stayed there on our last trip to French Polynesia and very much enjoyed it, so we didn't have to research Huahine, however, our email was not responded to, so we had to call to book a place there and they no longer have a credit card machine, so we'll have to pay by cash, fortunately the island of Huahine has an ATM, unlike some of the more remote islands that we're going to later).

March 20-22, 2017: fly to Bora Bora (BOB-also in the Society Islands) to stay for two nights at Le Meridien (we have never visited Bora Bora before and chose this hotel because it was the less expensive of the two Starwood Hotels on Bora Bora and we could pay for it using Starwood points that Bill has accumulated in his business travels). Bora Bora is apparently one of the most expensive if not the most expensive island in French Polynesia, so we are only staying a couple of nights to get a brief flavour for what everyone's been talking about. Is it really the nicest island or have we already found some other French Polynesian islands that are as nice or nicer? This was easy to book by calling the Platinum Member Concierge at Starwood Hotels (and no long distance charges).

March 22-25, 2017: fly to Fakarava (this requires two flights- BOB-RGT-FAV) in the Tuamotu archipelago to stay three nights at the Kori Kori Lodge (we have never been to any of the Tuamotu islands, but have long dreamed of going to these incredible atolls with their aqua lagoons, black pearl farms, and abundant fish and coral perfect for snorkelling.) We found this pension by researching on Trip Advisor and reading reviews. This is a newer pension but the owners have run a successful "snack" or food stand for years and the reviews for their pension were excellent. Plus, the biggest, most luxurious, most expensive, and most reviewed pension, the Haviki Pearl, was full for one of the three nights we needed and they have a minimum three night stay. The most vexing part of this pension was trying to pay the required deposit. I called to ask if they would accept a credit card (in French), but the owner wanted a wire transfer and emailed her account details. I managed to do this online with my bank, but just for a deposit of 115 Euros (one night), my bank charged me $15.00 Canadian for the transfer. It appears we will have to pay the balance in cash and as Fakarava has no bank that I can locate, we will have to get cash out ahead of time in Tahiti, Huahine, or Bora Bora where there are ATMs.

March 25-27, 2017: fly to Rangiroa (RGT) in the Tuamotus and stay two nights at the Pension Bounty (this is the largest and most populous of the islands in the Tuamotu archipelago and we have never been here before). We initially tried to book the Pension Cecile based on reviews, but they were full, so we went with the Pension Bounty. Both have excellent reviews on Trip Advisor. A deposit was required for this pension as well, but we managed to communicate through email alone, so I didn't incur any long distance charges for this pension. However, it was not the most secure form of paying a deposit, as I paid by credit card and this was done by emailing various numbers of my credit card over three different emails. This is not ideal, but it's done now and hopefully the stay will be worth the risk. The balance can apparently be paid by credit card.

March 27-April 1, 2017: fly to Tikehau (TIH) in the Tuamotus and stay five nights at the Pension Justine (this is the island of pink sand and copious fish). I, at least, hope we'll be staying there. I had an email from this pension confirming that they had room, but when I emailed back to say that we'd take it, I received no confirmation back and my follow up emails have received no response yet (we also chose this pension based on reviews on Trip Advisor). Hopefully they're just on island time (we experienced that a lot on our last trip to French Polynesia on the outer islands where people were very much laid back and on their own schedule, it takes getting used to when you're coming from a city). The other confirmation I asked for is that they will meet us at the airport to pick us up (pensions usually will pick you up at the airport either as you request it and as part of the price of the stay or for an additional charge and this is very useful because often the airport is on a motu or little island or far away from where you are staying and there may not be taxis or any other way to get to the pension.) Apparently this pension takes credit cards. Although, it's always good to have extra cash, because I read some horror stories about people on small islands who went to pay by credit card, only to find that the credit card machine was broken or that cards were no longer accepted, or that the ATM on the island was broken and they couldn't get cash out to pay on some of the smaller islands.

April 1-2, 2017- fly back to Tahiti (PPT) and stay one night at Le Meridian in Punaauia, which is nearer to the airport and also much nicer for swimming and more pretty than downtown Papeete (it's a suburb of Papeete). This was chosen based on the fact that it is a Starwood hotel, my husband is a member and has upgrade potential here, it's near to the airport and we're flying out early the next day, and we've already spent quite a bit of time in Papeete (the capital and where the downtown that has the market and most of the stores is located) last trip and have seen the downtown, so we really don't need to again on this. This hotel was easy to book by calling the Platinum Member Concierge at Starwood Hotels (and no long distance charges).

April 2, 2017- fly to L.A. (LAX) on Delta/ Air France and stay one night in L.A. as our flight arrives at 6:35 PM and we'll be tired and we've learned that on the way back, trying to travel all the way between Tahiti and Victoria, BC is too long of a trip. We have not chosen a hotel yet for L.A., but this should be easy enough to do and also something that we can book easily online.

April 3, 2017- fly from L.A. to Victoria, BC (YYJ) via Vancouver (YVR) on Air Canada.

April swimming in water off of an uninhabited motu on an excursion from Huahine.

A further note on trying to book accommodations in French Polynesia, sometimes there is no response to emails or email addresses cannot be found or not easily found for pensions in which case you might find yourself calling. I found that some of the pensions' phone numbers either did not work, only worked sometimes (on the Tuamotu Islands in particular), or there was no answer and no answering machine. Booking accommodations can take some patience if you're not booking into some huge resort or multinational chain (and on some of these little islands you will not find either and in any event if you really want to experience the culture and islands and have home cooked Polynesian food, pensions are the way to go, oh and they're cheaper).

And now we pack. . . .

From our last French Polynesia trip, a view of Maupiti.

Booking Interisland Flights with Air Tahiti in French Polynesia

A motu in Maupiti

When one wants to fly from the main island in French Polynesia, Tahiti, to any of the islands that have an airport, Air Tahiti (not to be confused with Air Tahiti Nui which flies from LAX to Papeete in Tahiti, but doesn't do interisland flights in French Polynesia) is the airline that you'll use (unless you're booking with private helicopter companies, etc.).  Air Tahiti flies to many, many, many different islands in French Polynesia (French Polynesia has about 118 different islands, but only around half of those are inhabited).

Fresh pineapple juice on Air Tahiti.

Air Tahiti has come a long way since I first flew it in 1991 (I flew from Moorea to Tahiti with my family on my first visit to French Polynesia). For instance, now there is an online booking system that customers and travel agents can use. But the online booking system leaves something to be desired. Or at least it did for me when I was trying to book our interisland flights using one of the flight pass deals that Air Tahiti offers.

On our honeymoon we took several Air Tahiti flights.

Normally when one books with Air Tahiti, there is a price per flight, however, Air Tahiti offer various flight passes that offer significant savings to people wanting to visit several islands in French Polynesia.

The last time we visited French Polynesia, we used Air Tahiti to fly from Tahiti to Huahine, to Raiatea (then we took a boat to visit Taha'a and back to Raiatea to catch our next flight), then to Maupiti, and finally back to Tahiti to fly home.

Sunrise in Tahiti.

This trip, we wanted to throw in some new islands, one new island in the Society Islands and then try some of the islands in the Tuamotu archipelago to the north of the Society Islands (French Polyneisa is made of many, many islands spread over several archipelagos including the Society Islands, Tuamotus, Gambier, Marquesas, and Austral). There are various flight passes to choose from that allow different combinations of islands and archipelagos. The one we settled on was called the Bora Bora- Tuamotu pass (this allows one to visit Moorea, Huahine, Raiatea, Maupiti, Bora Bora, Rangiroa, Tikehau, and Fakarava). This pass was perfect for us as it allowed us to visit the islands that we wanted to in the Society Islands (Huahine and Bora Bora), as well as a few of the main Tuamotu islands (Fakarava, Rangiroa, and Tikehau).

The trick to the flight pass is that islands have to be visited in a certain order and backtracking is not allowed to either Tahiti or any other island (with exceptions). That can get complicated in some of the outer islands that have less frequent flights and can only be visited by passing through another island. For our Bora Bora-Tuamotu flight pass, we had to visit all the Society Islands that we wanted to visit first before moving onto the Tuamotu islands. No backtracking through any island is allowed and if you land on an island and you're there for over 2 hours (even waiting to catch the flight to the next island) you can can't go back to that island for an actual visit.  Some of the smaller Tuamotu islands only have flights in and out on certain days, so it makes scheduling a real challenge.

The Air Tahiti online booking system was somewhat frustrating to use. Once I had worked out which order we had to visit the islands and on which days we had to take flights to various islands and then back to Tahit,i I tried to book online, but the system would not recognize the flight pass pricing (with a flight pass there is a set price you pay no matter how many islands in the pass you visit, as opposed to paying for each separate flight). Instead of charging me 517.90 Euros per person, the system was trying to charge me about four times that based on the number of flights I had scheduled for my husband and me (tough to say exactly how much more because while the flight pass is priced in Euros, the individual flights are priced in XFP or CFP or French Pacific Franc, the currency of French Polynesia, so I only did a rough conversion).

A lookout in Huahine.

Unfortunately, Air Tahiti has no phone number on their website to contact them. There is only a contact form to fill in online and then wait for up to several days for them to contact you back. However, luckily on online travel forums I found their phone number and an email address. I initially tried to email them to ask if someone could help me schedule the flights and correctly charge me for the flight pass. As I was nervous that some of the flights would sell out (and my carefully ordered vacation would be destroyed), I called Air Tahiti the next morning, having not heard back. For anyone looking for their phone number, it is (689) 40-86-42-42. Their email is reservation@airtahiti.pf.

I was prepared to speak French if needed, but it made me nervous in case my rusty French betrayed me and ruined my careful flight schedule (plus I wanted someone to look over this flight schedule to make sure it both worked and fit within the very technical perameters of the Bora Bora- Tuamotu pass). My fear was for nothing though. The recording allows you to choose French or English. The Air Tahiti agent I was connected to spoke English, so I didn't have to exhaust myself trying to schedule seven different flights in French. She was able to book all seven flights for my husband and me. Then she was able to send me an email with a secure payment link, so that I could pay for the two flight passes by credit card online (they don't take credit cards over the phone she told me). After I received this email I was able to pay easily. I had a booking reference number that she gave me, so I could look up my flights in their online system and they were all there.

The airport in Huahine.

Here is a list of our flights in the order they occur (it takes two flights to get to Fakarava from Bora Bora, ie. we have to pass through Rangiroa, but since we aren't there for over two hours, we can return there after Fakarava for an actual stay on Rangiroa):

DATE  FLIGHT   DEPARTURE AIRPORT       TIME  ARRIVAL AIRPORT         CLASS  BAG
DATE  VOL      AEROPORT DE DEPART      HEURE AEROPORT D ARRIVEE      CLASSE BAG
13MAR VT 272   PPT-PAPEETE, SOC. IS.   0930  HUH-HUAHINE, SOC. IS.   Y -OK  23K
               TERMINAL D1                                   ARRIVAL:1035    

20MAR VT 272   HUH-HUAHINE, SOC. IS.   1050  BOB-BORA BORA           Y -OK  23K
                                                             ARRIVAL:1115    

22MAR VT 543   BOB-BORA BORA, SOC. IS  1220  RGI-RANGIROA, FR. POLY  Y -OK  23K
                                                             ARRIVAL:1335    

22MAR VT 557   RGI-RANGIROA, FR. POLY  1505  FAV-FAKARAVA, FRENCH P  Y -OK  23K
                                                             ARRIVAL:1550    

25MAR VT 568   FAV-FAKARAVA, FRENCH P  0850  RGI-RANGIROA, FR. POLY  Y -OK  23K
                                                             ARRIVAL:1005    

27MAR VT 552   RGI-RANGIROA, FR. POLY  0930  TIH-TIKEHAU, FR. POLYN  Y -OK  23K
                                                             ARRIVAL:0950    

01APR VT 556   TIH-TIKEHAU, FR. POLYN  0900  PPT-PAPEETE, SOC. IS.   Y -OK  23K
                                             TERMINAL D1     ARRIVAL:1050    


So, from Tahiti (we stay one night), we go to Huahine (7 nights), then we go to Bora Bora (2 nights), Fakarava (3 nights), Rangiroa (2 nights), and then Tikeuhau (5 nights), before returning to Tahiti to spend one last night before returning to Canada (via LAX).

Now that our complicated interisland flight schedule is sorted out, it's time to book the accommodations. . . .

Sunrise over Maupiti.

French Polynesia: A Sequel

Start the countdown, because on March 11, 2017 we're flying to Papeete on the island of Tahiti in French Polynesia for a three week South Pacific vacation.

I originally visited Tahiti and Moorea when I was a child with my family. We did a five week house exchange in Tahiti and enjoyed every single day. I always wanted to return to French Polynesia, having fond memories of swimming every day, the beautiful climate, tropical fruit, natural beauty, and lovely people.

For our honeymoon nine years ago, we ended up going to French Polynesia. We started in Tahiti, went to Huahine, then onto Raiatea, Taha'a, and then Maupiti (all in the Society Island chain). We returned to Tahiti from our last island, Maupiti, to fly back home and have wanted to return ever since. Having ventured into some of the more remote and unspoiled French Polynesian islands we witnessed a level of natural beauty that we have not found anywhere in the world since then.

When trying to figure out where to go for one last hurrah before we have our first child (apparently some people call this a "babymoon"), we tossed around many different ideas, but just couldn't come up with something that we found satisfying until we toyed with the idea of returning to French Polynesia. Since we've wanted to return there pretty much every day since leaving, it was an appealing idea. We couldn't shake the idea and we've now taken the plunge.

We just booked our L.A. (LAX) to Papeete (PPT) flights tonight and we're in the process of arranging Victoria, BC, Canada (YYJ) to L.A. (LAX) flights and the flight pass with Air Tahiti that will allow us to visit a variety of the Society Islands (we're planning on Huahine, our favourite from last time, and Bora Bora, which we have never visited) and then some of the Tuamotu islands (we're debating which ones to visit right now).

Stay tuned for further details of our return to paradise in the South Pacific. We probably won't have internet access for some of this trip, but we will share pictures and updates when we can, because this destination really has to be seen to be believed.

Sunrise on Maupiti.

One of the many beaches on the motu in Maupiti where we stayed.

A sandbar in Maupiti.