Paradise with an Ocean View

French Polynesia

There will come a time when we no longer relate these travel blogs to Berkeley East, but not today.  Simply because BE, and our cruising life, were the inspiration for our recent trip to French Polynesia.

Years ago, when we wanted to move on from cruising in the Caribbean, we pondered two potential routes: sail west to the South Pacific or travel east to the Mediterranean.  As with most of our important life decisions, we filled the bathtub with bubbles, popped open a bottle of Champagne and splashed around the pros and cons of each destination. 

The Mediterranean won for two reasons.  First, we had already spent a good bit of time in Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji, and we were looking for new experiences.  And second, although both cruising grounds required an ocean crossing, the South Pacific involved long, arduous passages between island groups, while the Mediterranean presented shorter hops from harbor to harbor, which was more appealing at the time. 

But throughout our extended stay in the Med, French Polynesia remained in the backs of our minds, with dreams of eventually sailing Berkeley East there, and beyond.  When that fantasy never came to fruition, French Polynesia went to the top of our post-cruising travel list.

As the name implies, French Polynesia is an overseas territory of the European country of France.  Located nearly 10,000 miles from its parent nation, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, French Polynesia is comprised of more than 100 islands, stretching some 1,300 miles across the sea. It is divided into five archipelagos, known for their coral lagoons, rugged back lands, white sand beaches, and luxurious over-the-water bungalow hotels. Among its many islands and atolls, 75 are inhabited, with 69% of the permanent population residing on the island of Tahiti in the Society Island group, which is why many often speak to French Polynesia as simply, Tahiti.  But from what we were able to see in a short time, the beautiful collection of islands is much, much more than its most populous landmass.

After much consideration, we decided to keep this outing to French Polynesia to two weeks in the Society Islands.  In hindsight, that is much too short a time for the distance and travel required.  Still it was far less involved than the years it would have taken us to sail Berkeley East there from the Mediterranean.

We broke the trip into three parts:  Tahiti, to get our bearings and collect the much-recommended supplies; Moorea, for exploration and activity; Bora Bora to recover from all the exploration and activity.  We were fortunate to have direct flights to Los Angeles and then Papeete, so the airtime was a mere 13 hours, with another 10 hours to, from, and in, airports, ugh. 

Waking up in the tropics with an ocean view was the perfect remedy for travel fatigue.  The only thing that might have made it better was if we had left North Carolina in a snowstorm.  While we would have liked to pull up a lounge chair on the beach, our time in Papeete was limited, so we set out on a walk, in search of provisions.  Pretty much everything we had read about French Polynesia echoed the sentiment that it was ridiculously expensive.  Experts suggested buying snacks and drinks in Tahiti to offset the high cost at smaller island hotels.  We decided to heed that advise, picking up nibblies, sodas, juices, and of course, wine.  As we carried our treasures, our feet pounding the pavement along the road back to our hotel, we couldn’t help but smile, recalling our cruising days when we hauled our groceries back to Berkeley East in unfamiliar cities and towns. 

While we were certain the island of Tahiti needed more time, our schedule had us boarding a ferry to the little sister island of Morea, so off we went.  Arriving at the ferry terminal, we asked where to check our luggage and were directed to the parking lot, where, apparently, we were to leave our bags unattended with no claim check.  It was a daunting thought, after our belongings had made it all the way across the US and the Pacific Ocean unscathed. 

The ferry ride to Moorea was a brief 30 minutes, and as we watched the beautiful sunshine shift into fog and rain, we wondered if we had made the right plan.  Upon disembarking, we checked our phones and saw that the Apple Air Tags in our suitcases last pinged in Papeete.  Luckily, we carried the snacks and wine with us, who needed clothes anyway?  Ultimately, we found our bags and arrived at our beachfront bungalow with yet another lei around our necks, flowers, sarongs and sunglasses on the bed, champagne in an ice bucket.  Another tip from previous travellers was to always be celebrating something and the hotel will respond with gifts.  You gotta love the internet.

Moorea, the inspiration for the mythical “Bali Hai” in James Michener’s Tales of the South Pacific, is one of the most striking islands in French Polynesia, with eight mountain peaks and two symmetrical bays, Cook’s and Opunohu.  Often referred to as the Magical Island, Moorea is a favorite among French cruisers who sail to the island and never leave.

The time difference between North Carolina and Morea made it easy for us to get up early for our daily activities.  Whale Watching, Street Food Tour, driving the island in a Roadster, Off Roading, our days were filled with fun, education, and excitement, followed by evenings on the beach.

Whale Watching, or as we now like to call it “Whale Chasing”, is a popular activity in the islands from July to November, when thousands of humpback whales travel nearly 4,000 miles from Antarctica to French Polynesia to give birth to their calves.  French Polynesia is a United Nations Exclusive Economic Zone, and wildlife sanctuary where whale hunting is illegal, so the whales can birth and take care of their fragile babies in a safe environment.  There are numerous whale-watching boats on the water and since they must stay at least 165 yards from the huge mammals, when one is spotted everyone jumps in the water and swims toward the sighting, fins splashing about. The day provided us plenty of exercise, and we got lucky, dropping in once near a mother, baby, and an adult male (referred to as an escort).

A Local Street Food tour brought many surprises. While we expected the island cuisine to be Polynesian with a French influence, we never imagined that Chinese food would be in the mix. But as our guide shared history, we learned that Chinese laborers were brought to the islands in the 1800s; many stayed, and their culture merged into the traditional island ways. We travelled the island, tasting delicacies at every stop, the most interesting dish being a French Baguette filled with Chow Mein; it was delicious.  The legend of that culinary invention involves what the creator had in his kitchen when he came home from a big night at the bar.  It is a popular island staple.

While we had seen a lot of Moorea, we decided to rent a roadster and drive on our own for an up-close and personal experience.  It took just 45 minutes to circumnavigate the island leaving plenty of time to relax on the beach.

When we signed up for an Off-Road excursion, we expected dune buggies on dirt. But Moorea-style off roading was sitting on benches in the back of a pickup, climbing rough pavement to the highest mountains for spectacular views, visiting pineapple fields and tasting the locally made rum.  By the end of the day, we had seen the island from all perspectives.

Exhausted from our exploration of Morea, we boarded a flight to the “Pearl of the Pacific”, the island of Bora Bora. During the Second World War, the American military launched Operation Bobcat on Bora Bora to fill the need for a refueling depot between Australia and the Panama Canal.  Some 3,500 US military personnel arrived on the island and built roads, a quay, and an airstrip, the same airstrip where our plane landed, and a boat arrived to transport us to our fabulous over-the-water bungalow hotel.

At just 11.3 square miles, Bora Bora is what remains of the caldera of an extinct volcano that erupted some three to four million years ago.  But the island’s volcanic history is masked by two mountain peaks reaching high into the sky with lush green slopes and tropical flora flowing into the crystal-clear lagoon below.  Some 4,000 people inhabit the island, which is largely dependent on tourism, although Hawaii receives more visitors in just 10 days than Bora Bora welcomes during an entire year, so the word touristy does not even apply. 

The official language there is French, so during our travels, we dusted off our “Bonjours” and “Au Revoirs”, only to find that many locals prefer the Tahitian language.  With just 13 letters and 1,000 words, we thought the dialect would be an easy learn, but we were wrong.  We admit that we are not very language savvy, and while on Bora Bora, we discovered that we are not alone, as the island’s named has been mispronounced for decades.  There is no “B” in Tahitian, so it is actually Pora Pora, although throughout the world, there seems to be no interest in correcting the error.

Like the other Society islands, there is a lot to do on Bora Bora.  We circumnavigated the island on a jet ski taking in the tranquil beauty, bicycled around the property, and snorkeled in the Lagoonarium. 

But we chose to spend most of our time relaxing at our over-the-water bungalow, floating in the lagoon while enjoying the vistas of the hibiscus-covered slopes of Mount Otemanu, and enjoying private dinners on the beach.

At 1500 square feet, our hotel bungalow was larger than the homes we both grew up in, and came with a butler, who took care of our every need, including pressing our dinner clothes.  It was pure decadence, and while we envied the cruising boats sailing by our paradise, as we once yearned to do, we thought we probably had the better view.