Tahiti and her Islands: Would you do it?

FURET

OK, so here's my situation.

Right now I earn a lot of money, relatively speaking, and have more disposable income than I probably will ever have again. We also have no debts worth talking about. This situation is likely to continue for several years, maybe longer, but it will eventually end.

I told myself that I'd use this time to save a lot, and I am.

But....my wife and I are thinking of doing a vacation next September to four islands in French Polynesia, mainly Moorea, Bora Bora, and Maupiti.

Getting there alone will cost 3000 euro. Staying there for almost two weeks will cost at least another 4000 euro -- and even at that, we're not planning to do any 5 star luxury resorts (more a B&B/small hotel island-hopping experience).

We are looking on this as a once in a lifetime trip, one of our last big memory-makers before we have kids.
We're going for the memories, the beauty, the relative isolation, to see the marine life, and to get away from it all.

But still...7000 for two weeks.
It's a lot for two weeks, isn't it? If we don't do it now, we probably will never have another chance. And Polynesia "speaks" to us in ways that other locations don't.

We could go to the Seychelles, the Caribbean, or to Thailand for far less costly tropical experiences....but none of those have the allure (for us) of Tahiti and her islands.

Should we commit and go there, or should we throw a bucket of cold water over our heads?

delop

Go for it, you will forget about the money 6months after you are back, but will remember the holiday forever... Also the things you learn from travelling cannot be described, you will have a more complete sense of the world and your place in it by visiting faraway places....

I did something similar in my 20's , slightly different , I didnt have the money , so i had to do the travel over a period of time , made a totally different man of me ...

Gatica

The way I see it, if you can save some and spend some, that's the ideal
Unless you're worried about your work situation, you can always make more money... However, there's only the few times you can spend it on something special, whether it's a great vacation, a wedding or the dream house. What's the point of having the money and not being able to spend it or enjoy it?
I'd book it, have a blast and on return remember to start saving again for the solid things in life, like your kids, house, etc...

racso1975

You are certainly right 7 grand is a lot of money. But take a person who smokes and hasca few pints every weekend. That is the guts of 7g right there.

Do it. I did the dream holiday before amd have never regretted spending the cash

peckerhead

You will spend €7K on nappies alone when a kid comes along.

I know women who spend €7K a year on clothes and beauty products.

Or men on golf club memberships.

Do it.

username123

Do it - I spent 10k on a 2 week holiday before and never regretted it for a minute. One of the places I stayed was 1k a night - but it was well worth it. These days I can barely afford 1k for the whole 2 weeks - enjoy what you have while you have it, you'll be long enough regretting things you didnt do.

Blingy

I agree with other posters. Definitely go for it. We threw caution to the wind earlier this year and spent just over half your budget on 2 weeks in Asia. Went back to a couple of small islands off Malaysia and it was worth very penny. So glad we did it and the memories get me through many a stressful day. Trying to think if we could make it to go again next year....then again it's very unlikely.
Go and enjoy!!

FURET

Yep, unanimous approval from everyone whose opinion I've asked for. It's on!

t1mm

Can you get more time off work than 2 weeks? I agree with the above poster about travel broadening the mind, but I think there's a difference between travel and holidays. http://alastairhumphreys.com - this guy cycled around the world for 4 years on 7k GBP

FURET

t1mm wrote: »

Can you get more time off work than 2 weeks? I agree with the above poster about travel broadening the mind, but I think there's a difference between travel and holidays. http://alastairhumphreys.com - this guy cycled around the world for 4 years on 7k GBP

I agree that there's a difference between travel and holidays. This trip will be both. Strange as it sounds, I realized recently that I'm not especially interested in experiencing cultures, as in, culture isn't really a factor when I decide to travel somewhere. I've been around, I live in an incredibly multiethnic and multicultural city, and I've found that people are people.

We're going to Tahiti for the geographical beauty and remoteness. It will also be incidentally interesting to see what life is like on Maupiti and Moorea as we'll be staying with local families by the beach, but away from resorts. On Bora Bora we'd be staying on a non-resort Motu rather than on the main island.

I'm well aware of what amazing alternative travels we could do for 7-9000 euro. Flights alone to Tahiti, including between the Tahitian islands, will cost around 5000 euro for my wife and me. We're actually taking three weeks off work and we'll stop off in Aukland New Zealand (or Melbourne Australia) along the way for a rest. Accommodation for 13 nights on four islands is coming in at around 1900 euro, but in all cases we'll have the beautiful lagoons and snorkeling meters from the door. Mantas, sharks, coral gardens, humpbacks and dolphins - what's not to love.

Flights are the big expense. I'd love to stay there for more time but schedules don't allow.

peckerhead

Sounds like an amazing trip. Make sure you have a decent underwater camera for snorkelling — hey, there's an idea ...you could buy my one!

FURET

peckerhead wrote: »

Sounds like an amazing trip. Make sure you have a decent underwater camera for snorkelling — hey, there's an idea ...you could buy my one!

Already have one. Tried it out at a beach in Oman (Ras al Hadd) -- great fun!

Strumms

go , get it booked ! You wont regret spending 7 grand on the holiday of a lifetime. You WILL more then likley regret not going when you had the chance though.

FURET

It's quite a challenge to plan a vacation like this without using an agent! So I'm going to document my process somewhat to give future Irish travelers there a few pointers.

Firstly, the location itself -


- is one of the most remote locations on Earth.

Tahiti is the most famous and main island of several South Pacific archipelagos that together make up French Polynesia. The archipelago that's most visited is known as the Society Islands, so named by Captain Cook.

The Society Islands are mostly high atolls rising abruptly from the deep ocean floor - extinct volcanic peeks surrounded by barrier reefs, within which can be found amazing, calm, every-shade-of-blue lagoons, all teaming with life. These natural swimming pools are shallow and vast, populated with coral gardens, shoals of brightly colored fish, manta rays and reef sharks, and fringed with white, pink, and black sand beaches.

Here are the islands I plan to visit:



Tahiti
The main settlement is Papeete (pronounced Papiti). This is where the international flights arrive and depart. Staying overnight here on night 1 and night 13.

Moorea
Moorea is a lush, mountainous island that has a small lagoon compared with the other atolls - and it is very beautiful:







Here you can tour the caves, hills, and waterfalls of the interior, discover tucked away coves and beaches, wander through vanilla plantations, stay with a local family in a cosy pension, or splurge on an overwater bungalow (OWB).

Moorea is a great place from where to observe and SWIM WITH humpback whales and their calves between July and October. This is one of the things I'm looking forward to the most. There are also lots of dolphins plus snorkeling options (especially if you opt for an overwater bungalow - get up in the morning and jump right into the lagoon to swim with the mantas).

My wife and I have decided to stay in a family pension for 2 nights and to stay in an overwater bungalow for 2 nights. The pensions are really affordable - around 100 euro per night - but the overwater bungalows are working out at 750 euro per night. It's not worth doing an OWB for one night only as check-in is 2pm and check-out is 10am. We'll do it twice on this vacation but probably never again in our lives.

Next stop...

FURET

...Bora Bora
While most people go to Moorea for the interior and to do the deep sea marine excursions, you go to Bora Bora for the lagoon:







Accommodation here tends to be very pricey, but I found a great pension on a secluded motu (sandy island on the coral barrier) facing the lagoon and mountain views. The price is around 380 euros for two nights. We'll also do the highly recommended lagoon tour and some diving (around 4m meters deep) before heading to...

Maupiti

This island is like Bora Bora's little brother, except that it gets very few tourists, there are no resorts, and accommodation is all with local families. The highlight for 4 nights will be the complete isolation and - very cool - swimming with giant manta rays at their "cleaning area" every morning.





Accommodation here will be around 100 euros per night with some meals of freshly caught sea food thrown in.

After Maupiti, it's back to Tahiti...

hedgehog2

Looks great just hope you get the weather,nothing worse than being on a tropical island and it pours for 10 days

FURET

One of the things I'm really looking forward to is a day trip from Tahiti to the island of Tetiaroa. This island was uninhabited pretty much until this year. (Marlon Brando's kids are opening an eco resort on the island in July 2014. Brando bought the island years ago after filming the Mutiny on the Bounty in the 1960s!) Tetiaroa lacks a central peak and consists of lots of motus that are alive with hatching birds who have no fear of humans.

The coral barrier that protects the Tetiaroa lagoon has no breach. So, to visit the lagoon and motus, we'll have to ride a wave over the reef! After we get through, we will have the place mostly to ourselves...

I think this 360 photo captures the essence of the place. There's also lots of Polynesian archaeology on the island.

Getting To Tahiti
I'm finding that actually getting to Tahiti is the hardest part, financially and logistically.

From Ireland it's best to go Dublin -> LA -> Papette. Costs around 1500 euro per person. If you want to stop off in LA to catch up on some sleep, the journey will take 60 hours!

I live in a part of the world where Tahiti is 17500km away. I'm going to fly east instead of west and stop off for recovery in Melbourne or Auckland.

Transport:
For travelling between the islands, a Bora Bora Air Pass seems to be the best option. A one-off 400 euro Air Pass gives you unlimited travel between certain islands. The travel time is usually only around 15-20 mins between each island.

The owners of the pensions and resorts will pick you up from the airports (really small airstrips in fact), either for free or for a small fee. The islands are all small so it's not required to rent a car. You can hire a bicycle or walk, or ask your hosts to drop you around to various places!

We're travelling very light: plenty of swimwear, snorkeling tube and mask, reef shoes (so as to protect our feet from corals and stonefish) linens, cameras, Lonely Planet, and lots of mosquito repellent.

Peak season: July, August. Driest months: July, August, September and October.