Papeete – Gateway to French Polynesia

Sister Solo Experience

There are times where we do travel without a sister.  My husband, Pat, likes to do things just us (which I don’t get, lol), and Peggy has friends who want to travel places with her.

It’s weird, but it happens.

And we often times wish the other sister was there to share the view or the experience.

For me, Mo’orea was one of those times.

The planning of an epic husband-inclusive experience

One of our best friends turned 50 this year, and decided he wanted to go to Tahiti for his birthday. But then he discovered the island paradise of Mo’orea, and we went into planning mode.

Mo’orea is a volcanic island in French Polynesia. It is one of the Windward Islands, of the larger group Society Islands.

He rented a house for a week there.  Pat and I decided that a week was probably a little long in one place, given our need for exploration and adventure, so we booked a half week at Mo’orea, with a day on Tahiti on either side, and then the following week in Auckland, New Zealand (I mean, as long as we are traveling this far, perhaps we would be willing to go a little further).

This series starts with our first day on the island of Tahiti.

Arriving in Papeete

The major airport is Papeete International Airport. Papeete International Airport is located on the island of Tahiti. From the capital city of Papeete, you ferry eleven miles over to Mo’orea. 

Unfortunately, our flight landed at 6 pm, and the last ferry for the night is at 4:30.  We opted to rent our car at the Papeete Airport to have a car the entire stay. Only certain ferries allow you to take a car, the rest are pedestrian only.  Cars are much cheaper to rent in Papeete, you do pay extra to take the car on the ferry, so the price was almost a wash and we were happy to have the car prior to our arrival in Mo’orea.

We booked an economy hotel for the night, Hotel Sara Nui, which was very basic, but affordable, clean and had everything we needed as we went to bed almost immediately (time change was -3 hrs from our Pacific time zone). If you are looking to do Papeete on a budget, this is a reasonable choice, centrally located, and clean.

Our ferry reservations the next morning were not until 11:30 am (please note: if you want to bring a car on the ferry, you must make a reservation ahead of time and prepay online for it as spots are limited).

Given the lack of luxury of our accommodations, we were up and out early. We decided on the Urban Café for breakfast.  It was listed as being English friendly and we thought this was a great little break-in to being in a primarily French speaking country.

Urban Café Breakfast

We had a bit of trouble maneuvering the streets of Papeete.  The center lines aren’t yellow so we were thrown a couple of times trying to decipher whether some smaller side streets were one way or not, so we ended up circling the block a few times.

Then we struggled with parking, which we were confused about, the signs were in French and more pictorial, so there was a 2h green circle, a dollar sign, and what looked like a parking meter. . . but nobody was using the pay station, and when we tried it we couldn’t get it to take our card.  Thankfully, my husband was exhibiting an amazing amount of patience. So, we simploy moved the car and hoped for the best.

Off we walked, two blocks up, two blocks over, one block back to where we had overshot the blocks.

And the Urban Café was adorable. Indoor café feel, but we opted to sit out on the back patio.  Beautiful, lush greenery, a mango tree growing in the yard, picnic table, and luckily, plenty of shade.

They have fresh squeezed juices, and the food was fresh and beautiful.  Pat loved the eggs benedict, but realized too late that Pua’a Roti meant it came with roasted pork (the woman next to us had that and said it was amazing).

 I opted for the “Salted Pancake: Marvelous Pancake” which was flat out divine, pancakes layered with chicken, green onions, and some pickled onion on top, served with a side of a wonderful parmesan sauce and maple syrup.  It was sweet, it was savory, it was perfection in breakfast mode.

Another Blowhole

Because we had loved the Nakalele blowhole in Hawaii, we decided to kill some time before our ferry to take a drive to find the Arahoho Blowhole north of Papeete.

The drive reminded us so much of Maui, skirting the ocean the entire way up to the blowhole. It was beautiful, so many places to pull over and admire the view.

The pull in to the blowhole park is accessible only from the southbound lanes, so we needed to go up to turn around.

However, the next turnaround spot was also the road up to the Fa’arumai Waterfall.  And who are we to pass up the chance to hike a waterfall. 

It was listed as being a short hike and there were three waterfalls in the vicinity.  And we were sold on this pit stop

Fa’arumai Waterfall

We could see the waterfall from the road on our drive through this small private community leading up to the waterfall.  Imagine having that as your backyard?  It was amazing.

Park in the parking lot (duh), and then a short hike through a bamboo garden along the creek.  Over a foot bridge (it was steady and stable and well built, YAY!), and a slight incline walk about 5 minutes in and we were already there.

Fa’arumai Waterfall was breathtaking.

It felt very fantasy island-ish, crossed with Jurassic Park (before things got terrifying). This was very much like we walked into a lush valley, green and beautiful, with a huge (tall) waterfall dropping into a crystal clear pool that runs down a rocky creek.  So you get the calm peaceful flowing river in the background of the water tumbling down into the pool.  It was absolutely beautiful, and a fantastic introduction to the true beauty of Tahiti.

There are two more waterfalls if you veer off the trail to the north, but we were on a pretty tight schedule with our ferry reservation, so we just did the big one and headed back to find the blowhole.

Arahoho Blowhole near Papeete

As you pull off the main highway, there is a parking lot with bathrooms and a little souvenir stand.  Side note: this was one of the cleanest, prettiest bathrooms I have ever been in. 

The park sits right on the water, there is a great information board telling you about the legends of the area and the blowhole, a lovely picnic area, and then a trail walking up along the ocean. 

This blowhole was way different than Nakalele in that the water is actually forced up through a lava tube under the path and expels mostly sea air and mist on the inner side of the trail. 

So it didn’t have the great water shooting up like Nakalele, but it did have a huge WHOOSH sound that made you jump just a little like an air compressor going off. Then more of a sea spray shooting out of a cliff side.

It was cool, and very different from what we were expecting, but it was still interesting to experience.

Leaving Papeete – ferry to Mo’orea

We were so glad we took the time for this drive.  It gave us a little feel for the island, how the people live, and how gorgeous Tahiti really is. 

I am so excited to share all the pictures and all the amazing things we saw and did in French Polynesia.