Islands of French Polynesia

Raiatea

Here are some pictures of the beautiful and laid back island of Raiatea.

The pier in front of where we stayed.

Me, doing my best Beatles impression by the zip line.

Christi loved the swing.

Hinano is the local beer. Very tasty.

Motu Miri Miri, just off Raiatea

A small pearl farm

We had a great time on Raiatea. As you can see it is a beautiful place. We stayed in a super nice camping area with a huge kitchen. It was clean and the staff left fresh flowers all around the facilities every day. There were only a few other guests. Much of the time it was just us and one other guy from France. He even drove us around the island one day. It was pretty funny because he didn't speak any English and I don't speak French. Christi had to translate everything either one of us said.

While there we enjoyed ourselves by swimming, snorkeling, feeding the colorful fish right off the pier, kayaking, fishing, cooking, reading, playing the ukulele, listening to Tahitian music and spending quality time with some good friends that live there.

Raiatea is a nice 20 minute flight or a 14 hour cargo boat ride away from Tahiti. We took the flight there and were feeling adventurous, so... we took the boat ride back. It was much colder and rougher than we expected. Once was enough.

Moorea

This was the view from the porch of our bungalow.

Moorea has lots of white sand beaches and is only a short boat ride from Tahiti. It is very easy to reach and has way more tourists than remote Raiatea. But it was also very beautiful and we really enjoyed our last couple of days on the island while snorkeling, watching the sun set, ...

When visiting these islands, you feel lucky just being there. We will definitely try to make it back.