Week 564 · Tahiti, French Polynesia
French Polynesia is a series of 120 islands in the south Pacific covering an area the size of Europe — one reason it is so hard to get there. The south Pacific is really big.
Tahiti is one of the largest islands, with the biggest city at Papeete — the main international air connections and industrial hub. We picked Tahiti because it was "on the way back" to the US from Australia, and later modified the trip into a Thanksgiving holiday break to meet Alexandra and Annelise, with Sharon heading back to the USA via Auckland. I returned to Melbourne for a couple more weeks. Between YouTube videos and personal suggestions, we broke the trip up into 3 days Tahiti, 1 day Moorea (45-minute ferry), and 3 days Bora Bora. Sharon and I had only 1 day in Tahiti because we were 2 days late arriving due to missing a connection in Auckland.
Tahiti has very little white sand beach — mostly black sand and dirt mix — and therefore much less translucent blue water. It ended up having some of the best inland areas of the three islands, mostly due to better road access. If you are seeking water-related activities, spend more time in Moorea and Bora Bora. Tahiti's best offerings are its mountains, waterfalls, and the road around the island.
View from our condo — not a white beach, but spectacular sunsets with Moorea on the right. The girls had 2 days in Tahiti without us and basically hung out at the condo and relaxed. Sharon and I had only 1 full day due to the Auckland connection miss.
On our one day, we were looking for mountain hikes and waterfalls as well as a quick tour of the key beaches. Annelise found a place to hike called "Belvédère" and I found the same name on my trail map — but we were looking at different viewpoints and debating which way to go around the island. I wanted to go past the 2024 Olympic surfing waves but Annelise said it was the wrong way. It turns out "Belvédère" means viewpoint — we were looking at entirely different places. After checking the wave forecast (no waves), we drove clockwise around the island and saw a waterfall along the way.
Except for McDonald's, food was pretty reasonable with French food plentiful and no tariffs on French wine — so it is very cheap. One huge plus for all the islands we visited: no people hawking and trying to sell you stuff constantly. Makes it much nicer to visit.