mary

Hi, <BR><BR>I am planning a 2 week vacation to French Poly. We have never been there we are going for 6 nights to Bora Bora, but I have NO IDEA what to do for the rest of the trip? We are flying from LA to Papeete RT....SHould we go to Moorea, should we go to another island? SO for our favorite trip has been to Anguilla in the Caribbean and we LOVED that......Any advice out there?

Kim

Hi Mary,<BR> We went to French Poly last year and it is absolutely beautiful. Bora Bora is amazing. There is a tour you can take out to one of the Motus - I'm sure wherever you're staying will have the name of it. Anyway, you take a boat out to a motu, swim through the coral reef, and then they take you to this unbelievably gorgeous island where you swim, snorkle, they will make the best picnic bbq lunch you've ever had, they dance. The group we went with consisted of about 10 people and it was one of the best times i've had. After your picnic, you then get back on the boat and they look for manta rays. It truly was wonderful.<BR> We also love Riatea (spelling is wrong). The people were very friendly, good prices on pearls - and also had a great trip out to another motu and swam with rays, visited a fish farm. <BR> You'll have a great time!!!

DJ

Hi Mary,<BR>You might want to spend a few days on Moorea as well. It has beautiful mountainous peaks and very lush vegetation. Also some nice lagoons for snorkeling. Check out www.tahiti-explorer.com for lots of info and advice on all of FP. Have a great time.

freewoman

Have been to two Hawaiian islands and several Caribbean islands and I must say that I think Moorea has to be the most quaint island I have visited. It is really small and just had a cozy feel to me. Some great restaurants and the people were wonderful.

ALF

Probably the trip Kim is referring to is out to Moty Piti Aau. You can hire a water taxi to take you out there from Beach Club Bora Bora. The 'Coral Garden' is a shallow reef in the pass between Tupitipiti Point and Fareone Point. Usually, there is a good current running through the pass, allowing you to get pulled along while viewing the coral and fish along the way. Our kids probably ran the Coral Garden 6 or 7 times in a couple of hours, walking back along the beach before snorkeling through the current again.<BR><BR>I'd also recommend renting a car and taking a drive inland up some of the old roads built by the U.S. during WWII. You could also take a jeep tour, but we liked doing it ourselves. Some of the roads have not been maintained since the '40s and are therefore pretty nasty. Once the roads give out, you can continue walking up into the hills for spectacular views of the motus and lagoon.<BR> <BR>You can certainly fly from Bora Bora to Papeete and/or Moorea. Moorea is a great island, as other posters have pointed out. If it were me though, I would leave the Society Islands and head out to the Tuamotu Archipelago for completely different islands. You will find that the airfares are only slightly higher to get to somewhere like Rangiroa, the second-largest coral atoll in the world. <BR><BR>This atoll is so large that you cannot see to the other side of the lagoon, producing a very eerie feeling of being in the middle of the ocean, yet there are no waves crashing onto the beach. Rangiroa has some very fancy over-water bungalows and fine hotels, but they also have some small family-run pensions that are a wonderful departure from hotel-vacationing. We have stayed at Chez Herenui and Pension Henriette, both in the tiny town of Avatoru. Nearby is one of the largest black pearl farms in the world. If you are a diver, there are spectacular sites in the lagoon and passes. You can also take some wonderful tours across the 70-kilometer diameter lagoon to places like the Blue Lagoon, where you can lunch amid reef sharks swimming just offshore.

Tiffany

You didn't say how much time that you had? I second a vote for going to an atoll (low island). It is completely different than Bora Bora (high island). I have pictures of Rangi (and BB) on our website. www.tahiti.wunschl.com I am happy to answer any questions. Just send me an e-mail through the website.