Your Favourite Excursions

[lovetotravel68]

Hi all,

 

I am doing the 10 night cruise next year and starting to look at excursions. The islands we are visiting are Huahine, Bora Bora (2 days), Rangiroa, Fakarava, Taha'a and Moorea (2 days).

 

We are planning to spend the whole day at Motu Mahana in Taha'a but would love advice on what to see/do on the other islands.

 

We are not scuba divers but I have been considering getting PADI certified before our cruise (Oct 2013) to take advantage of this offering.

 

I would really appreciate any suggestions! :)

[Tikiintahiti]

Huahine:

Marc's lagoon tour - http://www.huahine-nautique.com/

 

Bora Bora:

Christophe's laggon tour - http://www.reefdiscovery.pf/us/index.html

Patrick's 3/4 day lagoon tour - http://www.maohinui.net/

 

Rangiora - Blue lagoon tour

 

Fakarava - Blue lagoon tour

 

Moorea:

Inner Island Safari Tours - intersaf@mail.pf

Albert's quad tour- http://www.albert-transport.net/p3_gb.asp

[Emdee]

I think a mix of land and sea is what is called for.

 

Do not miss the Bora Bora safari as the views from the top are fabulous. Take half a day to visit the Bora Bora Motu.

 

I would definitely also do Mark Eddowes Trek of the ancients ( cannot remmeber exact name) as its a cultural tour .

 

You will be only half a day in Rangiroa so the blue lagoon is unreachable so suggest you do a snorkel tour if you like that.

[Tikiintahiti]

Nice catch Emdee, almost forgot we were on the OP when we went to the Blue Lagoon in Rangiroa.

[NCCruzQueen]

Emdee, Thanks so much for starting this thread. Since I am going on the PG in August on the 11 night Cook Islands & Society Islands cruise, I am anxious to find some exciting, fun excursions.

 

Are any of the ship's excursions better to book than from local vendors?

 

Looking forward to hearing from more PG cruisers about their favorite excursions.

[Emdee]

NCCruz Queen,

You HAVE to do the Lagoon excursion in Aitutaki - more than spectacular. I dont snorkel but didnt need to as the fish just swam about my feet - one of them was a good size - close to a foot and a half long with a large ugly face.

 

We did the Flight in Raro but it was just ok. Raro pearls are cheaper but dont know the authenticity.

 

You have the whole day in Fakarava to do my favourite - Ato's Blue Lagoon excursion.

 

Other must dos are above.

 

PS didnt start the thread but happy to contribute.

[NCCruzQueen]

PS didnt start the thread but happy to contribute.

 

I did notice that after I posted, Emdee. You and Tikiintahiti are always a wealth of information on this board. Thanks to you, both!!

 

My niece, who was on the PG a year ago November on her honeymoon, now wants some Tahitian pearls. I'll look in past threads for more info on them.

 

Thanks to lovetotravel68 for this thread.

[K2DangerGirl]

We were on the same itinerary and did a mix of ship and private excursions. We did Christophe's lagoon tour on Bora Bora and Ato's Blue Lagoon tour on Fakarava as private excursions. The Blue Lagoon tour was a highlight of the trip--so beautiful. Our camera battery was dying and I'm very sorry we don't have more pictures of the picnic lunch they prepared and served us! These were both arranged through the CC roll call to make sure enough people were going on the tour.

 

We did a drift snorkel in Rangiroa and the Mark Eddowes "Trail of the Ancients" tour in Moorea, both arranged through the ship. The drift snorkel was amazing--you have no idea how fast you are going until you put your face in the water and see the bottom speeding by! It is, however, totally dependent on the tide schedule. If the water isn't rushing INTO the lagoon it just doesn't work. We really enjoyed Mark Eddowes tour to learn more about the history of the Polynesian people and his enthusiasm is contagious.

[Tikiintahiti]

This is one of my favorites.

 

On Aitutaki you will want to pre-book TeKing's lagoon tour.

 

On Rarotonga I would rent a car (cheap) and head over to "Fruits of Rarotonga". There is a wonderful beach with a place to eat, nice beach & some of the best snorkeling out towards the reef.

 

 

[lovetotravel68]

Thank you so much for all your replies so far they are most helpful.

 

Has anyone done the helicopter tour on Bora Bora? We were thinking of doing the 30min one that includes tupai (the heart shaped island). It is very pricey but we are on our honeymoon so willing to splurge a bit.

 

Can anyone recommend this tour (or not?) :)

 

We were either going to do that or the safari which goes to the lookout...

[Emdee]

loveto travel, My DD has done the Helicopter tour. She loved it and has told me to do it some time and I will.

 

If you want to see her pics from the helicopter let me know and I can give you my website address. I dont want to spoil your anticipation. The heli tour is very comprehensive. I thought hers was 45 minutes but am not sure she didnt mention Tupai only that she saw the other side of the island where we seldom go.

 

The 4x4 views are pretty good too but then its one side of the island only.

 

The 4x4 can also be done in Moorea.I think its the only tour that takes you atop Magic mountain.

 

Enjoy.

[lovetotravel68]

Hi Emdee,

 

If you could let me know your website address I would love to see the photos! Thank you so much for offering.

 

If you didn't want to post your website address on the board my email is chantel.melissa at gmail dot com

 

Thanks again and Im glad your daughter enjoyed it! It's always good getting a recommendation before forking out the big bucks for these activities :)

[lovetotravel68]

Does anyone know if Ato's blue lagoon tour in Fakarava goes to the same place as the ship excursion? It is called half a day at Teahatea beach.

 

:confused:

[Familygoboston]

Lovetotravel-

I will second doing the excursions associated with the on board experts in Moorea...

Mark Eddows -Trail of the Ancients

Dr Poole - Dolphin and Whale Watching Expedition.

Don't miss their on board talks we found them both excellent!

 

Unfortunately, we missed both tours due to weather,:( but the speakers were so good, I was very sorry we had to miss the excursions. Also, book them early, they definitely filled and we were told that if they had to reduce the number of folks (due to weather), they would go by first booked.

Bora Bora...

We did Patricks tour in Bora Bora one one day and it was excellent; but very similar to the Lagoon Excursion he offers directly through the ship, if you want to book through the ship. On the other day we did the Bora Bora 4x4 booked with PG.

 

I would echo the idea that if you are new to this area, that I would do a mix of in water and land tours, so that you can get a feel for the culture and scenery of the islands on land and wildlife and scenery in the water.

 

Good luck! Hope you get your diving done so you will have an opportunity to dive in FP...based on the snorkeling; it's pretty amazing.

[clairesmom]

Ato's tour does not take you to the same island. Ato's is amazing. Seriously.

 

DSC_0245 by bundykim, on Flickr

 

We loved Patrick's tour in Bora Bora, but we had Patrick himself. He truly made the trip worth it.

 

I loved the drift snorkel in Rangiroa as well. I felt that the ship's staff was overly cautious when describing this, and almost talked me out of it. It was awesome, and I'm so glad we did it. I would recommend booking before you leave through PG though. I think it was full before we sailed. They did open it up and added people on the day of since the weather was ideal, but there is no guarantee.

[Trend]

Bora Bora motu depends on the time of year as we were just there and the heat and lack of facilities made it very uncomfortable. Oh well just had to shop and buy some pearls instead at OPEC such a tuff time!

We did Christophe's tour with Simon in Bora Bora in the morning and had planned on the motu in the afternoon.

In Aitutakai we treated ourselves to a special day out with Black Pearl charter just the two of us and Mike and Merle. WOW is all I can say boy did we get our monies worth all day out fresh cooked lunch at his place on a private spot on one foot island enough snorkeling that we were exhausted stops a deserted sand bar/islands for the two of us. You can't do it any better.

On Moorea we took a day pass at the Hilton as we had been on the island before.

[lovetotravel68]

Ok you've sold me - Im going to book with Ato for Fakarava - it truly looks like paradise!

 

Also, we had been planning on doing the drift snorkel in Rangiroa but were seriously considering the regular snorkelling instead as the description does make it sound 'dangerous.' My fiance was having doubts... I am not an amazing swimmer (I can swim, just not really well) so was wondering about this!

 

Family Gobston thanks for your tips on the expert excursions - we will definately look into that. I would love to do the dolpin watching! Fingers crossed it will be a nice day and go ahead :)

[clairesmom]

I wouldn't consider myself or my husband "strong swimmers". We definitely have no problems, but the drift snorkel is pretty easy. You just let the strong current take you. OUr guide was around us, and he had a round buoy to hold onto if you needed it. We had a women in her late forties/early fifties who couldn't swim and had a flotation device from the ship. She loved it. The hardest part is getting in and out of the ship (we did three drift snorkels).

[kathy16]

Anyone have special excursions in Marquesas- we are on May 18, 2013 cruise?

Thanks,

kathy

[dexddd]

Emdee, Thanks so much for starting this thread. Since I am going on the PG in August on the 11 night Cook Islands & Society Islands cruise, I am anxious to find some exciting, fun excursions.

 

Are any of the ship's excursions better to book than from local vendors?

 

Looking forward to hearing from more PG cruisers about their favorite excursions.

 

Are you going Aug. 17 2013? That is when we are going and haven't seen anyone else going so far.

[twin123185]

In the Marquesas search on google for a guy named Claude. We spent a day through him with a great driver and for $100 pp it was an amazing day. Toured the island and had an amazing lunch at Chez Yvonne. There was just my family of 4. it was awesome.

i have since lost his email address.

[Lollypupon]

My husband and Irquesas sailed Dec. 1-15 to Tuamotos, Marquesas and Society Islands. Here is what we did on the islands you will be going to.

 

FAKARAVA: We didn't do an excursion here--just walked around a little and snorkeled on our own. At the end of the dock facing the island walk to your right down the road about 15 minutes and there are a number of small sandy beaches right on the road. There are some trees for shade and you can put your snorkeling gear, towels etc. there safely. Snorkeling was not that great. We didn't see many fish--did see some stingrays. It was good for getting used to the snorkeling gear as we had not done it in 8 years and for swimming. One of the PG excursions or an independent one may have been better.

 

HUAHINE: We didn't take an excursion here either but rented a car with help from the excursion desk and drove around on our own. It was about $100 for all day for a compact car with AC. Ours was a stick shift and I don't know if automatics were available or not. The roads are flat and we felt perfectly safe at all times. We drove around H.Nui and were able to see the marae, old fish traps and the blue-eyed eels. There was not much place to eat lunch except in the town of Fare and we were there shortly after breakfast so we made the island circle and went back to the ship for lunch. Then we went back out and drove for a while on H.Iti. This was a fun way to see the island.

 

BORABORA: Here we booked a tour with Christophe (www.reefdiscovery.fp) about 2 months before the cruise. This was a highlight of our trip! There were 8 of us on his high speed boat. Christophe is fun and personable. He loves his island and the sea creatures and his enthusiasm is infectious. He knew just exactly when and where to go to see manta rays. He went right to the den a a huge moray eel and lured it out by feeding it fish! We went to one area so thick with colorful, beautiful fish that it was like being in an aquarium. Then at the last stop--the coral garden-- I guess people were getting tired because all that was left in the water was a young man and me(64 yr old woman). Christophe actually took me by the hand and led me around for about 15 minutes to point out the most interesting corals. Awesome!!! He is also very helpful to those of us who are not experienced snorkelers or strong swimmers.

 

TAHA'A: We did the "Exploration of Taha'a" excursion through PG. This was a 4X4 truck ride over very bumpy, rutted, muddy unpaved road but fun. Our driver/guide Fredo gave us a lot of information about local plants and fruits. We went to the top of a mountain to a look-out point to stop and take pictures. There were several men playing music and singing and some fresh sliced fruits and shredded coconut were served. We then went to a small family vanilla farm and to a small pearl farm. At both places we had a short talk on the process and an opportunity to buy. This was a good tour and recommended. Then we went to the motu for barbecue lunch, barely had time to eat and it started to rain so all went back to the ship.

 

MOOREA: We did the PG excursion "Lagoon Discovery with snorkeling". It was everything that Christophe's snorkeling on Bora bora was not, The operator of the boat was un-interested, bored and un-informative. We didn't see many fish but did get into the water while they fed stingrays and that was fun. I don't recommend this excursion. We did not go on Mark Eddows excursion"Trail of the Ancients" because we had been to the Marquesas and done 3 tours with him already but I would highly recommend you do this. Mark is a wealth of information on Fr. Polynesia history, culture and archaeology. He has a huge enthusiasm for the island and his work.

 

***Hope this was helpful.

[PINEY10]

Does anyone know how to contact Ato? Email address?

[Emdee]

fakaravaexplorer@hotmail.com is the email I have used for Ato.

[PINEY10]

Thanks so much