Back to Tahiti:
We said our final good-byes to Franck and Loretta and Alexandre and then headed to town to catch the ferry back to Tahiti. Now, a lot of Polynesia may be paradisiacal, but my experiences on the ferries were anything but.

First of all, no one seemed to know when the ferries operated. We would ask five people, and we would get five different responses. The ticketing offices opened only one hour before departure, and so you would just have to show up and hope that there was room.. Read More »

Maupiti:
Maupiti was another island that we were told we absolutely couldn’t miss. It was a small island – only 6 mi. around – not far from Bora Bora. As our ferry approached Maupiti, I had the same thought going through my head that I’d had when we first approached Bora: “I can’t believe how BLUE the water is!” Deep blue water gave way to turquoise bands and gleaming white strips of sand. My heart fluttered. The view literally took my breath away!

We turned right as we left th.. Read More »

Bora Bora:
Bora Bora is one of the more famous islands of Polynesia, one of the few that is frequented by Americans and others with money to spend. We were told we couldn’t miss it, and so we took another overnight ferry to that island. Although it was less than 50 mi. from Huahine, it took a full 8 hours because it dropped cargo off at two other islands first, and then had to travel around Bora until it reached the one and only opening in the coral reef.

But the long night was well worth .. Read More »

Huahine:
Inter-isle travel in Polynesia is either by ferry or by airplane. We traveled by ferry, as it was much cheaper and easier with the bikes. Our large red ferry pulled into the port of Huahine after a 9-hour trip, unloading cargo and merchandise and then our bikes. A couple of men had come into port to recuperate their merchandise, but as the ferry pulled away from the dock, so, too, did the men disappear back into the darkness of the night, leaving us all alone to wonder at this small to.. Read More »

Tahiti, capital of French Polynesia:
It was to French Polynesia in the South Pacific that we headed after leaving New Zealand. French Polynesia is an overseas territory of France that is comprised of 118 islands spanning a territory the size of the landmass of Europe. It is 12 time zones and 18,000 kms. from the home country – literally halfway around the world.

We crossed the International Date Line during our flight, and so we gained a day and lived Friday the 13th twice! It was the first .. Read More »