Raiatea

In the previous footprint I asked what more could you ask for beyond what Bora Bora offers? Well, you could ask for Raiatea, which I found even more perfect than Bora Bora. A beautiful setting, a quite little town complete with a dock for our ship, and a huge lagoon shared with Taha’a island make this a truly idyllic South Sea island.

We cruised into the lagoon through a narrow strait that looked barely wide enough to accommodate us. We were docked fairly early, but our excursion was not until the afternoon. So the boys got some free time while Liz and I took a short walk. It was a Sunday, so many of the businesses were closed. I was hunting for some Advil, but the market did not have any and the pharmacy was closed, so that would have to wait for Papeete. The patisserie was also closed, sadly, as we had hoped to bring some goodies back on board for later. C’est la vie.

Our excursion was a “Motu island picnic” and visit to a vanilla farm, plus some snorkeling. The description of the tour did not wind up matching exactly what we got. We’d hoped that the picnic and beach would be together so we could eat quickly and maximize beach and snorkel time. But there was no beach at the picnic area. Snorkeling happened from the boat, and it was just so-so. The area was mostly sandy with a few coral heads and there was a fairly strong wind and current, meaning you had to swim pretty hard to get to where you wanted to go. We did see a good-sized Moray Eel, which was cool.

The vanilla farm piece was fine; the best part being the setting and the lovely walk to and from. And it smelled good. But we all felt that a beach break and some better snorkeling would have been a better bet.

Even with the so-so excursion I loved Raiatea and could see myself spending some quality time on the island.Read more