mlchad147
- Feb 28
- 6 min read

February 26, 2024–Tahiti: Gateway to French Polynesia

Tahiti. The very name conjures up images of black sand beaches, swaying palm trees, native Polynesians paddling outrigger canoes out through the surf, and enjoying a glass of wine as you languorously watch the sun set over the Pacific from the porch of your beachfront thatched roof bungalow. It was my image, anyway.

Boy, was I in for a surprise. Papeete, where we docked, is the capital of French Polynesia, and it is a real city. A bit fewer than 30,000 people live within the city limits, but that number is misleading. Urban Papeete has more than 136,000 residents, and they all seemed to be downtown while we were there. Within a couple blocks of the pier there was bumper to bumper traffic on a four lane divided highway, a Burger King, a McDonald’s (we were proudly told there are four of them on the island), wine bars, money changers, a poke bar, a high end patisserie, and long waits at traffic lights to cross the street.

Nor is all that development confined to the city. Even forty or fifty kilometers out the roads were still busy, and lined with supermarkets, hardware stores, gas stations, and all sorts of other businesses. And houses, often two or three deep on both sides of the road, were not uncommon. Clearly this is not the place to go to get away from it all.

However, that is not to say that you can’t find some of what you imagined here. You just have to work a good deal harder to find it. To that end Michele and I booked an excursion called Tahiti Natural Treasures, and I have to say it didn’t disappoint.

Our first stop, though, was more historical than natural, but as a history buff I quite enjoyed it. The Venus Point Lighthouse stands silent guard at the far northern tip of the island, and in 1867 it became the first lighthouse constructed in the South Pacific. A plaque on the side states that the building was designed by the father of Robert Louis Stevenson, the author of Treasure Island. And that is not all the history associated with this spot. Strolling the grounds I came upon a large monument to the HMS Bounty, fourteen of whose mutineers settled in Tahiti before subsequently being captured and returned to England to face justice. Quite a bit of history on this small spit of land.

There is also a black sand beach here, and while we were there a backhoe/bucket loader was cleaning up driftwood and other debris that had washed ashore during a recent storm. If you’ve never seen a black sand beach, they really are different, but more on that in a bit.

Stop number two also wasn’t particularly focused on nature, though it made for a pleasant interlude. The Restaurant/Bar du Musee Gauguin is a comfortable, unpretentious establishment that, as far as I can tell, has no connection to Paul Gauguin. What it does have is a lovely dock extending out into the Pacific and providing excellent views of Tahiti-Iti, the small peninsula that sticks out from Tahiti-Nui, the main part of the island. The water was that magical color of the tourist brochures, and we took several photos there.

Then it was on to our first true nature destination of the day, Spring Gardens of Vaihapi. If you love tropical plants and flowers, this is the place for you, though you might want to consider visiting with a guide who can identify the beautiful flora. To experience the gardens you follow a gently winding gravel path, stopping regularly to admire the blooming flora. There is a small terraced stream running through the property, and it was this that provided the surprise of the day. Our guide tossed some small pieces of fruit into one of the terraced pools, which brought out from hiding…eels, several of them. They went for the food much like sunfish go for bread crumbs tossed into a farm pond. A little creepy, but interesting nonetheless.

From the gardens we traveled to one of Tahiti’s signature black sand beaches, Papara Surf Beach. This is a very pretty beach, with a fresh water stream running into it. A few swimmers were taking advantage of the fresh water to rinse off after leaving the ocean. The waves today were modest, but there were still several surfers out there enjoying the sun and surf. We watched them for a while, and I watched with interest as a few swimmers left the water and discovered that the sand was really hot. They couldn’t get under the shade of a tree fast enough, and it reminded me that dark colors, especially black, retain heat more than light colors. That’s why we wear white in the summer when it’s really hot out. Apparently the same applies to black sand beaches. It’s a very pretty beach, though, and was surprisingly uncrowded.

This completed our excursion, so it was back to the ship for a late lunch before walking back off the pier and plunging into the maelstrom that is downtown Papeete. I’ve described much of what we saw above, and I have photos to share, so I won’t go into detail other than to say that Papeete looks and feels like what it is, a crowded, busy city.

A final thought on Tahiti. If your thing is patisseries, wine bars, shopping and outdoor cafes, and everything else that comes with a city, you might like this island. However, most people who fly halfway across the planet to reach French Polynesia are looking for something different. This brings me back to my title for this post—Tahiti: Gateway to French Polynesia. Papeete is served by an international airport, and several major airlines schedule regular flights from the U.S. My humble advice would be to take advantage of that to get to Papeete, then hop a local flight, or ferry in the case of Mo’orea, to continue on to one of the smaller resort islands, like Bora Bora, Taha’a, or the one I visited, Mo’orea. The experience will be much more relaxed and authentic.

After a wonderful show by some local Polynesian dancers in the ship’s main theater we set sail promptly at 8:00 pm, destination: Auckland, New Zealand. Can’t wait. Between now and then we’ll have a sea crossing of the International Dateline, which will undoubtedly provoke some frivolity onboard, as well as play havoc with our calendars. Stay tuned, and I’ll keep you up to date on all of it.

The Venus Point Lighthouse, designed by Robert Louis Stevenson’s father.

Monument to the HMS Bounty mutineers.

Black sand beach at Venus Point. They were in the process of cleaning up this storm debris while we were there.

This part of the beach was mostly cleaned when we got there. Very picturesque.

Got some refreshments at the Bar/Restaurant du Musee Paul Gauguin. Nothing special about the restaurant, but the location…

The dock at the restaurant provided some spectacular views. That’s Tahiti-Iti, the smaller portion of the figure eight that makes up the island.

I believe I did mention refreshments, and I’m never one to pass up an opportunity to sample the local suds.

On our way to our next stop we passed this coconut farm. Notice the aluminum bands on all the trees. They’re needed to keep the black rats from climbing the trees and eating the coconuts. Apparently black rats are quite a problem on Tahiti.

Spring Gardens of Vaihapi is a must-see if you’re in Tahiti.

I loved this waterfall on the property.

The stream running down from the waterfall is home to…eels.

More beautiful scenery.

The flowers are the main attraction at the Gardens. This one is a Bird of Paradise, and is the only one I can identify. The following flower photos have no captions, because I haven’t a clue what they are.