French Polynesia (Tahiti, Bora Bora, etc.) Honeymoons!!!!!!

Did you guys buy a waterproof camera or buy one of those disposable waterproof cameras?

Thanks so much for the pool float tip! Where do you buy those things anyways?

My TA just made a reservation for me at Hotel Bora Bora. We'll pay for dinner and transportation directly when we get there.

I'm the waitlist for Villa Mahana. I was contemplating not even going here because I was unimpressed with the pictures. Now that we can't eat there, I really want to go!!!

I was thinking of just winging it in Moorea. I know it's pretty easy to get around. Is it safe to assume that it's more casual in Moorea?

We have a small digital with an underwater housing on it. My fiance is a shutter bug.
We just bought blow up rafts at the drug store cheap! We have a reservation at Villa Mahana. We saw our TA's pics of the place and it looks pretty small and unimpressive but she got us the upstairs table and have I heard that the food is incredible (and expensive!)

We are going to wing it in Moorea too. We heard Hono Iti (sp?) is a great place for dinner.

Anyone doing any excursions? We thought about the motu picnic but it is so so so expensive we changed our minds. We want to do the shark and ray feeding though. Did you all book it in advance? My TA is telling me it's best to just book it when we get there because the tour companies and hotels mark it up? thoughts?

best, evon

I am going to do waterfal abseiling (repelling down a waterfall) and go on the lava tub trek in Tahiti. One of my co-workers told me about waterfall abseiling in Costa Rica and I have been wanting to do it every since. I read about the excursion in one of the travel books on Tahiti.

I think I'd be freaked out with sting rays so I don't want to swim with them.

We will be renting scooters to ride around Moorea and jet skis to explore Bora Bora.

We are undecided about the motu picnic in Bora Bora. I'm not sure exactly what we are getting for an extremely expensive price. We'll decide once we get there.

I'm not booking anything in advance.

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Posted by Bridex100

I am going to do waterfal abseiling (repelling down a waterfall) and go on the lava tub trek in Tahiti. One of my co-workers told me about waterfall abseiling in Costa Rica and I have been wanting to do it every since. I read about the excursion in one of the travel books on Tahiti.

I think I'd be freaked out with sting rays so I don't want to swim with them.

We will be renting scooters to ride around Moorea and jet skis to explore Bora Bora.

We are undecided about the motu picnic in Bora Bora. I'm not sure exactly what we are getting for an extremely expensive price. We'll decide once we get there.

I'm not booking anything in advance.

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what is the lava tub trek?? and can you post info regarding the relling down the waterfall?? sounds like fun!

tia!

Thanks so much Bridex100! Wow that thing it Tahiti sounds like a blast! Hey, there is a YouTube video online of a helicopter ride through the interior of the big island of Tahiti. Have you seen it? Here is the web address:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cggXuy1cxVY
just paste the link into your browser, check it out and turn up the music! It's quite a ride!

That motu picnic we booked includes a lobster picnic in the water. We had booked it but cancelled because of the expense. I am excited to see the rays and feed them!

I can't wait to hear all about your Tahiti excursion!

best, evon

bridex
i fm'd my TA and she said she had hotel bora bora listed as 100 pp
but that she will look into it

if she cant bring it down to 85, ill just book it directly with the hotel


i saw you asked about water camera

we will be buying the same one Camacho had

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Posted by Jess5790

bridex
i fm'd my TA and she said she had hotel bora bora listed as 100 pp
but that she will look into it

if she cant bring it down to 85, ill just book it directly with the hotel


i saw you asked about water camera

we will be buying the same one Camacho had

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Did you find any good deals on the camera? I've been looking around and was about to purchase one but FH wants to wait a little so the price can drop a little more since electronic prices drop very often!

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Posted by glass012

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Posted by Jess5790

bridex
i fm'd my TA and she said she had hotel bora bora listed as 100 pp
but that she will look into it

if she cant bring it down to 85, ill just book it directly with the hotel


i saw you asked about water camera

we will be buying the same one Camacho had

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Did you find any good deals on the camera? I've been looking around and was about to purchase one but FH wants to wait a little so the price can drop a little more since electronic prices drop very often!

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which camera is the same one camacho had?

we were going to buy a case for our current digital camera but opted not to. it's like $250 for just the case! I think we are just going to buy one of those disposable water cameras and take the land shots with our normal camera. we just bought that camera and dont think we need to buy another one.

a lava tube trek is a hike through old volcano lava tubes. i think we will be doing waterfall abseilling and this hike on the same day.

we are going to be active in tahiti since the water isn't supposed to be the worst there anyways. we are going to do a lot of water sports in moorea and in bora bora, i'm going to relax and go to the spa.

Camacho had the olympus 720
http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1225


and no glass012, i havent seen it on sale. But the last time i was actively looking for it was around christmas time

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Posted by CaMacho

IMO... must bring items:

*water shoes
*snorkel gear (for you and DH)
*pool floats (we brought 2) -- so nice floating out in the lagoon!!!
*bug spray (one can)
*sunscreen (used 1/2 a bottle but we tan easily)
*digital camera & lots of pic cards (we brought 2 xd cards that held about 500 pics total and had to buy another one while we were there b/c we still had 3 days left) -- we took over 650 pics and tons of video!
*travel games (we brought cards, uno, scrabble, etc...) and books (highly recommend Something Borrowed and also Something Blue, I read both within a couple days).


HTH!!!!!

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Thanks!!!! I would have never thought of the games but thats a great idea!!!

p.s.- I love those books!

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Posted by CaMacho

IMO... must bring items:

*water shoes
*snorkel gear (for you and DH)
*pool floats (we brought 2) -- so nice floating out in the lagoon!!!
*bug spray (one can)
*sunscreen (used 1/2 a bottle but we tan easily)
*digital camera & lots of pic cards (we brought 2 xd cards that held about 500 pics total and had to buy another one while we were there b/c we still had 3 days left) -- we took over 650 pics and tons of video!
*travel games (we brought cards, uno, scrabble, etc...) and books (highly recommend Something Borrowed and also Something Blue, I read both within a couple days).


HTH!!!!!

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Don't pack too many books. We packed a few each and didn't touch them....you're on your honeymoon last thing you'll want to do is read

Jess I am still amazed you only used 1/2 bottle of sunscreen...even though you tan easily. The sun was SO strong there...I can't imagine. I think we used 1/2 bottle a day!!! Although you weren't there in their summer...maybe sun was stronger when I was there in March as opposed to June.

Games is a good idea - we packed those too...didn't use but it's a good idea to have.

We took 1800 pics and videos....we had a crazy amt of memory cards. If you are camera freaks like me and DH (we had 3 digital cameras with us)...be sure to pack extra memory cards...great ideas Jess!!!

We only needed the bug spray on Tahaa...didn't see or feel any on Moorea or Bora Bora!

And agree with Jess - pool floats were very nice to have. We brought 2 so we could leave them behind at each hotel...the blow up ones you can get at Walgreens for $2 each!

I'm happy to announce 3 days before our wedding we booked our trip to moorea and bora bora add me to the list 4/23/07-5-6-07
any thoughts or tips on what to or where to would be very much appreciated

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Posted by KandE917

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Posted by CaMacho

IMO... must bring items:

*water shoes
*snorkel gear (for you and DH)
*pool floats (we brought 2) -- so nice floating out in the lagoon!!!
*bug spray (one can)
*sunscreen (used 1/2 a bottle but we tan easily)
*digital camera & lots of pic cards (we brought 2 xd cards that held about 500 pics total and had to buy another one while we were there b/c we still had 3 days left) -- we took over 650 pics and tons of video!
*travel games (we brought cards, uno, scrabble, etc...) and books (highly recommend Something Borrowed and also Something Blue, I read both within a couple days).


HTH!!!!!

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Don't pack too many books. We packed a few each and didn't touch them....you're on your honeymoon last thing you'll want to do is read

Jess I am still amazed you only used 1/2 bottle of sunscreen...even though you tan easily. The sun was SO strong there...I can't imagine. I think we used 1/2 bottle a day!!! Although you weren't there in their summer...maybe sun was stronger when I was there in March as opposed to June.

Games is a good idea - we packed those too...didn't use but it's a good idea to have.

We took 1800 pics and videos....we had a crazy amt of memory cards. If you are camera freaks like me and DH (we had 3 digital cameras with us)...be sure to pack extra memory cards...great ideas Jess!!!

We only needed the bug spray on Tahaa...didn't see or feel any on Moorea or Bora Bora!

And agree with Jess - pool floats were very nice to have. We brought 2 so we could leave them behind at each hotel...the blow up ones you can get at Walgreens for $2 each!

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WOW~! 1800 pictures??!!! How many memory cards should i buy????
I'm not a photo freak but i'm GOING to be when i get there! Pictures are the only things that you can have as a reminder so i want to make lots of memories! Plus...everyone around me is telling us to take lots and lots of pictures when we get there.

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Posted by glass012
WOW~! 1800 pictures??!!! How many memory cards should i buy????
I'm not a photo freak but i'm GOING to be when i get there! Pictures are the only things that you can have as a reminder so i want to make lots of memories! Plus...everyone around me is telling us to take lots and lots of pictures when we get there.

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You can't help but take a ton of pictures b/c it is just so beautiful there...you'll be snapping away like crazy!
Although DH and I both dabble a bit in photography...we have 2 point and shoot digital cameras just to play around with and 1 really good digital like the photog's at your wedding use! So maybe we tend to take a little more than your average joe. Also we were there a full 2 weeks...so if you're there 10 days you def. won't take that many...ya know?
I would have at least enough memory to take 1000 pics...it's so easy to just keep snapping and take that many!

Seriously 1800 is A LOT of pictures.

I wish FH and I were more into photography. We've been to a lot of great places but have very little pictures. We probably take about 20 pictures on each trip we go on.

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Posted by Bridex100

Did you guys buy a waterproof camera or buy one of those disposable waterproof cameras?

Thanks so much for the pool float tip! Where do you buy those things anyways?

My TA just made a reservation for me at Hotel Bora Bora. We'll pay for dinner and transportation directly when we get there.

I'm the waitlist for Villa Mahana. I was contemplating not even going here because I was unimpressed with the pictures. Now that we can't eat there, I really want to go!!!

I was thinking of just winging it in Moorea. I know it's pretty easy to get around. Is it safe to assume that it's more casual in Moorea?

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Hi - we didn't feel the need to buy a digital that can go underwater or an uderwater housing for our camera(s). The disposable ones work just fine...we had 3 and used them all up! Shots came out great!

We got our pool floats at Walgreens for $1.99. Also check Costco or BJs if you are a member. Any drug store should have them once they put their spring/summer stuff out. Or check amazon. But know there are $2 ones out there so don't pay a fortune for them. Not one hotel we stayed at had these for guests so we were so glad we packed them!

Trust me Villa Mahana was probably THE most gorgeous beautiful restaurant we ate at on our entire trip! You girls keep saying you're unimpressed by the photos...first off the food is amazing so who cares what the place looks like? But again - I thought it was the most lovely atmosphere...you feel like you are eating in a quaint little French garden or something. I wish I had better pics - I know I already posted the ones of our top table...I wish I took some of the lower level. It's beautiful - not sure what pics you're seeing that are unimpressing you but trust me - it's a beautiful little place. You won't be sorry if you go!

Moorea is easy to get around. Where are you staying there? Be sure to go out to eat - the restaurants at the hotels are not that good. Moorea Pearl food was unedible in my opinion! Breakfast was fine but lunch and dinner left a lot to be desired. You'll get that feeling if you read a lot of the trip advisor reviews - most people trash the food at Moorea Pearl. It's a great hotel - they just need to get a new chef I think!
There are so many great restaurants to eat out at there and they all come and pick you up for free on Moorea. Our faves were Le Mahagony and Te Hono Iti - Alfredo's was ok too but was our least fave of the 3. Le Cocotier I heard was great - people we met at the hotel went 2 nights in a row they loved it so much.
For lunch we ate at the Blue Pineapple one day which is at the Club Bali High hotel...not a great hotel but Blue Pineapple has great food and it's super cheap. We rented bikes one day and stopped there...heard their breakfast is pretty amazing too.

Hope all this helps - keep the questions coming. The people who went before me were so helpful and I asked a million annoying questions (Angnick and CaMacho were my travel books!)...so now I'm happy to help too!

I agree that you should not take too many books.

I ALWAYS buy several books/magazines and it ends up being dead weight on the trips I go on. I always think that I should not have brought them.

Then I forget and buy new books for the next trip. haha

I'd say take 1 book and a few magazines. That's all you need.

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Posted by Jess5790

Camacho had the olympus 720
http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1225


and no glass012, i havent seen it on sale. But the last time i was actively looking for it was around christmas time

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i bought this camera!! i love it! we always trip our friends when we dunk it in a glass of water!


i think fi bought it for $350

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Posted by evonm

I found the cutest water shoes! Lands End catalog, in lots of colors! Here's the link:
http://www.landsend.com/pp/SliponWaterShoes-74284_159115_253.html?sid=0718154426648122050&CM_MERCH=SRCH

I hope it works, just cut and paste the link!

best,
evon

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I love these and just ordered them They are a little pricier than some others but I think they are stylish and can be worn on excursions and stuff like sneakers!! Thanks for the info