This post is republished from a WeChat public account by a reader in our WeChat group, "Lazy 33's Food, Drink, and Fun." Original link. The original was published in 2021, so some pandemic-related content may still be included.

About the Activities

It’s been several months since my last post. These past few months have been a blur of work and life, and I’ve been so busy I’ve barely had time to think straight. Tomorrow I’m heading off on a vacation, and I suddenly realized that if I don’t finish writing about Tahiti now, I’ll probably forget everything later.

So in this post, I’m going to talk about activities in Tahiti.

Overall, Tahiti offers many of the same kinds of activities as other islands, especially Hawaii. After all, Tahiti is just south of Hawaii. (Of course, as the "Hermès of islands," Tahiti’s ocean views are unmatched by Hawaii, and the water is much clearer too.)

But! There is one activity that is uncommon on other islands — swimming with whales. Whale watching from a boat is not very common on the West Coast or in Hawaii, but encountering whales in the ocean and swimming with them (actually snorkeling) is a very unique experience. Scuba diving makes too much noise and can scare the whales away, so only snorkeling allows close contact with them. August through October is the best season overall; in Moorea you can start as early as July, while Bora Bora needs to wait until August.

For booking activities, you can book through your hotel, through a travel agency, or on your own. We tried all three this time. Here are the pros and cons:

1) Booking through the hotel: this is the most expensive option (about 30%–50% more than booking on your own), but it’s the most convenient way to communicate with the operator, and there’s no language barrier. For activities booked through the hotel, the front desk usually arranges pickup and drop-off at the hotel entrance or pier.

2) Booking through a travel agency: I introduced my travel agency earlier, and their prices were actually pretty good, not far off from booking directly. The downside is that it’s not very convenient to communicate with a travel agency. Mine could only be reached by email, and sometimes by the time a few emails had gone back and forth, the opportunity was already gone. Tripadvisor and similar platforms also count as travel agencies, and their prices seem a bit higher than local agencies.

3) Booking on your own: here I specifically mean booking through the official website or contacting the operator directly. The advantage is that it’s the cheapest, easy to communicate, and flexible for changes or cancellations. The downside is that some operators don’t speak English, which makes communication difficult.

If you’re traveling with a young child, I strongly recommend booking a private tour. The boat operators are usually very nice, and the captain can generally help look after the child. In every way, it’s much more flexible than a group tour.

Next, let me go through the activities we signed up for in chronological order.

Moorea -Captain Taina Glass-Bottom Boat Tour

This tour is near the northwest corner of the island. I found the contact information on the official website and called to book directly. Payment was made by credit card after the tour.

As the name suggests, this tour takes place in the boat’s glass-bottom area. The glass-bottom section is in the middle of the boat, and passengers can only lean against a high railing around it and look down; there’s no way to touch anything directly. It’s not suitable for people who get seasick easily — just looking for a bit can make you feel uncomfortable. The kid, though, was fascinated by it. Because of the glass and the distance, the view wasn’t very clear, so I thought the gimmick was a little underwhelming.

But Captain Taina was incredibly kind. When we went snorkeling and the kid didn’t want to get in the water, she stayed on the boat to help look after the child, let the kid steer the boat with her, and gave the kid snacks.

We booked a half-day private tour in the afternoon. If you book the full-day tour, Captain Taina will take you to her own private island for lunch.

Captain Taina first took us to a spot where we could see sea turtles. A turtle would occasionally swim beneath the boat, but the weather wasn’t great at the time, so we didn’t go into the water to chase the turtles.

As the weather gradually improved, we arrived at the ray & shark spot. In fact, the reason rays and sharks gather here is that the boat operators have been feeding them here for a long time. Feeding wild fish is illegal locally, but probably because enforcement is weak, this has still become an artificial snorkeling spot. The sharks here are blacktip sharks, which are very small and harmless.

In addition to the stingrays and sharks, there are also some fish schools near the surrounding coral reefs, so you can take a look around while you’re there.

After that, Captain Taina took us to see the underwater statues. The background is the historical shift in religious belief in Tahiti, which is why the statues of the old gods were thrown into the sea. There are eight in total.

Soon it was evening, and after hearing from a couple we met at the hotel that coco island has very soft sand and very shallow water, we asked Captain Taina to take us there, and she readily agreed.

What makes coco island special is that the water near the shore stays shallow the whole time, and you can sit right in it. The sea was calm and the sand was very soft. Our kid was extremely happy with that and finally got to play in the water for quite a while.

Moorea -Corallina Tours (Swim with Whales)

This tour is also near the northwest corner of the island. We booked it by finding the contact info on the official website and calling directly. Payment can be made in USD via Venmo.

This trip was recommended by the couple we met at the hotel. The owner is named Maui, and he speaks English very well. There was also a captain on the boat, who was very nice too.

We couldn’t get a private tour, so we booked a group tour. The theme of this trip was swimming with whales.

Because it was a group tour, we waited on the boat for quite a while until everyone had arrived before departing. There were about 12 people on the boat in total.

The first stop on this tour was also Ray & Shark, the same spot we visited the day before with Captain Taina. Since it was a repeat, my partner and our child stayed on the boat, while I got in the water with the other guests and had another close encounter with stingrays and sharks.

The second stop was swimming with whales. The captain and Maui searched for whales on the surface, and once they found one, they watched to see whether it was swimming or resting. If it was resting, it would be easier to approach. We first came across a mother whale, and after observing her, we found that she was resting, so everyone on the boat quickly got into the water. At that point the water was deep and bottomless, and I was too afraid to go in. My partner was timid, but to make my wish come true, he steeled himself and went in. However, as soon as he entered the water, water got into the snorkel tube, and he didn’t know how to clear it out. After struggling in the water for quite a while, Maui realized something was wrong and called him back to the boat. Once my partner came back up, he said he was lucky to have escaped with his life, and that underwater he thought he was going to die there that day. I said that was way too dramatic; there were strong swimmers all around on the boat, plus the captain to help. But because he was so shaken, my partner refused to get back in the water, and the three of us stayed on the boat. This time, the people on our boat didn’t catch up with the whale; before they could get close, she swam away. We kept searching and found another mother whale, which seemed to be the same whale resting as before. This time, the people on the boat got in quickly and managed to approach her, getting a close look at the whale underwater. After they came back, we watched the videos they had taken and were full of regret. After returning to Seattle, we started working hard on our swimming.

After seeing the whales, the others on the boat felt their trip was complete, but I was still sulking in regret. Our third stop was a drift-snorkeling site where we saw sea turtles and schools of fish. The captain was very kind and, seeing that I was a little scared, took me along the whole way on a float board.

Later I thought that if we had booked a private tour and had the captain take us into the water, we probably wouldn’t have had this regret. But regrets are what make the next trip possible~

Moorea - Gourmet Restaurant Moorea Beach Cafe

As you can see, this was booked through the tour agency. Since we didn’t rent a car, it was basically a dinner with transportation included. I do not recommend this at all. Not to mention that although the restaurant is by the sea, it’s pitch-black at night and you can’t see anything. The main problem was that the food came extremely slowly, and even when the car came to pick us up, dessert still hadn’t been served. When the time came, I went to the entrance to ask the driver, and he said it was fine and we should keep eating. But after we finished dessert and walked outside, we were stunned—the car was gone. We asked the restaurant owner, who had a terrible attitude and said he knew nothing about it. In the end, a young waiter drove us back. The food itself was okay, nothing special.

Tahaa - Scuba Diving

带小娃去大溪地 - 选岛篇 mentioned that Tahaa has far fewer activities than Moorea and Bora Bora, and that Le Tahaa’s natural coral garden is truly unforgettable, so there was no need to book a similar snorkeling tour. After thinking it over, I decided to book a scuba diving tour. The last time I went scuba diving was many years ago at Wuzhizhou Island in Hainan, and the experience was terrible, so I didn’t dare try again for many years. This time I worked up the courage in hopes of having a better experience, and for my partner it was his first time trying scuba diving.

This tour was a private tour booked directly through the hotel, and we met the captain at the hotel concierge desk. The weather was nice that day, visibility was high, and the whole experience and service were excellent. Because we had a child with us, the two of us took turns going into the water, while our kid stayed on the boat happily eating and drinking the whole time. That said, the shallow water area we visited didn’t have many unusual marine creatures to see. If you’re an experienced diver, I’d recommend checking out the diving hotspots in Tahiti mentioned in 带小娃去大溪地 - 选岛篇. For us, after this good experience, we’d also like to try deeper waters next time and maybe get certified or something.

Bora Bora - Private Snorkeling Tour

This tour had been booked with the hotel before departure. The weather that day was terrible, with driving rain and strong winds, but we still got on the boat. The captain searched everywhere for a clear patch, but the entire island was covered in clouds. In the end, we could only get in the water at a spot where you could see stingrays. The sea was cold, and it was even colder on the boat... My partner was holding our child, wrapped in a bath towel, shivering on the boat, while I got into the water in the rain to say hello to the stingrays. It was quite a different experience.

The second stop was the shark site. What made it different from Moorea was that the water here was very deep, and, in my partner's words, the color was the kind of blue you only see in documentaries. There were also many more sharks here than in Moorea, packed much more densely. This spot was also created by artificial feeding. The captain tossed in a bit of fish meat, and our child could see schools of sharks from the boat, happily shouting, "baby shark."

Seeing the sharks underwater was even more breathtaking. And the water here was very warm, so staying underwater on a rainy day felt really comfortable.

After the sharks, we went to the third stop, a coral garden.

The water in the coral garden wasn’t exactly warm either, but we seemed to have already adapted to this miserable weather, so we could get in and out of the water with ease.

We tried to catch fish for a long time but couldn’t catch any. The captain caught one and handed it to me, but it slipped away the moment I took it...

Even though the weather was bad, this tour was still worth recommending overall, and the shark portion was especially stunning.

Bora Bora - Parasailing

This tour had originally been booked through a travel agency, but on the day we reserved it, it was canceled at the last minute because the wind was too strong. The hotel's concierge helped us call and reschedule it for the next day (big thumbs-up here, since this really had nothing to do with the hotel).

The website is https://www.boraboraparasailing.com/, and you can pay by card on the boat. If you pay extra for the GoPro package, the operator's GoPro is mounted on the chest. The colors are beautiful, and the footage looks better than what we shot with our own camera.

The tour operates off the southwest side of the main island, with a shuttle speedboat picking us up and dropping us off at the hotel. The boat is fairly large and carries only the captain and the guide; when one group of guests is being handed off to the next, there is a brief overlap on board. Guests can choose between a 100m and 300m rope length, and the time in the air can also be extended. None of this needs to be decided in advance. When the captain reaches 100m, he gives a signal; if you want to go higher, you only need to respond with the prearranged hand gesture. If you want to stay up longer, you use the same method to request it. We went up to 300m, but we did not extend the time.

Our child was still too young to join the tour, so the tour guide took on the task of watching our child and was incredibly helpful. Our child was stunned watching mom and dad fly up on the deck. This company's parasailing is very gentle: both takeoff and landing happen on the boat deck, so your body doesn't get wet, and you never land in the sea. Maybe because you are flying in the air, my partner got a little motion sick. If you tend to get motion sickness, it would be a good idea to take some seasickness medicine in advance.

I think this tour and the helicopter ride are must-do-one-or-the-other options, because they are just so beautiful. In terms of value for money, this tour wins easily. I'll explain the comparison with the helicopter in that section later.

Bora Bora - H2O Snorkeling Tour

As mentioned above, many of the wildlife gatherings on these tours are the result of artificial feeding. H2O promotes a fully natural tour, going to places where marine life commonly appears and looking for them there. You can book this tour directly through Messenger, and they respond very quickly and conveniently. I decided at the last minute to squeeze in one more tour. I contacted them that morning because we were not sure whether parasailing would actually go ahead, and we only confirmed with the operator by noon. The tour then departed at 1:30 p.m. It was also a private tour. The website is https://www.boraborah2o.com/index.html

The boat we took was brand-new and nicely built, with leather seats throughout. Because it was a private excursion, after we boarded the captain asked what we wanted to see. We said we wanted to see manta rays and eagle rays (at the time, we still hadn’t discovered that there were schools of eagle rays right off the hotel room’s steps into the sea). Our first stop was manta rays. The captain took us to a place where manta rays were easy to spot, but we searched and searched and still couldn’t find any. Another boat from the same company happened to arrive as well; they got in the water first and found a manta ray, so we hurried in after them. It was a bit overcast, and the water in this area wasn’t very clear, but the manta ray was right in front of us—much clearer than in photos.

The second stop was to look for eagle rays. The captain took us near Conrad, and after searching for what felt like an eternity, we finally found a group of eagle rays. The water near Conrad was also fairly deep, so this time we pushed our kid, sitting in a swim ring, into the water with us. Because the water was deeper, what we saw was a little different from what we saw at the hotel. For the hotel eagle rays, see Taking a Little Kid to Tahiti - Hotels and Food - Bora Bora (2).

The third stop was a Coral Garden we hadn’t been to before. Again, we went in with the kid in tow. After swimming for just a short while, the kid got water in his eyes and cried nonstop, so the captain took him back onto the boat. One of the highlights of a Private Tour is having the captain and crew help with childcare...

This tour is also highly recommended because the booking process is convenient and it’s environmentally friendly too~

Bora Bora - Helicopter Tour

I wrapped up the entire Tahiti trip with a helicopter tour. At first, I booked it directly on the official website on my phone: https://tahitinuihelicopters.com/en but part of the site hadn’t been translated into English, which led to a big misunderstanding. When I booked it, I was still happily thinking it would be much cheaper than going through a travel agency. But as the scheduled time approached, I got a call from the company saying that I had booked a departure from their helipad on the main island. That was a real bolt from the blue. Luckily, it was possible to change it at the last minute to depart from the hotel’s helipad, but that meant paying several hundred dollars more for the hotel helipad usage fee. We quickly made the change, and the pilot turned around and flew to the hotel helipad.

Getting to the hotel helipad involved going up from a very hidden entrance onto a hidden little path, which gave me the feeling of a secret map location.

A quick comparison between parasailing and a helicopter:

Parasailing has a more interesting takeoff and landing, it’s fully open, the air is fresh, and you don’t have to look at the scenery through glass. It’s much cheaper than a helicopter.

A helicopter flies much higher and can go much farther; unlike parasailing, which just circles around in one area. A child can ride too. The price is several times that of parasailing.

Warning: epic content ahead! Don’t doubt it—these are all screenshots from videos shot on my lousy phone camera (iPhone 11 Pro). No filters, no PS. When I was writing this, looking back at the videos I had taken back then lifted my mood.

For a while, work and life were all tangled together, and I could hardly find time to write. Fortunately, I kept going with the determination that I had to finish it, and after typing away in fits and starts, I finally managed to squeeze this post out. After nearly half a year, the Tahiti series is finally complete.

Last year, we traveled to many places with our little kid while dealing with the pandemic, and fortunately we’ve managed to avoid infection so far (knock on wood). Our kid has also become quite the little flight pro. I hope I can find time to update other trips in the future, and I wish everyone reading this and your families safety and good health~

Tahiti Series Articles

The original posts were published in 2021 and still include some pandemic-related content. I hope this series gives anyone planning a trip to Tahiti a better idea of what to expect.

About the Author

This article is republished from the WeChat official account run by a reader in our WeChat group, Lazy 33’s Food, Drinks, and Fun. All of the articles are original and well worth reading, so if you’re interested, please follow it.