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

On the third morning, the weather finally improved, and I took a few photos from the room deck. The water outside our room at St. Regis didn’t have those layered shifts in color, and it was also fairly deep, about three to four meters, so this was a bit of a letdown compared with Le Taha'a. That said, we noticed that some other rooms at the hotel had much prettier water colors, so we guessed those might be higher-category room types.

We got ready and went for breakfast, taking more photos along the way.

In the previous post, I forgot to comment on breakfast. Compared with the first two hotels, this one had more breakfast options, such as tuna sashimi and eggs Benedict; the so-called "hash brown" was in the form of a potato cake. Other than that, there wasn’t much to highlight—it was perfectly average.

We hadn’t planned any outings on the water that day, so we intended to spend it relaxing at the hotel. After breakfast, we planned to take our time walking over to the hotel’s fish-feeding activity.

This area of sea inside the hotel is enclosed by a full net, so small fish and fry can swim in, but once they grow up, they can’t get out anymore and become the hotel’s fish. After a guest was accidentally injured by a venomous or aggressive fish while snorkeling, the hotel adopted this method to protect guests. Any unsuitable fish are released back into the sea.

Since the hotel then had to take responsibility for the fish, it started feeding them regularly by hand. There is a fish-feeding activity every Monday and Wednesday at 10 a.m. The staff bring out a huge tuna (the leftover portion after guests eat the sashimi) and cut it up on the spot for the fish, while explaining everything at the same time.

At the end, they also handed some fish food to the kids there. There were only two kids that day, and the other one was too scared to feed them, so my kid ended up feeding all of it alone...

The fish are very smart. On fish-feeding days, they gather near the feeding spot early in the morning, so even from the deck there’s a show to watch, not just for the tourists. The biggest one seemed to be named Tiare, and we took a lot of close-up shots of it. But the fastest was the second-largest fish: when the staff threw the fish meat far out, it whooshed through the school of fish and snatched it instantly.

After the fish feeding, we made our way over to the hotel spa, which we had heard so much about. The spa not only offers all kinds of treatments, but also has a yoga class every morning. There’s also a ladder in the spa area that lets you go straight into the water for snorkeling—just imagining it already feels so relaxing.

Back in the room, we got into the water from the overwater villa and played around for a bit. The water around where we were staying was about 3 to 4 meters deep, and the current was still pretty strong. Fortunately, we were wearing fins, or we would have been swept away by the current. My teammate optimistically said it didn’t matter—we’d just get carried by the current all the way to Four Seasons.
In the afternoon, while my travel partner and kid were sleeping in the room, I went off to my long-booked spa appointment. Compared with Le Taha'a, the spa had a little less Polynesian character and a little more of a luxury feel. The therapist who worked on me was excellent—her technique was spot on and incredibly relaxing. I was almost falling asleep.

After the spa, I felt refreshed all over. The therapist asked if I wanted to buy some products, and I happily agreed. Ah, women... I followed her to the relaxation room, where I was the only one there. Lying on the daybed, sipping tea and looking out at the beautiful view through the floor-to-ceiling windows, I felt completely spoiled.

Dinner was at Bamboo, the hotel’s only Asian restaurant. The menu was mostly Chinese and Japanese dishes.

I just couldn’t bring myself to order the $42 kung pao chicken, so in the end I ordered some rolls instead. They actually tasted pretty good, but the value was still pretty poor.

Before we knew it, it was already day four. This morning we had originally scheduled parasailing. I took motion sickness medicine and rushed to the dock, only to find that the boat still hadn’t arrived, and there was just one hotel staff member standing guard on the shore. I immediately had a bad feeling. Sure enough, the west side where parasailing was located was too windy, so the activity had to be canceled. The concierge staff were incredibly warm and helpful. Even though we hadn’t booked through them, they still proactively helped us reschedule for the next day.

So we turned around and headed to the hotel beach, planning to take advantage of the free beach activities. The St Regis float mats, pool noodles, and other options weren’t as varied as at Le Taha'a, but there were water bikes, which are especially great for little kids.

The hotel’s safe swimming area was marked off with a rope. Somehow we rode right up to the rope, and the bike got completely stuck in it... Luckily, a beach boy noticed our predicament in time and came to rescue us in a canoe. We thanked him over and over.

The sea breeze on the beach was so soothing that it was easy to fall asleep. We ended up taking another lovely nap. Not long after waking up, the weather turned again and it started raining. Everyone went to the lunch restaurant to take shelter from the rain, and we called a car to take us back to the room.

After the shower passed, we continued with the afternoon snorkeling plan at the hotel. Our kid sat in a swim ring while we pushed him along, and everyone had a great time. We swam all the way to the spa and then back. Apart from the fish-feeding area, there weren’t many fish in the hotel waters; it would probably have been much livelier if we had gone in during feeding time. On the way back, I ran into a big fish named Tiare and followed it for a while until I saw it slip away into the shadows.

At the fish-feeding activity earlier, the staff explained that many of the corals in the hotel’s waters had been planted by the hotel itself. While snorkeling, you can clearly see that the artificially planted corals are attached to a large slab of rock, which is very different from the natural ones. That kind of intentional artificial setup took away some of the fun of snorkeling.

Dinner was at the Italian restaurant Far Niente, which is actually in the same place as Bamboo, just with a different theme.

The biggest miss we had in Tahiti at this restaurant was this La Truffle Pizza. I don't know whether it was the white sauce we weren't used to or whether it was just badly made, but it was sour and astringent throughout, and such a waste of the white truffle.

The other dishes were also just so-so; nothing was really delicious.

On the morning of day five, we ordered the canoe breakfast. The cheerful beach boy—probably the one who rescued us—paddled in from far out at sea in a canoe with a server on board, and in the mist it felt almost like a heavenly cavalry arrival. Once they reached our deck, the server got off to set the table, and while we were still in our pajamas, that beach boy took us out in the canoe, letting us admire the scenery and look over the decks of the other overwater bungalows.

After breakfast, we went back to try parasailing. The shuttle boat was waiting right on time at the dock. With weather this good, it would have been such a shame to miss it.

The weather was especially nice on the way back, and I kept taking photos from the golf cart.

This was a super busy day: a parasailing flight in the morning, and a last-minute added back-to-nature snorkeling excursion in the afternoon, where we encountered wild manta rays and eagle rays and came back loaded with adventure memories.

On our last night before leaving Tahiti, we finally chose Polynesia Night. Like Indian Night, it had a set menu, so there was no need to order. The food was a little better than at the Italian restaurant, but by our standards it was still on the low end.

The show itself felt very authentic, and everyone watched it with great interest. It was similar to a Hawaiian luau, though we didn't get a chance to compare it with other performances in Tahiti. After the show, we could even go onstage for photos with the performers.

On the morning of our last day, we went on a helicopter sightseeing tour. When we got back to the hotel and were about to pack up and leave, a group of eagle rays were swimming around below our room. So I might as well pull out my gear, jump into the sea, and film my final snorkeling video in Tahiti.

Before leaving, I wanted to properly capture the hotel and our overwater bungalow one more time. Our wonderful Tahiti trip was about to come to an end.

The weather on the day we left was much better than when we arrived. Our return flight was delayed once again, so we walked to the end of the airport pier. Looking out, it was all mountains and sea, and it felt like we had reached the end of the world.

On the flight back to Tahiti, we sat on the right side and got another look at Bora Bora from above. See you next time!

The final post will focus on the activities on the three islands. Stay tuned~

Tahiti Series Posts

Originally published in 2021, this series still includes some COVID-related content. Hopefully these posts will give people who are planning a trip to Tahiti a better idea of what to expect.

About the Author

This article is reposted from the WeChat public account “Lazy 33’s Food, Drinks, and Fun,” shared by a reader in the WeChat group. The articles are all original; if you’re interested, feel free to follow the account.