This article is reprinted from a WeChat official account shared 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.

As mentioned in Taking a Little Kid to Tahiti - Island Selection, Taha'a was our favorite stop on this trip, so here's a closer look.

Choosing a hotel in Taha'a was a no-brainer: we went straight with Le Taha'a.

When we came out of Raiatea Airport, Le Taha'a staff were already waiting at the entrance. Right outside was the dock area, and Le Taha'a's shuttle boat was waiting nearby. Raiatea Airport looked a little rundown, and the water was somewhat murky; it was hard to imagine that just 45 minutes by boat would bring us to a resort island like a paradise.

Le Taha'a is not on Taha'a's main island, but on a motu. The entire motu has only this one hotel, and the shuttle boat was marked "Private Island." As the boat approached the hotel, you could already see the line where two shades of blue met.

As soon as we got off the boat, there was a welcome dock in a very Polynesian style, with several staff members greeting us on the dock. One older man, covered in tattoos, with a somewhat eerie glass bottle plugged into the hole in his earlobe, played the ukulele and sang local songs as he led us from the dock to the lobby.

The lobby was just as stunning - a ship-shaped, high-ceilinged space decorated entirely in Polynesian style, with a boat display at the entrance that was especially distinctive. Inside the lobby were bamboo stairs leading to the second floor, lush greenery, and a gently flowing fountain. The staff had us sit on the sofa, and the check-in staff even brought our check-in documents over without asking our names. Of course, there were also welcome drinks and lei.

We arrived at lunchtime, and the room was not ready yet. After check-in, the staff took us to the lunch restaurant, and along the way we toured the hotel's breakfast-and-dinner restaurant, Beach House, and the beach pool.

Everything at Beach House was free to use, including full-face snorkel masks, and the selection was very complete. The pool noodles we like were only available at this hotel throughout Tahiti. Gorgeous swim rings and floats hung between two large trees, swaying in the wind, and were a scenic sight in themselves (unfortunately, we forgot to take a photo). When guests needed them, the beach attendant would untie the rope and take them down, with sizes covering both adults and children.

The lunch restaurant was right next to the pool and built on the beach, with sand as the floor, making it perfect for little kids - while adults relaxed and enjoyed the food, children could play in the sand beside them.

The lunch special that day was tuna sashimi: lightly marinated tuna stacked into a tower, with seaweed underneath and red and yellow roe as garnish. The house dipping sauce had more layers of flavor than wasabi soy sauce, and it was very satisfying with rice. By contrast, the children's meal focused more on presentation; it was really just ordinary pasta, but the kid loved it.

After lunch, we went straight to the concierge desk to book the next day's activities. Compared with Moorea and BofA, Taha'a had far fewer activity options, so staying for a few more days might get a bit boring.

After we had booked our plans, the room was ready, and the front desk lady took us to see it.

This was our first time staying in an overwater bungalow, and we were blown away the moment we walked in. Each bungalow has its own private courtyard, and by the door there is a bamboo cylinder that can be turned to different patterns to indicate "cleaned," "please clean," or "privacy" - a very interesting touch.

Once you go through the courtyard gate, you reach the bungalow's deck, with beach chairs and a shaded dining table and chairs.

The hotel had thoughtfully installed a child-proof net for us; otherwise it would definitely be a bit dangerous for a little kid to stay in a water villa. Open the net door and you can walk straight down into the sea. The water around our villa was not deep, roughly up to my chest (I'm 171 cm tall).

The door to the villa is a sliding door. The villa isn't very large, but it has Polynesian touches everywhere and feels very refined.

There are glass-bottom sections at the foot of the bed and by the bathtub, so you can see the seawater below. Open the hatch and you can feed the fish. The front desk staff told us we could bring back some banana bread or similar items from breakfast, and the fish love it. At night, the lights under the water villa come on, and the fish are easily attracted over.

The hotel's crib is wooden and comes with a canopy mosquito net. They also decorated it carefully and gave our child a little Baby Shark plush toy, which they loved and carried all the way home.

check-incheck-in

We didn't linger in the room and quickly headed to the coral garden I had been most looking forward to. As mentioned earlier, Taha'a doesn't offer that many activities, but the Le Taha'a coral garden makes up for it; for me, it's an unbeatable snorkeling spot. The coral garden is right next to the hotel's beach. Unlike the coral gardens on other snorkeling tours, this one is very large and very shallow, with marine life right in front of you. The current always goes in the same direction, so you don't need to swim, making it perfect for drift snorkeling. The variety and density of corals, fish, and other marine life are greater than in any other coral garden we've visited. During our three days in Taha'a, we snorkeled here five or six times and never got bored.

The coral garden is located at the far end of the hotel's beach—swim across to the other side, then keep going farther out and you'll see it. (A small detour: after asking the beach boy, we still got the wrong place and paddled by kayak to the offshore islet near the beach. I walked all the way from the islet toward the distance and still couldn't find the coral garden, so I had to go back and ask the beach boy again. This time I asked about the right spot, but I didn't realize that the current flowed in the opposite direction from what I was seeing, so I kept nervously confirming with him N times that drift meant the direction of the back current—mainly because I was afraid the current would be too strong and just drift us out into the deep sea...)

“Swimming across to the other side” sounds simple enough, but for us, carrying a mountain of bags and a child, it was a bit of a headache. If you choose a kayak, the distance is quite far and the wind and waves are no joke, so paddling over is pretty tiring. If you choose to swim, the bags have to stay on the hotel side, and you'd still need to push the child in a float ring across. That said, this area is very shallow; only a short stretch requires swimming, and you can stand on the bottom for the rest. Even if you make it to the other side, there are scratchy sea grasses that made our kid cry out in pain. After many tries, we ended up leaving the child on the hotel beach, and my partner and I took turns swimming across to snorkel.

This coral reef is extremely shallow; it's easy to scrape against the coral by accident, which can injure you and also damage the coral. So the best time to snorkel in the coral garden is when the water is relatively deeper, between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. If you come outside that window, be very careful not to hurt the coral—or yourself. Don't wear fins or swimsuits with strings, and make sure your sunscreen is coral-friendly.

The little island on the other side is also interesting—many locals make fires on the island, so be careful not to step on them. There are lots of tiny holes in the sand, all homes to little crabs. In the evening, the crabs would poke their heads out from time to time, but as soon as someone came near, they'd retreat into their holes.

After taking turns snorkeling a few times, we reluctantly left the coral garden, went back to the room to freshen up, and headed to the hotel restaurant for dinner.

The water-villa walkway has a different kind of charm at night.

The package we booked at Le Taha'a included breakfast and dinner. This kind of package is called half board, and it's also the option I recommend. If we had chosen full board, with a breakfast buffet and three-course lunch and dinner, it would have felt too heavy for us.

Le Taha'a has two dinner restaurants. One is included in the package, while the other is a bit more upscale. I had originally planned to book one night at the fancier one, but it doesn't open until 7 p.m., which was a little too late for a child who still hadn't adjusted to the time difference, so we gave it up. The restaurant included in the package has a Polynesian performance one night a week, but we happened to miss it. Judging by the hotel's style, it would probably have been very authentic.

Overall, Le Taha'a's restaurants were even better than Sofitel Moorea's, with much more refined flavors and plating. You should try their cocktails; they're sweet, almost like fruit wine, and very Tahitian. The mocktails were especially our child's favorite.

My partner and I most loved the appetizer with foie gras, sous-vide egg yolk, soft bread, seared foie gras, fruit crumble, and a small cup of savory broth. Every part of it was a favorite. We liked this dish so much that we ordered it three days in a row.

The crème brûlée dessert was also very good. It was a bit sweet for someone like me who doesn't really like sweets, but my partner and our child both loved it.

Tip: Although the restaurant says it doesn’t open until 6:00 p.m., we go at 5:45 every day, when both service and food come out much faster. On the first night, when we went after 7:00 p.m., the waitstaff were swamped and the food was incredibly slow to arrive, so our kid had already fallen asleep. But after our kid fell asleep, the staff thoughtfully brought over extra chairs and turned them into a little bed so our kid could sleep more comfortably, and our partner could also be hands-free and focus on eating.

At night, feeding the fish at the foot of the bed in the room was our kid’s nightly ritual, and no matter how long we did it, our kid never got bored.

The next day, we got up early for our morning scuba dive and headed out for breakfast first thing. The breakfast buffet tasted pretty good, though there wasn’t anything especially noteworthy. The interesting part was the egg cooker: you had to use the hourglass next to it to time how runny or firm you wanted the egg. By the last day, our clueless partner still thought it was a fully cooked egg, and only realized otherwise after cracking it open on the plate.

I’ll go into detail about this scuba-diving experience in the activities post later.

When we returned from scuba diving, we saw a ray at the hotel pier. I briefly wanted to jump in and chase it, but after hesitating, I still didn’t go. Our kid was also very happy just watching the birds on the boardwalk.

After we got back to the hotel, we went to Coral Garden again. While our partner was snorkeling, our kid and I took a nap on the beach. Wonderful~

Moving between beautiful scenery and delicious food, lounging on the beach doing nothing, swimming a few laps from the overwater villa, looking out from the deck, and leisurely wandering around the hotel — three days passed in the blink of an eye.

The day before we left, we went to the hotel spa. The scenery was beautiful, and even the shower area was outdoors under the shade of the trees, living up to the BofA BofA name. That said, the massage therapist’s technique still had room for improvement, so it may be worth considering a room change when making the booking.

When we left, the hotel thoughtfully gave us some small gifts, which was an unexpected surprise. With gratitude and anticipation, we set off for the final stop on our Tahiti trip - BofA BofA.

Tahiti Series

This original article was published in 2021, so it still includes some COVID-related content. I hope this series gives anyone planning a trip to Tahiti a helpful overview.

About the Author

This article is reposted from the WeChat public account “Lazy 33’s Food and Fun,” which features original articles worth reading. If you’re interested, feel free to follow.