FRENCH POLYNESIA (2025)
jump to: Tahiti • Swimming with Humpback Whales • Coral Gardens • Sharks & Rays • Other Activities on Mo’orea
More photos and videos can be viewed on my SmugMug site at lorrainehornby.smugmug.com
When
Late August through early September.
What
Otherworldly experiences: swimming with humpback whales, snorkeling with stingrays and reef sharks, floating through coral gardens.
My primary reason for this trip was to be in the ocean with humpback whales. On Mo’orea I went on four whale swim excursions (three full days and one half-day), which were organized by Yuri Awanohara (who was the tour leader for the guided segment of my trip to Japan in the fall of 2024). If you are interested in Yuri’s travel consulting for French Polynesia or Japan, please visit her website. You can also check out her Instagram.
Where
A couple of days on Tahiti, then 10 days on Mo’orea.
Good To Know
These are just a few of my travel tips. I have no affiliation with any of the services or resources for which I provide links—it is simply to share what I learned when I was planning my trip.
Communicating
French is the official language although Polynesian is widely spoken. Many residents also speak English, especially those in tourism-related businesses. I only managed to learn three words in Polynesian:
Ia Orana (yah-oh-RAH-nah): “hello” or “welcome”
Mauruuru (mah-ROO-roo): “thank you”
Manuia (MAH-nu-EE-ah): “cheers!”
Staying Connected
I used a Vini eSim on this trip. In Europe and Japan I had very good experiences with Airalo, but I had been advised by Yuri that it did not work well in French Polynesia, so I did more research and chose a local service provider. It worked perfectly for me on both Tahiti and Mo’orea. My bed-and-breakfast on Tahiti and my AirBnB on Moorea had decent WiFi.
Money
You will need local currency. Some restaurants were cash only, as well as most taxis. I always order some local currency from my bank before I leave on foreign travels, it’s one less thing to deal with when I’ve just landed in a new country.
Transportation
I rented a car on Tahiti and took it on the ferry to Mo’orea. You should reserve your car in advance as supply is limited (it is even more limited if you require an automatic). If you are taking a car on the ferry, you should also reserve the spot for the car in advance. Public transportation is minimal, and taxis are very expensive. I returned my rental car the night before I flew out, because I had an early flight and needed to check in before the car rental office opened. I stayed in a hotel that was less than a 10 minute drive from the airport, and the fare was about $25 USD.
Navigating
Traffic in Papeete is congested and the scooter drivers are aggressive - they will come at you from all directions. The rest of the island is easy, there is one main road that circumnavigates Tahiti, and the roads are generally in good condition.
On Mo’orea, there is also one ring road, and the pace is slow and easy.
Climate
It will be hot and humid. Being in the southern hemisphere, it was winter when I was there in August and early September. But it was still hot and humid, and I made sure I rented places with air conditioning, because I am a weather wimp when it comes to hot & humid.
Tahiti
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Papeete Market
Imported items, such as a baseball cap (which I was looking for because I had forgotten to bring my hat with me this day) are ridiculously expensive ($90 USD!!!). Yet stunning arrangements of tropical flowers are only $25 or $30 USD. How I wished I could bring one home!
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Museum of Tahiti and Its Islands
Located near Papeete, this small museum is beautifully designed and thoughtfully curated. Don’t miss wandering around the inner courtyard, where there is a lovely garden.
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Tahiti Art Moahi
This local artisan shop prints traditional designs on fabrics, which are then used to make clothing and decorative items (such as lampshades). I discovered this place while taking the Unique Tahiti East Coast guided tour.
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Teahupoo Wave
This was the site of the 2024 Olympic surfing competition. What I wish I had known before driving out there is that you can barely see the wave from shore. You must hire a boat taxi to take you out to look at it. Which I did not do, because I had not allowed time for such an activity.
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Vaipahi Water Gardens
This is a small garden you can wander around at street level, and there is a loop hike which climbs in elevation. The trail is not too bad, but it is muddy and slippery and quite steep in places.
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View of Mo'orea
In the Vaipahi Water Gardens, I hiked to the first panoramic viewpoint. And was rewarded with this sight!
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Point Venus
Point Venus is a black sand beach formed by volcanic activity. Before Europeans landed there, it was significant for the Polynesians because it was a safe harbor for their boats, and a landmark for navigating. Point Venus is so named because the British chose it as the site to observe the Transit of Venus across the sun. Captain James Cook anchored there on June 3, 1769 for this event. Cook, along with astronomer Charles Green and naturalist Joseph Banks, were part of the team gathering scientific data.
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Lighthouse at Point Venus
The lighthouse was built in 1868, and was designed by Thomas Stevenson, the father of author Robert Louis Stevenson.
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My Bed and Breakfast
I stayed in a delightful bed and breakfast in the hills of Arue (just outside of Papeete). My hosts at Maison Taina gave me great advice on what to do and where to eat on Tahiti. This was the view from my private veranda!
Mo’orea
Humpback Whale Encounters
Humpback whales migrate to Mo’orea between August and November, to mate and give birth. The island is surrounded by a marine protected area, and the government has strict regulations concerning interactions with the whales. A limited number of whale excursion permits are issued each year, and in 2025 that number was reduced. Other regulations include:
boats are not allowed within a 100 meter radius of the whales
only three boats at any given time can approach to 100 meters - others which arrive in the area must wait further out until a boat leaves.
each boat can have a maximum of six swimmers plus a guide, and swimmers must stay on the surface (no freediving or scuba diving).
swimmers can only be in the water between 7:30 am and 5:30 pm
A Few Humpback Whale Facts
Adults are 45 to 60 feet in length and weigh around 30 to 40 tons.
Their fins are about 15 feet long.
They live about 50 years.
Humpbacks are filter feeders (krill, for example). They stock up in the cold waters of Antartica, then migrate to the warmer waters of French Polynesia to give birth. However, the warmer waters do not provide them with a food source, so they do not eat during this time.
Male “singers” vocalize complex songs. Here are a couple of articles about the research into these vocalizations: research at St. Andrews University and the blog of Dr. Ellen Garland.
About My Videos
I used a GoPro 13. Given that it was the first time I’d ever used a GoPro, the first time I had ever done any underwater photography or video, the fact that the GoPro screen goes blank about 30 seconds after you start filming (presumably to save battery) so you can’t actually see what you are doing, and the fact that I was being pushed about by the swell while trying to stay with my group & guide but not get in anyone else’s way—well, it’s a miracle that I captured the footage I am sharing here!
Listen To A Humpback “Singer”
The audio file below was extracted from a video of a swim where we could hear the male singer, but he was moving away from us, so we never saw more than a brief shadow of the whale.
My First Humpback Encounter
I was lucky enough to have this beauty swim right underneath me on my very first day out on the boat!
August 26, 2025: my first whale swim!
Waiting For “Go”
This is what it is like on the boat. When the guide says “get ready,” we put on our fins, prep our mask & snorkel, and position ourselves on the pontoons, waiting for the guide to decide it’s time to drop into the water. Then we swim! And if we’re lucky, we get to see whales in their wild environment.
Ready to drop!
Whales & Dolphins!
I run out of superlatives when describing these experiences. This video is from my second day on the boat, and we found a pod of dolphins playing with a group of humpbacks. Just amazing. I know scientists have a limited understanding of humpback sounds, but there is a moment towards the end when it seems pretty clear to me that one whale is telling another “leave those humans alone!”
August 27, 2025: Humpbacks & Dolphins
Mother & Calf
We were privileged to spend time with this mother & calf. We were in the water with them for about 40 minutes, just watching while the mother rested lower down and the calf played around at the surface (calves must come up for air much more frequently than the adults). Then mom decided it was time to move on.
August 30, 2025: Mother and Calf
Flyby
On this occasion we played leapfrog with the whales. We had found humpbacks that were on the move, so our captain got ahead of them, we dropped in the water with our guide, swam to a point where we could watch them go by, swam back to the boat, and then repeated this process four times in a row! This was an extraordinary example of the skill of our Ocean Addict captain and guide in positioning us at exactly the right spot. There we were, out in the deep water of the open ocean, yet precisely where we needed to be for yet another glorious whale encounter.
August 30, 2025: This video is courtesy of Yuri Awanohara.
Tail Slaps
This was my last day on the boat. We found humpbacks almost immediately—it was, in fact, so early in the day that we could could only watch while waiting for the 7:30 am “OK to drop in the water” start time. Meanwhile, the whales taunted us with tail slaps.
September 2, 2025: Tail Slaps
Coral Gardens
Mo’orea is surrounded by a coral reef, creating a shallow lagoon between the land and the open ocean, perfect for snorkeling.
Coral Gardeners
Coral Gardeners is a non-profit organization dedicated to the restoration and conservation of coral reefs. In addition to the headquarters on Mo’orea, they have branches in Fiji and Thailand and partner with other businesses around the world. The nurseries they have created are used to cultivate and transplant corals to damaged reefs to help restore marine biodiversity and ecosystem health. I encourage you to visit their website to find out more about importance of coral for our planet and the critical work needed to preserve and restore reefs.
Coral Gardeners offers a tour which includes a very interesting presentation about coral and their work, and then participants are taken by boat into the bay where they have their coral nursery. There is time to snorkel in the area, and then those who wish to participate can help with whatever the task of the day is. In our case, it was cleaning the lines where the young coral was growing.
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Coral Nursery
These young corals will eventually be transplanted onto a reef.
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Coral Gardener At Work
As part of the Coral Gardeners experience, participants can spend a little time helping out. In this case, the job for the day was scrubbing the lines in the coral nursery.
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Healthy Coral Reef
There was plenty of time to snorkel around the mature areas of the Coral Gardeners nursery.
Temae Beach
Temae Beach is probably the best place to snorkel on the island. A bumpy dirt road takes you all the way to the northern end of the bay, where there is a parking lot. There can be a strong current, but it pushes you towards the beach, not out into the ocean. It’s best to start at the northern end and swim out to the left, against the current, then once you reach the coral gardens you can just drift and let the current do most of the work! At the other end of the bay is the Sofitel hotel, and the current pushes you towards the beach there. Then just walk back along the beach to where you started.
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Six Bar Wrasse
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Can you spot the clam?
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Reflections
I love this photo because of the reflection of the coral in the surface of the water (I think the tiny fish are blue-green chromis).
Snorkeling at Temae Beach. I find it fascinating to listen to the sound the sound of a healthy coral reef. It is not the coral making the clicking noises, but rather the various marine life feeding in and around the coral.
Sharks & Rays & More
Alex Lagoon Tours
The day after I arrived on Mo’orea, after spending the morning out in the ocean and having my first encounter with humpback whales, I took a snorkeling tour with Alex Lagoon Tours. We stopped at four spots. The first was a channel where we saw sea turtles, the second was a coral garden, the third was a well-known sandbar inside the lagoon heavily populated with stingrays and black tip reef sharks, and the fourth was another coral garden. Alex takes a maximum of six people on his tour, and plans it to avoid crowded locations and times.
Another fun fact: a group of rays is called a “fever.”
Turtles, stingrays and reef sharks! If the stingrays approach you, it’s OK to touch them, but never try to touch the sharks! The man seen at the end of the video is Alex, our guide for the afternoon.
This video is courtesy of Ocean Addict, the tour operator for all the whale excursions I participated in. We had returned to the calm waters of the lagoon for our lunch break, and had time to swim and snorkel. Antony, our captain, found this group of spotted eagle rays. He had his camera on a long tether, so he could drop it down to the level of the rays to get this beautiful footage.
Other Activities
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Coco Beach
A friend and I started the morning with variations on rum punch (mine was passionfruit—yum)! You can have a leisurely meal here, right on the beach. There is a short boat ride to get to Coco Beach, but the restaurant has a dedicated parking lot (albeit a small one) and operates the boat taxi (the cost of which is added to your restaurant bill). You can certainly get in the water and swim or snorkel, but it is not the best snorkel site, and it is adjacent to a boat lane.
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Moorea Food Tour
Get a local’s guide to food on Moorea with the Moorea Food Tour. Our first stop was this stand by the ferry terminal, selling fruit and cakes.
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Mount Rotui
I took a driving tour with Spirou “The Lady In Blue”. One of our stops was the Belvedere Lookout, where we had this view of Mount Rotui, with Opunoho Bay on the left, and Cook’s Bay on the right.
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Tiki Village
There was not much to see at Tiki Village during the day (at night it sometimes has a Polynesian themed dinner and entertainment), but I did have a nice lunch overlooking the aqua lagoon, and was lucky enough to happen upon a wedding ceremony. This double canoe is waiting for the newlyweds.
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Sunset
The Hotel Hibiscus has a spectacular sunset view. Reserve a table if you wish to eat at the restaurant there.
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Te Fare Natura
An ecomuseum, part of a larger complex of research facilities.