Travels with Debra and Flat Stanley Tahiti, Moorea, and Los Angeles

We are scheduled to return to New Zealand in 2025, the first time since 2020, having been there when the Pandemic struck. Between 2003 and 2020, we went once a year, often stopping off in either Tahiti or Fiji on the way or on the way back. The blog below, though never posted before, was written around Easter of 2018, and brings back lots of fond memories of a stop in Tahiti and also LA. If you’ve never been, I encourage you to try it if you get the chance. It was fabulous back then, and I assume it still is.

When we arrived at Papeete from Auckland, it was too late to catch the ferry to Moorea (it might have been possible, but tight). We spent one night at the Tahiti Airport Motel, right across the street from the airport. We took a taxi there because of our luggage. This motel was very basic, no pool, but the room was clean.

For dinner, we walked to a nearby Chinese restaurant, Ocean. We ordered the Special fried rice and roast duck, and they were very tasty. Then we walked to a small supermarket, where we bought some jam, peaches, bread (only 52 cents for a French Baguette),two yogurt/fruit salads, butter, and a couple of types of cheese to take to Moorea. The hotel had a small Continental breakfast but no hair dryer. There was a chocolate croissant included J.

We had some time after breakfast before our shuttle, so I browsed the jewelry case located in the lobby. I’d previously bought a Tahitian pearl pendant at the market on Tahiti Nui the first time we were there, so I was interested in earrings this time. The case was locked, and the lady at the front desk had to call someone to show me the jewelry. She came, and I tried on a few pairs. The posts were a bit large for my holes, but I settled on small gray studs that seemed to go on a bit better.

When we arrived at the ferry station, we discovered that the boat was leaving at 11:30 instead of 12:45 like we thought, so we were just in time. We found seats next to the window with a view. Apparently, there are two companies, one with two boats and one (the one we took) with only one smaller red boat. Norm texted the taxi group who was supposed to pick us up to let them know we were arriving early and they met us with a sign with our name on it.

Our bungalow wasn’t quite ready at the Manava Resort and Spa, but they greeted us with a cold drink. It was very hot and humid. I wandered around a bit, and we both recognized the resort as somewhere we had stayed before with a different name (the resort’s, not ours). When the room was ready, we were taken on a brief tour. We remembered it as the Moorea Pearl. Our bungalow was a garden view, not over water or even ocean front, but nice, with a small private plunge pool in the back. Tropical flowers and trees all around. Air conditioning plus a ceiling fan, nice shower (no tub), hair dryer, robe and slippers (one men’s one lady’s), etc.

Our tour guide informed us we could have breakfast all three mornings at about half the price if we committed on the first day. We decided to do so. Breakfasts were very nice, with fresh fruit varying by day. Avocado one day, papaya the next, mango twice, bananas every day. There were crepes with Nutella, meats and cheese, small chocolate croissants (much better than the ones at the airport motel), but no decaf until the last day. There was some in the room, however, so I started bringing my own. Hot milk for it on the breakfast buffet.

The resort had a zero-entry pool (always a nice temperature), a small but lovely beach with great snorkeling nearby, and free snorkel gear, kayaks (Norm said no), and paddle boards (no also). So, we limited our exercise to snorkeling, always a favorite. Jet skis were available to rent, and several people did so, not us.

The coral was damaged severely since our previous visit, possibly due to higher than normal water temperatures in 2016. There were still plenty of colorful fish, though, and I hope that won’t change. We saw sea turtles at both resorts (description on second one to come shortly). On our first night in Moorea, there was a Tahitian dance show around 7:30 pm near the pool. We found seats in the bar, where Norm ordered an amber Hinano beer and I had a fancy dessert—ice cream with flambéed bananas, whipped cream, and cherry. We repeated these choices on our second night, except that my ice cream was chocolate, with chocolate sauce and chocolate mousse. For lunch we ate bread, butter and cheese, which was plenty after our large breakfasts. We went snorkeling once or twice every day. My first mask kept leaking water around my eyes, stinging my right eye badly, but I traded it for a different, smaller one on the second day. The new one worked much better. The snorkeling right off the beach was great, with a host of orange/red fish living in a coral cave, a number of large parrot fish, and a multitude of small blue fish ranging in color from bright purple to brilliant turquoise. We saw small purple clams and loads of large black spiky sea urchins. Full moon at night.

On Saturday we moved to a different resort, more of a Bed and Breakfast with only four bungalows. It was very hot again, and the taxi driver dropped us, and our luggage, out in front of a large gate. We rang the bell, and our host Philippe appeared shortly.

“There is no air conditioning in any of the bungalows,” he said, “so I can call another taxi to take you back to Manava Beach if you want.”

We assured Philippe we were fine with no a/c, and he showed us to our bungalow. There were mosquito nets around the bed, and the bathroom windows were open. There was a hammock to hang on the porch and an oscillating fan. No sandy beach, but a pier with a ladder into the water. Deeper on the right (around 40 feet) than on the left (around 5 feet). We discovered shortly that the coral was much better here than at Manava. Still much was dead, but more patches of new growth. Bright purples, some greens, an occasional pink or yellow. A lot of dark red, though none of the red fish I saw at Manava in abundance. A lot of bright yellow fish with blue eyes, black and white small fish, angel fish, a very large trumpet fish, and many more.

We saw a large sea turtle on our first day, and an eel on two days. We also saw a sea turtle, possibly the same one, on our last day, and Norm saw a smaller turtle once. I saw a jellyfish, small and colorful, and we both saw several clams.

Philippe cooked dinner for us and another guest all three nights (no choice, same for all of us). The other guest spoke only French, so we mainly ate or chatted with Philippe when he wasn’t busy cooking or supervising. The first night we had tuna tartare for our starter, swordfish and cooked papaya (which tastes nothing like fresh papaya), and an arch of tropical fruit with a scoop of ice cream for dessert. Delicious! The second night we had a tuna pate’ (somewhat like our tuna salad) for the starter with a salad, marinated NZ beef and a vegetable comparable to collard greens (not nearly as bitter) au gratin for the main course, and a homemade Bounty bar (dark chocolate-covered fresh coconut) for dessert. The third night we had tuna carpaccio, long-nosed emperor fish (my new favorite fish), and his version of tiramisu for dessert (mostly fresh fruit and homemade yogurt). All good. We walked to a very small store on our first evening and bought sparkling water and crackers.

Philippe offered a salad for lunch, and we ordered those on Easter Sunday. I added a boiled egg to mine. At the previous resort, they had egg dying for kids, and I took a photo. Rare year when I don’t dye eggs myself. I found an Easter sermon by Tim Keller to listen to on Easter.

The Monday following Easter was a holiday for many in Tahiti so we weren’t sure what would be open. We walked to a public beach and I swam there. Very nice water temperature! It will be so much colder at the lake and at the Gulf for at least a couple of months. An inflated, floating playground for kids tempted me, but Norm said you had to pay to slide. Nice stars at night after dinner.

On Tuesday (our last day) we had fruit plates for breakfast. Really good papaya, coconut, grapefruit, and bananas. We walked a short distance to a botanic garden and up a steep hill for a view (and flowers, plants, trees along the way). Vines and tiny yellow flowers draped an old truck.

Around noon we went for our last amazing snorkel. I kept looking for a turtle and was thrilled when we finally spotted one. Also saw a lovely purple dotted fish with a bright purple tail we hadn’t seen before. Another fish I loved was black with yellow fins in front, translucent fins in back, and a hot pink tail. Still another one had dark navy (or green) and orange stripes with a tail kept compact when swimming but which would spread out into rainbow colors occasionally, and a wide clown-smiling mouth.

Philippe provided us a second bungalow to store our luggage and take a shower while ours was being cleaned for the next guest. We caught a taxi around 4pm to the ferry station for a 4:40 ferry to Tahiti Nui. There we shared a taxi with another couple spending the night at the Tahiti Airport Motel where we stayed our first night. They had a 5:30 am Wednesday flight to LAX, whereas ours was 10:30pm on Tuesday. We had five hours at the airport, which was very hot.

The Atrium café was open, so I spent the last of our Tahitian money on some snacks. Norm located a bottle of sparkling water for me and instructed me to buy a Hinano Amber for him. Unfortunately, I picked up a Hinano Gold by mistake, and I’ll be hearing about it for years to comer (my one job).

Son Clay and his girlfriend, Sarah, (and sweet, sweet dog, Billie) picked us up at the LAX airport. Amanda’s daughter Reagan has a “Flat Stanley” project, and Clay had printed out Flat Stanley and stabilized him with some cardboard. We carried and photographed Stanley everywhere we went in Los Angeles.

First Clay and Sarah took us to an Italian deli known for some of the best sandwiches in L.A. We bought olives, artichoke hearts, salad, and anchovies, along with sandwiches and drinks, for a picnic. Then we drove to Malibu, where we ate and hiked around the beaches (Leo Carrillo State Park) with Billie and Flat Stanley. We stopped at Malibu Yogurt and Ice Cream, an old favorite.

We went back to the hotel (we had already checked in) near the airport, and Clay and I went for a very chilly swim in the outdoor heated pool. The water was nice, but it was after 5 pm by then and the air was very chilly.

After our swim, we relaxed in the room for a while, and Clay watched some video footage related to his Cuba documentary. Then we had a lovely dinner at a tapas restaurant, The Walton, in Culver City. We shared a raw fish dish, striped bass (our favorite, except Sarah, who is vegetarian), carrots, kale salad, cauliflower, and pasta. Dessert was a homemade candy bar with ice cream, very chocolate and tasty (all 4 of us shared one).

The diet should have started today, but unfortunately our Mexican lunch was entirely too tempting. I had al pastor (marinated pork) tostada salad with guacamole and rice, and it was too good to be healthy or low calorie! La Fonda was inexpensive and so delicious, but left an onion taste in my mouth, oh well.
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I write this as I sit in the airport now with Flat Stanley, about to board the plane for Nashville. We had a good experience with Air Tahiti Nui, much better than with Air New Zealand. All got us there safely though, so I can’t complain.