A Once-in-a-lifetime voyage - South Pacific "Ports" Review by chicagoGWMC

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Home > Member Reviews > chicagoGWMC's Port Reviews of Moorea, Huahine, Bora Bora, Rangiroa

chicagoGWMC's Port Reviews of Moorea, Huahine, Bora Bora, Rangiroa
Regatta cruise in April 2012

Member Name:	chicagoGWMC
Cruise Date:	April 2012
Embarkation:	other
Destination:	South Pacific
Member Review:	chicagoGWMC's Regatta Review

	Moorea Port Rating: The early-morning approach to the island was spectacular, but the port itself wasn't much. Found some beautiful jewelry tent side and then waited awhile for our pick-up to ATV Moorea. (We'd arranged this ourselves, not through Oceania.) The tour was beautiful and our guide, Simon, was well-versed. (He'd moved here a year ago from France.) Well worth the money. They had no problems with my accessibility; I shared a vehicle with my partner Neil and we brought the crutches with us, tied and locked to the front of the vehicle.
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	Huahine Port Rating: Again, jaw-dropping approach from sea. Once ashore, a complementary Oceania shuttle took us through incredibly lush foliage (have your camera ready) to the town of Fare (Fah-ray), where we'd arranged for a rental car from Europcar. (I wish we'd known there would be some Avis cars right at the dock. ... now -you- know.) We had a great time exploring tribal ruins and seeing incredible beaches. Returned in early afternoon.
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	Bora Bora Port Rating: For some reason , Raiatea isn't coming up as port 3 ... so I'm adding it here manually. We'd booked a car with Avis, but found at a desk nearby the rental car desk a guy offering a day trip to a nearby motu (small island) for $25 per person, including snorkeling gear for the day. The group took advantage of that and I stayed on board. (This was fine with me.) The beach would not have been accessible and the snorkeling was awesome. Good decision.) This was the only port at which the Regatta docked (no tendering). -- Bora Bora: Took a 90-minute ride around the island in a rental car then took advantage of a pre-booked Aqua Safari SNUBA tour. (This is a scuba helmet placed over your head as you remain standing in about 10 feet of water.) We'd booked this for the following day but then found the Regatta would be leaving earlier than expected. Fortunately, Florian had spots open that first day so we rushed on. This was probably the highlight of our entire trip. We'd booked it separately because Oceania claimed it wouldn't be accessible. I'd emailed the business owner (Florian) directly and he assured me it wouldn't be a problem, so we booked directly through him. He was correct. I had a fantastic time.
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	Rangiroa Port Rating: Another flat but inaccessible island. None of us were impressed here. There's lots of talk about the snorkeling and diving here, so perhaps you'll have a better time. The guys found that anything worth doing had already been fully booked -- it would have behooved us to schedule this ahead of time.
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