Day 1: Arrive Papeete
On arrival you will be met with a traditional Tahitian greeting and handed your documents before being transferred to your nearby hotel. Spend the afternoon at leisure, relaxing with a cocktail by your resort pool or snorkelling in the fringing reef.
For dinner we recommend making your way to the foreshore where you’ll find the local food trucks known as les roulottes. Pick a dish from the host of international cuisines on offer and then grab a seat nearby to enjoy the local Tahitian entertainment often taking place near les roulottes as the sun sets over the water.
Day 2: Papeete to Tikehau
Today we transfer you to the airport for your 55-minute flight to the island of Tikehau. From the sky, this graceful atoll, looks like a crown of white and pink-sand beaches shimmering around a lagoon almost too breathtaking to be true. Only about 500 Tahitians call this tranquil world home, generations of fishermen whose lives revolve around the sea. And, it’s a life of both peace and plenty.
Spend your time in Tikehau staying in one of the overwater bungalows or beach bungalows of the secluded Tikehau Pearl Beach Resort. With a maximum 80 guests its easy to feel like you have the place to yourself and the remainder of the day is at leisure to settle in and enjoy the serenity.
Day 3: Tikehau
Spend your day snorkelling through the coral reefs to see the millions of fish which live in this untouched transparent world. The volume of fish is so much that Jacques Cousteau’s research crew dubbed it “the most fish abundant Tuamotu atoll.”
Day 4: Tikehau
Another day at leisure to explore the island. Divers are consistently enthralled by the amazing marine life where eagle rays, schools of barracudas and tuna, grey reef sharks, marine turtles and dolphins like to play. If diving isn’t your style then Tikehau’s untouched sandy beaches will definitely fulfill your expectations.
Day 5: Tikehau to Rangiroa
Today we transfer you back to the airport for your 15 minute flight to Rangiroa where on arrival you are met and transferred to your beach side resort.
The world’s second largest atoll, Rangiroa is a place where land and sea form an unexpected truce. The beautiful loop of islands is surrounded by different kinds of ocean: Moana-tea (Peaceful Ocean), which defines the lagoon, and Moana-uri (Wild Ocean), where whales, manta rays, dolphins and sharks put on a show for the lucky few who come to experience their world. Back on land, the main villages of Avatoru and Tiputa offer the visitor a unique look at the South Pacific. Along the few roads that exist, you’ll encounter coral churches, craft centres, local restaurants and boulangerie, along with a few tiny shops operated by locals. Wine lovers can also enjoy wine tasting at the Dominique Auroy Estate nestled within a coconut grove, which produces three grape varieties, and black pearl farms, which dot the lagoon.
Day 6: Rangiroa
Day at leisure to explore Rangiroa at your own pace. Rangiroa is renowned worldwide for its breathtaking dive spots and beginners and experienced divers will be blown away by the abundance and colours of the marine wildlife. Schools of multi-coloured butterfly fish, turtles dolphins and sharks swim just beneath the surface, just waiting for divers to visit them in their underwater paradise.
Even if you’re not a diver, you can still discover the beauties of the lagoon from above the water’s surface. The possibilities are endless on Rangiroa. You can opt to go for a picnic on a desert motu, go snorkelling above the incredible coral gardens, visit untouched islets where wild birds nest or, if you’re feeling adventurous – have fun with small, friendly sharks.
Day 7: Rangiroa
Today you will enjoy a full day tour of the island starting with a 1-hour boat ride across the vast blue lagoon of Rangiroa. The atoll formation allows you the unique opportunity to enjoy endless horizons on either side and once you reach your destination you will be in awe of the breathtaking views offered by the Blue Lagoon, a natural pool formed by a string of islets and coral reefs on the edge of the main reef : a lagoon within a lagoon!
A quick walk will first take you to the “birds island”, a small motu (islet) where many endemic species of birds nest such as the Kotchotcho or the Chevalier. You will then have the opportunity to snorkel in a stunning coral garden surrounded by the infamous pink sand of Rangiroa. The lagoon here is home to countless marine creatures from parrot fish and clown fish, to moray eels and sea turtles.
You will enjoy a well-deserved break for lunch and on the way back get close to black tips and lemon sharks at the shark nursery, if you’re lucky you can even swim with them.
Day 8: Depart Rangiroa
Enjoy one last breakfast in paradise before heading back to Papeete to catch your plane home.