Tahiti is no longer welcoming North American tourists

Sure feels like it. While tourist arrivals for French Polynesia are down a staggering 29% from a year ago the national airline, Air Tahiti Nui, is doing everything that it can to discourage and frankly, insult, North American visitors.

Want a reasonable air fare to Tahiti? Fine, limit your stay to 4 days maximum and you can get a $731 RT. Yes, they are allowing us to have a four day vacation.

Four days too short? How about a 5 day vacation? Then the airfare jumps up to $996.

But listen to this. If we agree not to step on their soil but rather take a plane to Tahiti and then switch to plane to Auckland (with no stop over) we can do that for only $889 and it's valid for a trip up to a year!!!

Strange, we have many other choices. In the South Pacific, right next door, are the English speaking Cook Islands. The photo above was taken in the Cooks. Air New Zealand is offering weekly non-stops from LAX to Rarotonga for $935 (including all fees and taxes) and a maximum stay of one year. Better yet, fly to Auckland for even less (on ANZ) and get a free Pacific island stopover (Cooks, Samoa or Tonga).

Getting Married in Tahiti?

In the past Americans who wished to wed in Tahiti were advised that while they could have a traditional wedding ceremony it would not be legally binding. The obstacle was/is the requirement of one month's residency in French Polynesia prior to marriage. (U.S. citizens need a Visa for stays over a month and obtaining one requires quite a lot of effort and paperwork.)

However, since there has been a dramatic cut back in visitors from the North American market (their largest), they are considering revising the requirements for a civil wedding.

How streamlined the process will be remains to be seen. I located these requirements for U.K. citizens wishing to marry there:

In accordance with the national civil code, one month of prior residency in French Polynesia is required. Ten days must also be allowed for the wedding banns to be published.

The following documents must be provided to the municipality where the wedding is to take place:

A custom certificate from the authorities in their country of nationality
A celibacy certificate
A wedding banns publication certificate from the place of foreign residency
Birth certificate must be translated into French by an official translator

Yikes! and stay tuned.

Photo courtesy of Tahiti Tourisme

Finally a detailed Heiva I Tahiti 2007 Program

iFenua has published a detailed Heiva I Tahiti 2007 Program, including entrance fees.

It runs from the 1st to the 21st of July.

You can purchase tickets at the Odyssey
17 Place Notre Dame
(689) 54 25 25
contact@odyssey.pf

Hours of sales are Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 4:45 pm and Saturday from 8:30 am to 3:45 pm.

You can also purchase them the evening of the performances from 5 pm.

Prices range from 1000 to 2500.

Photo courtesy of Tahiti Tourisme.

Heiva i Tahiti 2007 - Program Available

TheTahitiTraveler Web site has published the first schedule for the 2007 Heiva festival.

It begins on June 12th at the Place Toata in Papeete and continues through July 20th.

Events include song and dance performances & competitions, outrigger races, traditional sports and firewalking.

Photo courtesy of Tahiti Tourism

The Waterfalls of Tahiti

Of the many images of paradise that the name Tahiti invokes certainly waterfalls form part of the impression. World of Waterfalls was created by a California couple. They started out visiting falls in the Los Angeles area for a quick break. Soon they began traveling further afield collecting waterfall sightings.

In French Polynesia they have visited and photographed Vaimahutu Falls, Topatari Falls, Vaiharuru Falls and Puraha Falls on the island of Tahiti as well as Vaioro Falls on Moorea. The falls can be viewed by taking a 4wd tour.

Photo courtesy of Tahiti Tourisme.

Learn to Speak Tahitian

Bruce Rimell, a fascinating Englishman, has created a wonderful Web site about the Tahitian language.

What's truly amazing is that he has never been to Tahiti but rather became interested in learning the language when he fell in love with Pacific island music while living in Japan. He writes "So without any grammar or textbooks to work from, I kept listening to the music, and slowly tried to take the language of the songs apart so that I could learn how to speak it".

He has now created online Tahitian lessons (and a quiz).
Both English-Tahitian and Tahitian-English dictionaries are available.

For fans of Tahitian music he has also translated the lyrics of various songs.

Photo courtesy of Tahiti Tourisme.

A Chance to See Tahitian Dancing in Los Angeles

Mehiro, the local expert for French Polynesia over on Tripadvisor, posted about a Spectacular Traditional Polynesian Show hosted by Mareine Tiroa, Vice President of Friends of Tahiti. It's a fundraiser for "The International US, Children Charity" (I'm not familiar with it).

It's this Thursday, February 22nd
At The Highlands Club of Hollywood
6801 Hollywood Blvd, CA 90028
8:30 pm - 2:00 am

Admission is $25 with a reservation that you can make online.
They will have a one hour Polynesian Show featuring the "Le Polynesia" dance & music group.

Some great raffle prizes are on offer (raffle tickets are $5, sold from 8:30 - 10:00 pm, when the show starts) including:

A Royal Traditional Tahitian Wedding at the Tiki Village, Moorea
2 Round trip Tickets to Tahiti on Air TahitiNui
Intercontinental Hotel Tahiti voucher for two persons (2 nights in Papeete /4 nights in Moorea)
Starwood Hotel Sheraton voucher for two persons (2 nights in Papeete /3 nights in Moorea )
Tahitian black pearl gold pendent from Tahitinuipearl

I think the odds are very good for getting a great prize. And to help a good cause and see some Tahitian dancing, even better.

Requested attire is Hawaiian shirts and/or floral lei's.

Photo courtesy of Tahiti Tourisme.

Baggage Storage at Tahiti Airport

At Tahiti (Faaa) Airport (the only one on the island) baggage storage is located in a small building within the large parking lot just in front of the airport.

Air Tahiti Nui has provided this luggage storage information page which includes an excellent map to the location. As links to Tahiti related Web pages go bad at an alarming rate I have also copied the information here.

The hours of operation are:

Monday	4 am - 12:30 am (+1)
Tuesday.	5 am -12:30 am (+1)
Wednesday.	5 am -12:30 am (+1)
Thursday	5 am -12:30 am (+1)
Friday	5 am - 11 pm
Saturday	5 am - 12:30 am (+1)
Sunday	5 am -12:30 am (+1)
Holidays	5 am -12:30 am (+1)

For 24 hours of storage the rates are:

Small volume (vanity, etc.)*	395
Middle size suitcase	640
Big box	950
Surfboard (short board)	1100
One cover-several surfboards	1600
Surfboards over 2 meters	2200
Windsurfer	2700

Currency accepted: Euros, AUD, NZD, USD, XPF
Credit cards: Visa and Mastercard

* my 2' x 1' x 10" duffle was accepted at this fee on two different occasions over a year apart.

The telephone number for baggage storage is: (689) 86 60 08

I've also stored my bags for free at the downtown tourist office. They are only open during the day until 5 pm. That is just a leave your bags in this corner deal vs. having a claim ticket.

Please be aware that the hours and rates may change.

Buggspray

I must admit that I'm a mosquito magnet. I recall sitting in the Club Bali Hai lobby with three other people as dusk approached. They were perfectly fine but I had to flee to my room as I was being eaten alive. So the mozzies may not be an issue for you. However, if they are I'd like to recommend Buggspray. Unlike other insect repellents this one smells nice, like vanilla. It contains 25% deet so it works (there is also a non-deet version which I haven't tried).

You can purchase it directly at Buggspray's eBay store or from a retail store (mostly in the mid-west) or via mailing them.

Their products are more expensive than the regular brands - $14.00 for 2 4 oz. spray pump bottles or $5 for a one ounce trial size plus shipping but if smelling nice matters then this is the product to choose.

etahiticards

etahiticards is a fun Web site that I found. It allows you to send free Tahitian flavored ecards. Unlike other electronic greeting card sites that I've seen there are no pop-ups or blinking advertisements.

They have a wonderful selection of postcards and you get to add a beautiful Tahitian postal stamp to your card.

Card selections include the works of Tahitian artists, incredible photographs taken on land and underwater.

Some of my favorites are: