Ua Huka Orientation & Arboretum

Posted on July 24, 2014 by Tara

I had been hoping to go birding the next day with the guide, Geoffray Sulpice but because the Aranui cruise ship was in port, he was already occupied for the day. Let’s start with an orientation of the island of Ua Huka. In the map below, I have used red arrows to indicate the 3 villages – Vaipaee, Hane & Hokatu. Each village is at the mouth of a small river or stream that flows through the valley into the sea. The beautiful endemic Ultramarine Lorikeets can be found in these valleys.

Ua Huka highlights map

The northern side of the island is uninhabited, the entire population is in the southern coast where the villages are. There is no public transport. Tourists can either rent a car or horse and go around by themselves or get your guesthouse owner to organize something for you. Maurice did this for us. I forget what he charged for about a half day tour, it was around 2500 XPF-ish.

UA HUKA ARBORETUM

The first stop was the Ua Huka Arboretum which is a botanical garden and one of the best places for independent birding as it is open to the public and there is no entry fee. It is located between the airport and the main village of Vaipaee, see the green arrow above.

There is a trail that leads pretty far back towards the mountain, the further back you walk, the narrower it gets and the more birds you will see. As you walk through, enjoy many beautiful tropical flowers and plants.

Those tiny dots are Ultramarine Lorikeets, must have been in a hurry to get somewhere!

White-capped Fruit Dove

Marquesan Monarch, the other Ua Huka endemic

This little guy is called a “vini” by the locals which is confusing as the scientific name for the Ultramarine Lorikeet is “Vini ultramarina”, but these birds aren’t even close. I think they are Chestnut-breasted Mannikins.

Long-billed Warbler

Lodge Review: Pension Maurice et Delphine, Ua Huka, Marquesas

Posted on July 22, 2014 by Tara

Forget your hotel points, in the Marquesas, you will be staying in small guesthouses with the locals called pensions – and that’s half the fun! Pension Maurice et Delphine is in the village of Hokatu which is the best location if you are hoping to see Ultramarine Lorikeets.

You can’t beat the loction, on a cliff with a great view of the sea!

We stayed 3 nights and the first night we were the only guests. We were lucky enough to get the bungalow Mata Otemanu which is on the corner of the property so we had views of both the sea and the valley. This valley is where I got my first glimpse of the beautiful Ultramarine Lorikeet as pairs flew swiftly and sporadically through the valley.

The bungalows themselves are small but cute. They don’t have kitchens but they do have a kettle so you can boil water for ramen noodles! No hot water so we had to take quick showers in the afternoon before the sun set and it cooled down.

Wild horses (which can be seen from the verandah) were not going to drag me away from my lazy birding! Most people book demi-pension which gives breakfast and dinner. In June 2014, this was 5900 XPF per person. The breakfast is a typical island continental breakfast of bread, fruit, coffee, tea and fresh-squeezed lemon juice. Dinners will have a variety, usually seafood but they were very accommodating when I told them I don’t eat seafood. My husband was loving the island style food (like he grew up with)! Meals are served at Maurice & Delphine’s house which is a short walk from the bungalows. At night, there are no street lights so you will need a torch/flashlight to get back.

My husband got into some ukulele jamming with the family after dinner!Maurice & Delphine have a small convenience store and Maurice is a master wood carver so you can see his workshop and buy souvenirs if you want.

In front of the house/shop you can see a typical Polynesian vaka or canoe.

Maurice & Delphine are lovely people. This is one of the reasons people visit the Marquesas – to see how the locals live and interact with them and you can’t ask for friendlier people! Delphine’s English is better than Maurice’s so be prepared to communicate in French. The bird guide (whom I will talk about in a future post) is their nephew and they are happy to organize any birding or sightseeing you need on the island at reasonable prices. There is no internet or email here so you have to call them by phone to book accommodation and once again, be prepared to speak basic French! Airport transfers are 2000 CFP return.

Contact Information

Address: Vaipae’e, Vaipaee, Ua Huka, French Polynesia
Phone: /92–60–55

First Impressions – Ua Huka

Posted on July 19, 2014 by Tara

We arrived right on time, I was very impressed with Air Tahiti’s punctuality. Since Ua Huka is a smaller island, we had to change planes in Nuku Hiva. The airport is small but it was nice to stretch my legs after the long flight from Papeete.

Always ready to watch birds, I spotted a Nuku Hiva pigeon near the airport.

The plane to Ua Huka was much smaller. It turned out that the son of my guesthouse owner was on the plane so I was looking forward to a smooth transfer to our bungalow.

The rugged topography of Ua Huka soon came into view.

We touched down at the tiny airport and “surprise” no one was there to pick us up! The son had taken off with his friends. Everyone seemed to know everyone else and assured me that Maurice, the guesthouse owner would be along shortly.

When everyone else had taken off, an airport employee took pity on us and gave us a lift to Hokatu. The scenery along the way was amazing! If these islands were as close to Papeete as Bora Bora, they would be over-run with tourists so I was starting to appreciate the long (albeit expensive) journey to get there!

We were dropped at Maurice & Delphine’s home where Maurice came out, apologized for not being at the airport and took us to our bungalow. Review coming!

Getting Around French Polynesia – Domestic Flights

Posted on July 10, 2014 by Tara

Flights within French Polynesia are operated by Air Tahiti (not to be confused with Air Tahiti Nui, the international carrier). Flights are all one-cabin but they won’t be full as they can’t sell all the seats due to weight restrictions landing on the smaller islands.

The two biggest problems are:

1. You can’t use miles to book these flights. Air Tahiti doesn’t have any partnerships with any other airline. You could use cash back type points such as Ultimate Rewards or Barclay’s Arrival points.

2. The flights are VERY expensive! Those of you who have been to Bora Bora ain’t seen nothing yet, but now you know why we had to resort to ramen noodles to at least make up a bit of the budget! They accept most major credit cards so at least you will get a decent amount of miles from the bank!

Air Tahiti Destinations

FLIGHT SCHEDULES

You can download a timetable for all Air Tahiti flights. They are updated twice a year, in March and September. As you can see above, most flights to the outer islands go via Papeete but within each island group there are connecting flights. You can’t go from one island group such as the Australes (where Rimatara is located) directly to another group such as the Marquesas (where Ua Huka is located).

ISLAND PASSES

In my case, I was targeting two specific bird species which are only found on two specific islands and I was limited by both time and money. Therefore all we could do was buy two round-trip tickets from Papeete to Ua Huka and Rimatara. For those who have more time and money, you can get island passes which give you several flights within an island group. There are strict rules associated with these passes, you can see more here.

If we had more time and money to spend, we definitely would have gone for a Marquesas Pass. Even just flying over the various islands, I could see they were stunningly beautiful, would put Bora Bora to shame!

Terms & Conditions for Passes

Pass fares are offered to adults (over 12 years old) and children (2 to 11 years). There are no Pass fares for infants.

As a general rule, all Passes start and finish in Tahiti or Moorea.

You do not have to visit all of the islands included in your chosen Pass, but at least two islands must be visited.

Each island may be visited only once (a single stopover per island); returning to Tahiti while using the Pass is not permitted.

All of your flights must be confirmed at the time of issuing your ticket.

The length of your trip may not exceed 28 days from the start date, including for Passes with one or more Extensions.

These fares may not be used in conjunction with other fares offered by Air Tahiti and are applicable for payment by cheque, credit/debit card or cash only.

Transits or stopovers in Tahiti while using the Pass

Transits or stopovers in Tahiti while using your Pass are not permitted, except:

for the Lagoons Pass, between Moorea and the islands of the Tuamotu Archipelago
for a Pass with Extension, between Pass and Extension

For these exceptions, a maximum transit of 24 hours in Tahiti is permitted.

Stopover (stop lasting more than 24hrs) on an island other than Tahiti

A single stopover is permitted per island.

A transit (stop lasting less than 24 hours) with a change of flight number is considered a stopover except for flights from Bora Bora via Rangiroa to Tikehau, Manihi or Fakarava. For these flights, when there is a flight number change with a stop of less than 2 hours in Rangiroa, such a stop may be considered a transit rather than a stopover.

Passes including more than one group of islands.

All of the islands from a given archipelago must be visited before moving on to the next archipelago (e.g. for the Bora Bora-Tuamotu Pass, all of the islands from the Society Islands archipelago must be visited before moving on to those of the Tuamotu Archipelago).

Within a given archipelago, the islands may be visited in any order, subject to feasibility with regard to Air Tahiti’s flight schedule.

Extensions

An Extension may not be purchased on its own; it must be combined with one of the Passes.

Extensions must be used before or after the Pass.

It is permitted to purchase both Extensions.

A 24-hour stop in Tahiti between Pass and Extension is permitted.

Getting To French Polynesia (Tahiti) With Miles

Posted on July 9, 2014 by Tara

The first thing you need to deal with is that flights into PPT, the international airport of Tahiti, French Polynesia are very limited. Coming from Australia, our only options were through Auckland. People coming from North America can connect through LAX and Honolulu and people coming from Europe could connect through Paris.

STAR ALLIANCE

Air New Zealand is the only Star Alliance airline serving Tahtiti. You can get an idea of availability on United’s site. I couldn’t find anything until Feb 2015 and economy class only.

For the last year, NZ has not been releasing any seats at all between Brisbane and Auckland so even if I could have snagged a couple of rare AKL-PPT seats I would have had to pay extra to get us to Auckland. I didn’t like that option! Air New Zealand used to be more generous with award seats, in 2011 I redeemed business class to Rarotonga but these awards are a thing of the past.

ONE WORLD ALLIANCE

LAN is the only OneWorld member flying to Tahiti so unlikely to be of use to people reading this blog, especially since AA no longer offers RTW mileage awards.

SKYTEAM ALLIANCE

Air France is the only Skyteam member that serves Tahiti. From Paris, one way awards start at 40,000 miles economy and fuel surcharge varies.

From the USA, rock bottom ex-LAX seems to be 30,000 miles with 146 EUR fuel surcharge.

The real challenge is trying to get connecting flights on Delta to LAX to hook up with your AIr France flight to Tahiti. I tried a few random dates in late 2014 and mid 2015 using flexible dates and couldn’t find anything to use as a screenshot example.

AIR TAHITI NUI

Air Tahiti Nui serves Auckland and LAX and is a partner of both American AAdvantage and Delta’s Skymiles. For Americans, you will face the same problem trying to get low-level award space on Delta from your home airport to LAX and Delta charges a fuel surcharge. AAdvantage has better availability for domestic USA awards to LAX.

For Aussies, you will fly on Qantas from Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne to Auckland, then transfer to Air Tahiti Nui. Award space was pretty good as long as you avoid holidays. You can see Qantas award space easily using AA’s tool.

Sometimes Air Tahiti Nui availability can be searched using the Flightstats tool.

If the systems are hooking up, you can see the fare buckets still available. This is what it will look like using the more easily searched AKL-BNE route. Ecomony seats are W class, business seats are I class. More information and photos of the cabins can be found on Flyertalk. Business seats are not lie-flat and it’s only a 4.5 hour flight so in most cases economy will be sufficient.

HAWAIIAN AIRLINES

One last option is Hawaiian Airlines. If you are a member of their program, you can redeem online at these award levels.

Otherwise, Hawaiian Airlines partners with many other frequent flyer programs such as United Airlines, American Airlines, US Airways, Alaskan Airlines, ANA, Korean and Virgin Australia so you may be able to use their miles to construct an award Mainland USA – HNL-PPT.

SUMMARY

In summary, getting to Tahiti using miles is one of the most challenging awards you will ever book so you do need to plan well in advance and research your airlines and award levels. I found the easiest option for availability to be on American’s AAdvantage program but as usual, your miles may vary!

Rare Birds & Ramen Noodles – Birding Remote French Polynesia

Posted on July 8, 2014 by Tara

Last month, I snuck off to two of the most fascinating islands in French Polynesia for birders – Ua Huka and Rimatara. Although I was pretty much unplugged for this trip, I did have blog posts queued up for auto posting so no one probably even noticed I was away. But now it’s time to ‘fess up and introduce you to two amazing islands that most travel bloggers have never heard of, let alone traveled to!

Location of Ua Huka and Rimatara in relation to Papeete and Bora Bora

This map shows where we were in relation to the two French Polynesian islands most other bloggers have been posting about – Tahiti and Bora Bora.

This trip was a bucket list journey for me in which I got to see one of the world’s most beautiful birds – the Ultramarine Lorikeet for the first time………………….

Ultramarine Lorikeet

……………………and to see the beautiful Rimatara Lorikeet, previously seen in Atiu in their original homeland of Rimatara!

Rimatara Lorikeets

I have many more photos of these gorgeous birds, I haven’t really sorted through them all yet so as this journey progresses you will get to see a lot more………………and yes they will be clear shots!

This is one trip you can’t do totally with miles and points. I had originally planned to do it in Feb 2015 with AAdvantage miles redeemed on Qantas and Air Tahiti Nui but brought it forward to June 2014. All the recent devaluations have spooked me a bit and this is one trip that could be vulnerable to the new US/AA merger. Air Tahiti Nui is a partner of AAdvantage but not US Airways and even then they are only a half partner. You can redeem but not accrue miles on Air Tahiti Nui using AAdvantage and they are not in OneWorld or any other alliance. Theoretically, I should have been able to do this trip with Star Alliance partner United or even US Airways before they merged but it’s been over a year since Air New Zealand has released award space in ANY class – economy or business on the Brisbane-Auckland route and space between Auckland and other Aussie airports is extremely limited. I felt it was a situation of book now or possibly lose my chance to get the flights to Tahiti on miles period!

Once in Tahiti, we still had to get to the islands of Ua Huka and Rimatara. The only way to do this is on Air Tahiti (not the same as Air Tahiti Nui) and you can’t use miles, you MUST pay cash and these flights are not cheap! I’ll be going into detail in a later post but now you know why we ate ramen noodles for most lunches (and will be eating them a lot at home for the next couple months)!

New Birding Guides In French Polynesia

Posted on February 14, 2014 by Tara

While gathering information for a future “bucket list” trip to the Marquesas to see the spectacular Ultramarine Lorikeet, and possibly also to Rimatara for Rimatara Lorikeets, I found this article in a pdf version of Air Tahiti’s magazine. Also see the MANU website.

This is excellent news as the birds could otherwise be difficult to find given the lush mountainous topography of these islands. The local guides would know where to find them.

There are very few airlines that get you to Tahiti on miles, only Air New Zealand (Star Alliance) and Air Tahiti Nui (non-alliance partner with American Airlines & Delta). You need a South Pacific award which falls into the same region as Australia in most cases.

Once you are there, you need to pay full price for the Air Tahiti flight as they don’t have any mileage options…………..and the flights are not cheap!

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