Matira Beach Questions

[lisajltx]

Hi,

We are doing our own thing while visiting Bora Bora.  We always enjoy a beach day.  Are you able to rent beach chairs and umbrellas on the public beach side of Matera?  Is there any beach service? Are taxi's readily available?

 

Thanks!

Lisa

 

[Tahitianbigkahuna]

Taxis yes .... there are a few places with shade at the public fare on the beach, just across the street from the IC Moana.

[Petoonya]

The other possibility for you is a day stay at the IC Continental on Matira Beach. It's not cheap but gives you chairs, access to the beach, shade, umbrellas, pool, beach toys and a superb lunch. We've done it a few times and it's excellent. I don't recall any places to rent umbrellas and beach chairs for the public area at Matira, but I could be mistaken. In their summer, November to March, the sun really bakes down and sun faces the beach. I'd be uncomfortable without an umbrella or unless I sat in the water much of the time.

 

The lagoon is the BIG deal in Bora Bora. Doing your own thing is great anywhere else, but Bora Bora is a place worth splurging on- it's like no other place on earth. You can find a 3 hour snorkel excursion in BB on Viator on Tripadvisor for a very reasonable price and still have time for Matira Beach. You can do an excursion in the morning, hop back to your ship for lunch and go back to Matira Beach in the afternoon for a few hours.

[jilly08]

On 10/29/2021 at 11:47 PM, Petoonya said:

The other possibility for you is a day stay at the IC Continental on Matira Beach. It's not cheap but gives you chairs, access to the beach, shade, umbrellas, pool, beach toys and a superb lunch. We've done it a few times and it's excellent. I don't recall any places to rent umbrellas and beach chairs for the public area at Matira, but I could be mistaken. In their summer, November to March, the sun really bakes down and sun faces the beach. I'd be uncomfortable without an umbrella or unless I sat in the water much of the time.

 

The lagoon is the BIG deal in Bora Bora. Doing your own thing is great anywhere else, but Bora Bora is a place worth splurging on- it's like no other place on earth. You can find a 3 hour snorkel excursion in BB on Viator on Tripadvisor for a very reasonable price and still have time for Matira Beach. You can do an excursion in the morning, hop back to your ship for lunch and go back to Matira Beach in the afternoon for a few hours.

Hi!

Yes I do have excursions booked, but I wanted to spend some time just being in that water. When I was there in 2015, the section of beach I was at had no chairs etc but was wondering if any other strip of the beach may have them.  

Thank you for your input. 

Jill

[Petoonya]

1 hour ago, jilly08 said:

Hi!

Yes I do have excursions booked, but I wanted to spend some time just being in that water. When I was there in 2015, the section of beach I was at had no chairs etc but was wondering if any other strip of the beach may have them.  

Thank you for your input. 

Jill

This has been a few years ago but I did read that there is someone who rents chairs at Matira but the supply is limited and he's usually out by 9-10am.

I know this is weird but when we go to Maui we always bring beach chairs. Most of the condos we stay in have them, and the ones that don't you can always rent at Snorkel Bo's or the like. But ours are Tommy Bahama-esque that you can wear on your back and are especially light cooling and comfy- better than T. Bahamas. We just check the chairs. We are snorkelers and don't spend time on the beach in Tahiti though so wouldn't bring them there. But we pack light except for snorkel gear and if I wanted to beach it up some in Tahiti, I'd really bring them. Besides it's worth the funny looks you get from people walking through LAX. I bring my own umbrella to Maui too 😉

[Wilcoam]

Just off the WS Breeze, we spent our first day in Bora making our own independent plans

 

We easily found a taxi in port, Duaro from Bora (lol) for $20 USD (or 2000 FPC), took the 10 min ride to Matira Beach, using a towel from the ship, we walked the sandy beach, swam in the ocean, interacted with locals and doggies 

 

Then we walked 10 min for a private guided paddle boarding, we booked independently, right by the IC Moana, I can't remember the co, but it's self owned and the guide, Evan, is terrific, it was also 'inexpensive' at 8,000 FFC each 

 

Then we walked 10 min back to the beach and had a scrumptious local Tahitian Tuna sampler at the Beach Club which we would highly recommend, not to mention the post meal Creme Brûlée and or Eclair was to die for, so yes the food on WS Breeze was way way above average, and free/included, but unlike PG it's in short supply of authentic local Tahitian food, so this was one of the best lunches, and an authentic one to boot, on our vacation, I mean the poisson cru, sashimi, etc was incredible, not to mention the patio view...     

 

Then back to the beach, where there was a shop you could easily rent kayaks, water scooters, jet ski's, or paddle boards, but we just hung out, on our ship towels, our mindset was it was a day of leisure, we diverted the money we would spend go a ship excursion to a local lunch, and private paddle board, and more lounged, while time stopped so to speak 

 

There were a handful of fellow independent cruisers from WS there too but I would think most WS pax were likely on ship excursions which did not include stops at Matira though a drive by Trolley with about 20-30 WS folks did stop for about 10 minutes 🙂 

 

We called Dauro from Bora by cell to pick us up, same fare, back to the port

 

Great day, and on day 2 we went back to the cruise excursions and did a fab afternoon jet ski around Bora with Moana Adventures, (we could have booked direct but got lazy) and that was a major excursion hilight of our cruise, but we loved the Matira beach day/paddke board on our own just as much, the mix of both worked, and we felt like gypsy beach bums away from other cruisers 

 

We also made an evening reservation to dine at St James, but found out it was the same night as the ship's Motu fire BBQ, we couldn't miss that, so unfort had to cancel the dinner reservation, we also highly reccomend the tasting menu at Villa Mahana, this is where a land stay in BB works much better with trying to dine locally than say a 2 day stop off a cruise, but we were glad to have done the local lunch 

 

jc 

 

 

 

   

Edited November 6, 2021 by Wilcoam

[Petoonya]

@Wilcoam

What a wonderful day you had! Two days. All the information is helpful and terrific. Keeping it in my Tahiti file. Thank you!

 

We have four days in BB next August and trying to sort out what to on the fourth. This is perfect and full of detail. Anything else about doing things independently anywhere would be great.

What did you do in Raiatea and Huahine? Again two days in each and think I have it figured out, but appreciate any ideas and  details you have.

[jilly08]

On 11/6/2021 at 3:39 PM, Wilcoam said:

Just off the WS Breeze, we spent our first day in Bora making our own independent plans

 

We easily found a taxi in port, Duaro from Bora (lol) for $20 USD (or 2000 FPC), took the 10 min ride to Matira Beach, using a towel from the ship, we walked the sandy beach, swam in the ocean, interacted with locals and doggies 

 

Then we walked 10 min for a private guided paddle boarding, we booked independently, right by the IC Moana, I can't remember the co, but it's self owned and the guide, Evan, is terrific, it was also 'inexpensive' at 8,000 FFC each 

 

Then we walked 10 min back to the beach and had a scrumptious local Tahitian Tuna sampler at the Beach Club which we would highly recommend, not to mention the post meal Creme Brûlée and or Eclair was to die for, so yes the food on WS Breeze was way way above average, and free/included, but unlike PG it's in short supply of authentic local Tahitian food, so this was one of the best lunches, and an authentic one to boot, on our vacation, I mean the poisson cru, sashimi, etc was incredible, not to mention the patio view...     

 

Then back to the beach, where there was a shop you could easily rent kayaks, water scooters, jet ski's, or paddle boards, but we just hung out, on our ship towels, our mindset was it was a day of leisure, we diverted the money we would spend go a ship excursion to a local lunch, and private paddle board, and more lounged, while time stopped so to speak 

 

There were a handful of fellow independent cruisers from WS there too but I would think most WS pax were likely on ship excursions which did not include stops at Matira though a drive by Trolley with about 20-30 WS folks did stop for about 10 minutes 🙂 

 

We called Dauro from Bora by cell to pick us up, same fare, back to the port

 

Great day, and on day 2 we went back to the cruise excursions and did a fab afternoon jet ski around Bora with Moana Adventures, (we could have booked direct but got lazy) and that was a major excursion hilight of our cruise, but we loved the Matira beach day/paddke board on our own just as much, the mix of both worked, and we felt like gypsy beach bums away from other cruisers 

 

We also made an evening reservation to dine at St James, but found out it was the same night as the ship's Motu fire BBQ, we couldn't miss that, so unfort had to cancel the dinner reservation, we also highly reccomend the tasting menu at Villa Mahana, this is where a land stay in BB works much better with trying to dine locally than say a 2 day stop off a cruise, but we were glad to have done the local lunch 

 

jc 

 

 

 

   

Great information.   How did you contact Dauro? Private Taxi?    thank you!

[jilly08]

11 hours ago, Petoonya said:

@Wilcoam

What a wonderful day you had! Two days. All the information is helpful and terrific. Keeping it in my Tahiti file. Thank you!

 

We have four days in BB next August and trying to sort out what to on the fourth. This is perfect and full of detail. Anything else about doing things independently anywhere would be great.

What did you do in Raiatea and Huahine? Again two days in each and think I have it figured out, but appreciate any ideas and  details you have.

I was in Tahiti in 2015 and we visited both of those ports on Pacific Princess. Check out my blog. I reviewed the tours I did. 

 

Jill

[Petoonya]

14 hours ago, jilly08 said:

I was in Tahiti in 2015 and we visited both of those ports on Pacific Princess. Check out my blog. I reviewed the tours I did. 

 

Jill

Thanks Jill. Our next trip is our 7th time to Tahiti (last early 2020) and I feel good about which providers to use everywhere and what we want to do. . It's just hard with 4 days in BB to know what to do on the 4th day- all we care about is snorkeling. If you're concentrating on  snorkeling you usually start to repeat the same snorkeling sites with providers. So was looking to do something different. Like go to the beach!

 

We've used just about all the providers there are, everytime in Huahine  as well as rent a car to drive the island. Think we'll either use the sports deck on the boat for one of the days and drive to a hotel on Huahine Iti, as they have day stays and on a great snorkel  beach. Was just wondering if there was anything new to do that we haven't done. 🙂 Raiatea is always a puzzle as you can go back to Coral Gardens, jet ski or kayak, or visit sacred site- all of which we've done several times. There are also car rentals but usually broken down cars that you have to worry about getting back to port with!

Edited November 12, 2021 by Petoonya

[jilly08]

On 11/12/2021 at 11:35 AM, Petoonya said:

Thanks Jill. Our next trip is our 7th time to Tahiti (last early 2020) and I feel good about which providers to use everywhere and what we want to do. . It's just hard with 4 days in BB to know what to do on the 4th day- all we care about is snorkeling. If you're concentrating on  snorkeling you usually start to repeat the same snorkeling sites with providers. So was looking to do something different. Like go to the beach!

 

We've used just about all the providers there are, everytime in Huahine  as well as rent a car to drive the island. Think we'll either use the sports deck on the boat for one of the days and drive to a hotel on Huahine Iti, as they have day stays and on a great snorkel  beach. Was just wondering if there was anything new to do that we haven't done. 🙂 Raiatea is always a puzzle as you can go back to Coral Gardens, jet ski or kayak, or visit sacred site- all of which we've done several times. There are also car rentals but usually broken down cars that you have to worry about getting back to port with!

That is what I want to do on BoraBora Day 2 and have an obligatory Bloody at Bloody Mary's!  

Which hotel do you visit on Huahine Iti for the day pass?

 

thanks,

Jill

[Petoonya]

@jilly08

Jill....It's Hotel L' Mahana. Best beach on Huahine. Great lunch. Check out Tripadvisor. Email them ask them about their day pass. They have a shuttle service from airport to the hotel- airport about 3 blocks from pier. 9000xpf pp for the day.

 

[Tahitianbigkahuna]

Agree that Hotel L' Mahana is a great place to hang for the day. Good food, nice beach and some decent snorkeling ... but it is a distance to get to. 

 

Another nice place that has a day rate with lunch included is ... a short walk from the main village of Fare.

https://www.huahine.hotelmaitai.com/Welcome-to-Maitai-Lapita-Village-Huahine

[Petoonya]

Hotel Le Mahana is 20 miles from the port and as I say they do have a shuttle. It's a beautiful drive too. You can also rent a car for about $75/day. Their cars have always been late models and nice.

comptasfn@mail.pf

[jilly08]

Thank you Everyone that responded!

I appreciate all the options.

Hopefully, less than 2 weeks until I leave.

 

Jill