KAOHA
Or in other words Hello in Marquesan!
Yes, although the Polynesian people conquered a triangular territory - Hawaii in the north, New Zealand in the west to Easter Island in the east and French Polynesia in the middle, there are some variations in terms of language, and the Marquesas do not speak Tahitian, but even have two languages: Northern Marquesan and Southern Marquesan!
Let's start with a bonus from Tahiti, the main island of the French Polynesia.
For the many flights that arrive in the morning as was our case, once the keys have been collected, most tourists go down for a walk in the city. So head to the port and visit the Boungainville garden.
We go the market which closes relatively early - around 10am - but opens super early at 5:30am. It's something quite surprising when you arrive: the Polynesians start their day very early - and go to bed early around 8-9pm.
We were in the middle of the legislative elections, these blue flags are the rallying to the independence party, vs that of the autonomous (understand those who want to remain French) that we know in red and white.
For the record, 100 Pacific francs = €0.87, this piece of tuna therefore costs €8, Polynesia firmly holds its reputation for being expensive, which we will quickly understand!
We wandered around the market quite a bit, went to the pharmacy, did some shopping, visited the port and the garden and we thought it must be noon, we still went to the hotel before etc…
Well no, we looked at our phone and bam: it was 8:45 in the morning! We'll have to find something to do so as not to sink and be all jet-lagged for days.
So let's continue the visit with the pretty colonial town hall of Papeete.
The Haut Commissariat (the sort of governing body still in charge of Police, Military, Justice, Foreign affairs) built next to the local Polynesian Presidential palace.
Look at this magnificient Presidential building
We rent a car to keep us busy for the day, and take a little tour of the island.
We arrive at a small village known to its inhabitants and surfers from all over the world since it is a spot with a very high wave and which is the official surfing spot for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
We will end the day at the Point of Venus, which takes its name from the place where Cook anchored to discover Tahiti and also to note the passage of Venus in the sky.
In the distance, Moorea, a getaway destination for Tahitians and a superb island that we will discover later.
No miles or status points accumulated with this flight, Air Tahiti is not part of one of the 3 known alliances.
Flight routing
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The flight to Hiva Oa is still planned with a stopover at the other large island of the Marquesas, Nuku Hiva, to be able to arrive with a serene fuel reserve and also to market the flight as much as possible I imagin.
The journey will be made in a latest-generation ATR72-600 with 68 seats, a little more generous than the usual 72 seats on this type of aircraft.
We leave our hotel (the Fare Suisse) early in the morning, with these superb purple colors of the sunrise.
AT TAHITI - FAA'A PAPEETE AIRPORT
Papeete airport is very pleasant, at check-in and the staff are nice, enough to stay very relaxed.
The ladies at check-in weigh all the suitcases but are somewhat tolerant.
Good to know: the limit is 23kg but you are allowed 5kg more if you have a diving licence (PADI)
Our boarding pass is collected at the counter, there is no app and online check-in is of little use since it is not possible to select a seat.
we pass the PIF very quickly, there is no PAF since it is a domestic flight.
The boarding lounge is cool and comfortable.
Chicken are everywhere!
ONBOARD THE ATR72
Boarding is launched without fuss, first come first served, so it's always a bit more of a hustle and bustle to avoid being at the end of the queue, several people want to be on the "good side" meaning with a view of Moorea at takeoff.
Air Tahiti still called its premium customers first and PRMs.
Aircraft : ATR72-600
Tail Number: F-ORVU
Engines: 2x PWV WP127
Age:8 years old
Lay out: Y68
Named: Rerehau
What a nice livery!
The famous cabin of Air Tahiti's ATRs, although the seats don't recline…
But the space between the two seats has been filled in a small sofa format to allow couples, who form the vast majority of customers, to have a slightly more intimate journey.
Row 1 - of course therer is loads of space
The Buy on board menu also with some merch available to purchase.
The local company, which produces local fruit juices and is found everywhere, is the sponsor and benefactor of the drinks on board.
It's Air France's turn to return to Mainland France.
a very appropriate t-shirt!
Take off!
What a view on Moorea!
The drawings on the racks represents living together by men holding hands.
Air Tahiti still offers free drinks but on the other hand, food isn't EXCEPT for the longest routes of the network as is the case for on this flight and where the sandwich is free of charge.
We fly over the Tuamotu archipelago a little further, which is made up of 76 atolls.
These are exclusively atolls, this archipelago is the oldest in Polynesia.
All the islands were born from a volcano fed by a hot spot.
With the movement of the tectonic plates and over time, the hot spot moves (towards the east here in our case), the volcano is no longer fed by lava, it dies out.
Over the centuries, coral colonizes the coastline, forming a belt around the island.
But millennia pass and the volcano, extinct, becomes too heavy and begins to sink into the water, the coral belt continues to grow but mainly vertically, thus creating a space between the volcano and the coral belt: the lagoon.
When the volcano has completely sunk, only the coral belt remains, and the Atoll is born.
We must therefore imagine the photos below with a huge volcano the size of the atoll, but humans were not even there at that time.
The all-male crew saw us observing and took the time to point out the different atolls we were seeing, and were very friendly for the rest of the flight, coming back twice to serve us orange juice.
The on-board computer with pre-recorded mp3 announcements and boarding music.
The on-board and paper magazine review!
With the famous AVgeek page of any magazine, even if it's not very varied it's always good.
We are approaching Nukku Hiva, our stopover.
The first impressions clearly show the difference between this part of the Marquesas and Tahiti, it looks like the Canaries islands.
We are getting closer to the ground but we still can't see the runway…
I'm not used to flying in an ATR, we seem to be much closer to the ground.
AT NUKKU HIVA AIRPORT
View of the concourse which also serves as the arrivals hall, check-in hall, baggage claim, duty free, and catering hall - and garden!
Hey Chris, thanks for the next report in this nice series to a dream destination!
Flying within French Polynesia looks amazing. Now I'm dreaming of doing it...already booked up for every vacation for the next year but maybe 2025! It's too bad that VT's inter-island flights are so expensive though. Every time I've looked at planning a trip, flight between PPT and Bora Bora were like $500 R/T, which seems crazy since you can basically fly transatlantic for that much these days!
While I don't find the seats to be particularly attractive, I do like how there's no gap between each pair of 2 seats for more privacy! I also like that VT's ATRs are less dense than the standard so in combination with the thin design of the seats it looks quite spacious...for an ATR anyway.
Thanks for sharing!
Hey Kevin, thanks for stopping by!
I mean yes what a dream destination, In my mind there is Polynesia and all my other trips, two different categories!
I have heard that there is another carrier that started flight within Polynesia, to compete with the really high prices of VT.
The Return flights "dry" are quite expensive, it really worth looking at the "multi islands pass" for example they offer the same price but you can visit all the society islands in the order you wish to for the same price.
indeed ahah
Most of the flights are quite short but on these 4 fours flights it becomes to be a tad incofortable.
Thanks for sharing this flightreport ChrisB, bringing back fond memories. Have been following along this series with a keen eye as it is so interesting.
Nice to see that they offer food on the longest flight in their network, it' certainly a trek up there but the views out of the window looks gorgeous! wow! Very unique as well to see a flight up to Nuku Hiva on here, a place that I have dreamnt of visiting.
I have to agree with you on the crew and cabin front, I think the crew tends to give that Polynesian kindness, and the cabin is intriguingly different and a pleasure to look at.
Thanks for sharing, and looking forward to the rest of this series (and the Marquesas tourism bonus😁 hopefully)!
Thanks for the comment! Very kind!
I can see that you published a report from Polynesia too, I am going to read it :)
Yes most people focus on visiting the society islands but since we had more time, we wanted to make it all the way there!
The complimentary food is appreciated but I must say after 3hours, it becomes a tad boring on the ATR.
will publish the next one right away!