South Pacific

[souldoubt]

Anyone ever vacationed or lived in the South Pacific?  Later this year it's very likely that I'm traveling to Asia for work and would try to get a personal trip in the week before with my better half by stopping off somewhere in the South Pacific.  No idea on dates yet and I realize that can impact where because of weather but figured I'd ask now for feedback to start considering my options.  We'd be flying out of SoCal and at first glance getting to Tahiti isn't too expensive but admittedly I know nothing about the options in the area.  We've been to Hawaii multiple times and are going early this year so I'd prefer to go somewhere else.    

Thanks in advance.   

[milee]

Not an expert, but I have been to Bora Bora, Raiatea and Tahaa.  We were there a little over a week and spent less than 24 hours of it on land (we chartered a live-aboard catamaran and sailed around), so can't tell you much about the land parts, but the water  - diving and snorkeling - was the most amazing water and wildlife I've ever seen.  It was amazing and I'd go back in a heartbeat.   

On land, we flew into Tahiti, but it didn't look like anywhere I'd want to spend time since Papaete (sp?) was a big, dirty city.  The little bit of walking we did around Bora Bora was interesting, but again, only about 2-3 hours worth while I found a small clinic to treat my raging ear infection.  Very pretty island and friendly people.  Tahaa we were ashore for about 2 hours to visit a pearl farming operation and what we saw was beautiful and the pearl farming interesting.  We spend one night in Raiatea and borrowed some of the ricketiest, scariest bicycles I've ever seen and pedaled all up and down the volcano roads.  Pretty countryside - not much to do. 

Again, go do the water stuff.  It's so incredible I'm not even sure I could attempt to adequately describe it.  Even better than Hawaii's water, and Hawaii's water is very nice. 

[haapai]

You might get better responses if you mentioned a specific island or what you wanted to do or see while you were there.  The Pacific is big and there are a mind-numbing number of islands.  Some islands have stunningly well-developed tourism infrastructure and treat you very well and charge you handsomely for it.  Other places may be much more oriented toward a particular crowd of cut-rate holidayers and be a bit tatty and tourist-trappy.  What are you looking for?  Do you just want to lie on a beach and be warm for a change or do you want to see pretty fish? 

FWIW, the South Pacific is weirdly divided into orbits that correspond to colonial powers and current airline routes. 

[garion2003]

sorry, I'm too busy washing that man right out of my hair

[souldoubt]

Thanks for the responses.  Unfortunately I don't have a specific island in mind because I know nothing about them as the Hawaiian islands are the only islands in the pacific I've been to that are more than 30 miles from California.  We just got back from Hawaii and enjoyed snorkeling, going on hikes, seeing waterfalls and enjoying the laid back vibe and attitude.  We've been to Hawaii multiple times and will go back again but with a work trip my company pays for my flight so ideally it would be better to take advantage of that and go a bit further.  The other caveat is that my better half would go with me just that far then return home when I head off to Asia for work so if we find an island that's cheaper to get to that saves us some money on her ticket. 

To give you an idea of what we like we've been to 3 of the 4 main Hawaiian islands and of those that we've been to we'd rank them Maui - Kauai - Oahu.  There was nothing wrong with Oahu it's just that even in the off season it reminded us too much of home - overbuilt, crowded and too many franchises.  I realize our view is skewed because we stayed in Waikiki and there are more laid back areas but that's what we like to avoid when we go on vacation as we live somewhere that's very similar.  Kauai was nice it was just rural while Maui was a good middle ground being laid back, not too crowded and lot of locally owned businesses.  The locally owned businesses thing isn't a huge deal but it's just a different feeling going through towns or areas that have those rather than ones that have malls, McD's and everything in between.  While we like laid back we obviously want to be safe and are fine paying more to be somewhere that's safer and cleaner as opposed to traveling on the cheap like when we were younger and more carefree.  We prefer to go with airbnb or VRBO as opposed to staying in a hotel or in a resort unless we get some great deal.  If we happen to go during busy season I definitely prefer to avoid resorts or hotels (unless it's a safety issue) as I imagine it will be full of families and kids which means more noise and just not the atmosphere we're looking for.   

Hopefully this helps as I'm open to looking into any options suggested.    

Edit - milee the live-aboard catamaran sounds awesome but I'd have to discuss it with my better half first.  She's done cruises without any issues but does get motion/sea sickness at times.  I think being on a cruise ship reduces a lot of that since it's bigger but not sure about something smaller.  Either way definitely something to consider and unlike anything we've ever done before.      

[milee]

The live-aboard catamaran was fantastic - easy to get to all the cool underwater stuff and the fishing was easy and great. But if your better half gets sea sick, you'll want to figure that out first.  I'm very lucky that I haven't tended to get sea sick, but some of my family does and it's no fun. Plus, on something like the catamaran, there's really nowhere else to go if you're sick.  Although they're both technically ships, a live-aboard catamaran is just about the polar opposite of a cruise ship. A cruise ship is more like a floating resort, but a catamaran is a relatively small boat - more like an oceangoing RV. Really amazing but not for everyone.

If you're interested in chartering, we've had good experiences with The Moorings in Tahiti and Belize as well.  www.moorings.com/

[Gardening Grandma]

DH and I went to Fiji in 2000. Loved it. Beautiful and the Fijian people were genuinely welcoming.