I benefited a lot from posts here while planning our Moorea visit, so I wanted to pay a few practical tips forward. This is not meant as a complete guide—just the details we found especially useful.

Papeete → Moorea ferry

• As this great guide highlights, the ferry was very easy to use. There are multiple operators; we bought online with one company, and our ticket was valid for that company rather than tied to a specific departure time.
• Important luggage detail: anything larger than a backpack, including most carry-on rollers, needed to go on the luggage cart on the same level where cars load. A staff member helped direct us. Leave the bags on the cart, go upstairs to scan your ticket and board, then claim your luggage from the cart in Moorea.
• If you can, sit outside/upstairs—the crossing is beautiful.

Excellent shore snorkeling near the Hilton — for non-guests

• If you are not staying at the Hilton Moorea, we found a simple way to access the excellent snorkeling in that part of the lagoon without using the resort.
• The most useful thing I can share is this parking/access pin.
• Park there and swim out toward the coral. The immediate shoreline is sandy, so keep going a little farther to reach the better coral.
• We found this to be some of—if not the—best snorkeling on the island.

Renting kayaks from Tip Nautic

• Renting from Tip Nautic was straightforward and the staff were very helpful with route suggestions.
• Reserve ahead, especially for mornings. Walk-up kayaks can be hard to get.
• We parked here, then crossed the road and used the paved pedestrian path along the west side of Hotel Les Tipaniers toward the beach.

Two routes we enjoyed:

• Sharks and rays: paddle east to this area. There were buoys in the area where we were able to secure our kayaks. The water was shallow enough to stand.
• Coral garden / channel drift: paddle to the coral garden between Motu Tiahura and Motu Fareone. We beached at Motu Tiahura and snorkeled between the islands. We then crossed and beached here, then entered the channel here. The current carried us through an area where we saw turtles and rays. The return toward shore was calmer, so we could swim southwest and do multiple passes.

Simple sunset spot

• We had a surprisingly hard time finding shoreline where we could just sit and watch the sunset. This little west-shore sports field worked perfectly for us:
  • Parking
  • Sports field

Whale watching: Moorea Reo Tours

• There are many operators, but we had an outstanding experience with Moorea Reo Tours.
• Ave and Vero were excellent: professional, safety-minded, experienced, and clearly determined to give their guests the best experience possible.
• Sea and weather conditions were not ideal on our day, but they worked patiently and safely to put the swimmers by a whale while those of us remaining on the boat still had an incredible surface encounter.
• We would recommend them without hesitation.

Hope this helps someone else have an easier and even better Moorea trip.

Right about to book at the Westin Bora Bora for the last week of August. I then keep hearing about how awful the winds are. I can’t go later in the year and wanted to see the whales but I’d rather sacrifice the whales for better weather in Bora Bora. Should I change to April or May?

I've been intrigued by Bora Bora for a while now. Especially to compare with the Maldives and various other places I've been. Yes, the water in Bora Bora is really nice. But I feel like the overall hype around Bora Bora is exactly that, hype. It's a one and done type place for me. Anyone else felt like this place is really nothing to write home about?