Tahiti- Huahine snorkel....or motu picnic?

[Petoonya]

Doing the 18 day on Wind Spirit in 2 weeks and have independent snorkel tours booked on every non-sea day. But nothing booked on either of two days in Huahine. Have done a lot of the snorkel tours in Huahine and thought we might use those two days to enjoy the ship and sports deck. But I always hate to miss opportunities, and should partake in. Last cruise a lady raved about the snorkeling excursion on Huahine. I've also heard that the Huahine motu picnic is fun from some, and sort of blah from others. I'm not a big fan of the motu picnic on Motu Mahaea and since we're doing that twice on this cruise maybe that's enough motu picnicking.

 

Anyone experience these two excursions?

[salmn]

On 7/21/2022 at 3:00 PM, Petoonya said:

Doing the 18 day on Wind Spirit in 2 weeks and have independent snorkel tours booked on every non-sea day. But nothing booked on either of two days in Huahine. Have done a lot of the snorkel tours in Huahine and thought we might use those two days to enjoy the ship and sports deck. But I always hate to miss opportunities, and should partake in. Last cruise a lady raved about the snorkeling excursion on Huahine. I've also heard that the Huahine motu picnic is fun from some, and sort of blah from others. I'm not a big fan of the motu picnic on Motu Mahaea and since we're doing that twice on this cruise maybe that's enough motu picnicking.

 

Anyone experience these two excursions?

We did Marc’s motu picnic and was not impressed. The short stop at the pearl farm was OK, the picnic was way too long so the snorkeling was short and rushed. We are snorkelers also, and we were not impressed.  We were late getting back to the tender and were on the last tender. Too close for comfort. Would not recommend.  The first time we stopped at Huahine, we did a land tour, saw the sacred eels, stopped at a sacred marae, saw some interesting sites then spent the afternoon using the sports deck. On the 18 day trip, we did not get many chances to relax and use the ships sports deck. That was a better day for us.

I cannot remember the name of the land tour.

[avalong]

Petoonya,

We too booked with  Huahine Nautique (Marc's Motu picnic), but they were so very late picking us up that we gave up on them and, last minute, hopped on a Windstar picnic and snorkeling excursion (the cruise director was in the area where we were waiting and was most accommodating). We had SO much fun. And the snorkeling was pretty good too, but a little blown out (wind happens...). I wish I could remember the exact name of the excursion, but I can't. It included an in-the-water picnic, a demo on how to make poisson cru (sp?), and snorkel time. 

(Side note: Huahine Nautique pulled up just as we were ready to get on the Windstar excursion boat, some 45 minutes late. We got our money back through our credit card).

Edited July 23, 2022 by avalong

[Petoonya]

Salmn,

I remember your review of Marc's Nautique and what especially stood out was that you nearly missed the last tender. That did it for me! Besides which the description always sounded a little hokey. Was really glad to get your feedback. And as you say the 18 day was loooooong the last time, and with all the snorkeling we'll be doing having a day or two to enjoy the ship and do some tubing sounds wonderful.

 

Avalong,

Thanks for your words about the WS picnic- sounds like a reasonable alternative to other activities and a lot of fun. I was mainly concerned that it sounded too much like the barbecue day on Motu Mahaea which was never one of our favorite days. But this sounds like, especially since the snorkeling is decent unlike Motu Mahaea, it might be right up our alley.

 

Thanks to both of you for the input.

Nancy

 

 

[salmn]

Petoonya,

Enjoy your trip. We loved the 18 day Wind Spirit cruise and would love to do it again some day. With the two year traveling hiatus, we are getting behind on our trips. Because we liked the Wind Spirit so much, we have booked the 18 day Wind Star, Costa Rica thru the canal ending in Barbados. I have not seen much about must do’s or excursions for this cruise. We have been at several of the Caribbean ports before, but not CR or thru the canal. If you have any input for us, it is appreciated. TIA