Raiatea, French Polynesia: Lots of excursion companies inside the tourism building at the tender pier

[fstuff1]

Tourism building on the left hand side after you enter the archway:

 

Sample tour company booth: Pearl farm, rum distillery and vanilla plantation for $85

 

I booked my tour from Viator. Tour provider was Te Mara Nui:

 

But they only did the Vanilla plantation and pearl farm.
And it costs more! ($115) 😮 😞

 

All the tour company did was water taxi you to the locations. At the locations, they had their own (free) guides who were great. They were informative and engaging. 
For the vanilla plantation, I had the young granddaughter of the owner. She was excellent!

 

So don't book in advance!

 

Sad notes:

Both the vanilla plantation and pearl farm is 1 person away from closing.
For the vanilla plantation, it's when the grandfather dies. (He's now in his 70s)
For the pearl farm, they're down to 1 person doing the special grafting to create pearl oysters.
Covid took out the other 6 and they can't find replacements.

 

Edited October 10, 2023 by fstuff1

[beechfor]

@fstuff1 do you recall any companies that offered snorkelling at the coral gardens?

[fstuff1]

6 hours ago, beechfor said:

@fstuff1 do you recall any companies that offered snorkelling at the coral gardens?

no. i cant swim so passed anything about snorkeling or diving

[CptBoatface]

We loved Raiatea!

[Kauaijim]

Great island but skipping vanilla visas is also a great idea 

[debfed65]

On 2/5/2024 at 4:11 PM, CptBoatface said:

We loved Raiatea!

Hello CptBoatface and greeting from Toronto 🇨🇦

 

What did you do in Raiatea? We are on Celebrity Edge TP this coming April with 3 stops in French Polynesia.  We are scuba diving the next day in Papeete so are looking for a relaxing day to go to a motu in Raiatea for beach time and snorkelling. Do you recall if there were any vendors set up in the port that offered water taxi back & forth to do this? Any information would be appreciated 🙂 

 

Thank you...Debbie & Ron

[CptBoatface]

I did the drift snorkel and loved it. Top notch. Then a ride up the river on a longboat which went to the public motu. Either was great, fully recommend 

[CptBoatface]

These were pre arranged boat tours but I think there were some tours available under the shelter 

[debfed65]

8 hours ago, CptBoatface said:

I did the drift snorkel and loved it. Top notch. Then a ride up the river on a longboat which went to the public motu. Either was great, fully recommend 

 

8 hours ago, CptBoatface said:

These were pre arranged boat tours but I think there were some tours available under the shelter 

Thank you for replying.  I have read about the drift snorkel & it does look amazing!  Do you recall the name of the public motu? Was it Motu Ofetaro? That seems to be the one I see online that you can book with te-mara-nui 

[CptBoatface]

Hmm, we went there after the river, I am not sure.  We liked it so much there that the Admiral wanted to look into buying a place and I have no objections