We stayed on Vahine Island for seven nights over the 2011 Christmas holiday. This was our first visit to the South Pacific.
I found Vahine Island on Trip Advisor while researching the Relais Chateaux Property, "Le Taha'a." But when I saw that Trip Advisor reviewers had rated Vahine higher, I ended up booking here instead.
Vahine is made up of three separate motus. The resort sits on the northernmost motu. The middle and southern motus are at the moment undeveloped.
Vahine is under new management. Bruno, whose name I saw frequently mentioned in previous Trip Advisor reviews, has moved on to Tahiti. He is replaced by Laure and Terance, who show great enthusiasm for their new adventure. Laure comes from an executive sales and management position at the Four Seasons Terre Blanche in Provence, and Terence was chef at Les Pecheurs, a restaurant so legendary they built a hotel around it. Both seem incredibly enthusiastic about what lies ahead for them, with plans to expand the kitchen and staff, as well as other aspects of the resort. During Christmas Eve and Day, I was amused to see Terence, Cordon Bleu Chef extraordinaire, washing dishes after the meals as he was short staffed for the holiday. Clearly a good sign of a man who's going to get his hands dirty in the months and hopefully years ahead.
OVERALL
Vahine is a very special place. It is small, with only nine bungalows, and relatively undeveloped beyond the small enclave made up of bungalows, restaurant and bar. This makes it a THIN place, meaning one can easily connect with their inner peace, or God here, because of its inherent stillness. We rarely saw other guests, other than meals and organized activities, so we felt most of the time we had the whole place to ourselves. The peace I found coming from the bustle of Los Angeles was sublime. It was overwhelming. I hadn't been that relaxed and at peace with myself and the world in a long, long time.
Vahine is not for everyone. This is not a "luxury hotel" along the lines of the Four Seasons or the St. Regis. There is no pool or spa, or choice of restaurants, or TV with CNN HBO and ESPN. No whirlpool tub in your bathroom or a pool boy asking if you would like another Evian water spritz while you lounge in your cabana. This is a simple place that offers a more intimate, genuine opportunity to connect with the untouched natural beauty that surrounds you.
As a result, this resort tends to attract a certain kind of person, which we found to be like minded. We found that we had quite a bit in common with other guests, whom you can't help but get to know because breakfast and dinner are served in the small restaurant during a certain time window.
ACCOMMODATION
We were in a "Beach Suite Bungalow." Our bungalow was #1, of 6 in a row along the northwest shore of the motu. Ours was furthest to the left and was closest to the restaurant and bar. #3 and #6 are also Beach Suite Bungalows and #2, 4 and 5 are regular beach bungalows. They are all well positioned and none really is better than the other, although I quite liked our position because we didn't have anyone to our left. #6 is at the other end but there is a maintenance shed to the right of it. However, I think this will be torn down as part of the expansion.
We had ample room for the three of us; our daughter slept on the day bed in one corner. The interior of the bungalow consists of a large room that is the sleeping and living area. There is a mosquito net over the comfortable king sized bed but we didn't need it because they spray the island and have these little electronic mosquito repellers on the floor. We didn't see a mosquito the entire time we were there.
There is a TV with a media player connected to it but no TV stations. The media player has French films, and English films but they're all dubbed into French. However there are ways to connect external devices so on rainy days (of which we had a few) we were able to sit our daughter in front of a movie that we played off our iPad via HDMI adapter.
We had wireless internet in our bungalow but it was very spotty and often times didn't work at night. Once again, this is not the kind of place to come if you need to stay connected to the outside would. (We found this delightful)
The bungalow had a wonderful deck that faced the water, and we had a spectacular view of distant Bora Bora, Taha'a and the neighboring Motus. What we did NOT have was a view of lots of overwater bungalows, which is what one will find mostly from beach bungalows in larger resorts. This we found to be REALLY valuable and one of the most appealing features of Vahine's layout.
The bathroom consists of a shower, two sinks and a toilet. Very simple. When we arrived our shower drain was a bit clogged but they came and fixed it immediately.
FOOD
Food is outstanding.
Breakfasts consist of toasted breads, baguettes, and croissants with delicious homemade jams and marmalades, and shredded coconut. Best was the homemade vanilla yogurt from nearby Taha'a. Try mixing in some of the shredded coconut. Incredible. They also serve egg dishes, but unless you speak French, egg dishes are sometimes lost in translation so sometimes you don't get what you ask for.
Lunch was a la carte from a menu that consisted of appetizers, sandwiches, pastas, salads and yummy desserts. We were on a plan that included breakfast and dinner - lunch was extra.
A gastronomic experience every night, three course dinners prepared by Chef Terrance were superb. However, the menu is set and if you want choices you have to ask and choices are limited. We never strayed from the menu as we found every dish to be delicious. Clearly, his time at Relais Gourmands restaurant Les Pecheurs is evident here as we were treated to such dishes as "A festive tasting of oysters; L'escalope de foie gras poelee; Scallops and roasted prawns, coco and lemongrass emulsion; and smoked king mackerel carpaccio." One of the aforementioned oysters, with red tuna sashimi and wakame seaweed, was so delicious that I actually dreamt about it that night.
The only downside to the food was that it was difficult for them to cook simple meals for our daughter. A kid’s menu would be nice, one that has simple foods that are not complex creations with sautés and spices.
ACTIVITIES
Our desire to travel to the South Pacific was for me about the snorkeling. There are coral gardens on the north and south ends of the Vahine Motus, and a larger, deeper coral garden a few motus to the north. We thought the better of the two Vahine Gardens was the one to the south, but the best overall was a boat ride away to the north as it was much larger and deeper, attracting a wider variety of fish (and sharks!)
We found snorkeling different at Vahine than the Caribbean. Most of the Coral Gardens sit between the motus in less than eight feet of water. Most of the time one can stand up at any time on the sandy bottom, as opposed to Caribbean snorkeling where the water is deeper and one looks down more. Here one looks ahead and to the sides. Also, because the gardens are between the motus along the edge of the lagoon that surrounds Taha'a, there is a current, quite strong at times, that flows from the ocean through the protective reef and coral gardens to the inner lagoon. The way one snorkels then, is to swim, walk or boat up-current, then "drift" across the coral, as the current pushes you along. It's really neat, however there are times when it gets quite shallow and it can get hairy avoiding sharp coral that can scrape quite badly and the ever present spiny sea urchin. That being said, we quickly learned how to navigate and our seven year old went on long snorkeling adventures with us.
SERVICE
The best thing about the service was Roy, the "Beach Boy." He had activities planned every day, and knew just everything about the land and the sea. He taught us how to make a basket out of palm fronds, how to open a coconut, how to climb a palm tree, and how to pick up a sea urchin with our bare hands. He lead our daughter around by the hand amidst the coral gardens and his "Polynesian eyes" unearthed some amazing wonders for us that we would never have spotted on our own. He was passionate and in love with his job, his island and the natural world and it was infectious. I doubt one could have that kind of every day personalized service at a larger resort, no matter how luxurious.
CONCLUSION
To come full circle, Vahine is a thin place that commands you to be still, move slowly, and experience life at an unfamiliar pace that then overwhelms and restores your soul. It has redefined the kind of hotel I will look for in future vacations; I no longer have the desire to live in the lap of luxury and "be treated like a king." A guest who was there at the time said it best by evaluating those large luxury hotels as a "sterile experience." The experience I had at Vahine was rich and rewarding in its simplicity. I hope that with Vahine’s planned expansion, this little gem will not lose its charm and stillness, its sublime peacefulness and undeveloped beauty.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
