General Tahitian Information for all Society Islands- Tahiti Sun Travel Network

For ALL the Islands of Tahiti Polynesia

Enjoy your travels in the Polynesian Islands

Because Tahiti is the most populated, well known and business and administrative center of French Polynesia, much of the information on this page focuses on the island of Tahiti itself.

Most of the information is ALSO RELEVENT to ALL other French Polynesian Islands.

On this page, you will find general information covering a large diversity of topics and interest... from medical and marriage questions, to visa requirements and banking information to the weather and more...

We also have a general resources index for useful and often inquired about organizations, associations, non profits, etc.

We hope you will find the answers to your many questions from this page, however, if you don't, we ask for your patience and understanding in trying to find them. (In some cases, you may stump us...)

See our special TAHITI TRAVEL TIPS section for personal insight and more information on many commonly asked questions about traveling in French Polynesia...

IF YOU'RE A BACKPACKER OR A ROAMING SURFER PERSON, see this note...

DON'T FORGET TO CHECK OUT TAHITI TALK FOR LOTS OF INTERESTING NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS ON THE TAHITIAN ISLANDS FROM PEOPLE LIKE YOU!

Want more info? Get the latest Tahitian guidebook of your choosing by visiting RETAIL POLYNESIA!

TST Comments:
We're working on the various pages of TST constantly. If you don't see the information you need, chances are we just haven't had a chance to work on that section yet... or simply don't have access to the information at all! The best thing is to bookmark us and check in periodically...

Note: WE DON'T GIVE OUT E-MAILS TO ANY COMMERCIAL BUSINESSES THAT AREN'T LINKING TAHITI SUN TRAVEL CUSTOMERS.

THE BASICS:

TIME DIFFERENCE

French Polynesia is 10 hours behind GMT, 2 hours behind US Pacific Standard time, and 20 hours behind Australian Eastern Standard time. Examples: When it is noon Sunday in Tahiti, it is 2 P.M. Sunday in Los Angeles, 8 A.M. Monday in Sydney, and 11 P.M. (winter time) and 12 P.M. (summer time) in Frankfurt.

INTERNATIONAL AIR SERVICE

Faa'a, the airport of Tahiti, is regularly served by frequent jet connections, linking Tahiti with the west coasts of the United States, Canada, Hawaii, France and Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, and South East Asia, among others. For links to the International airlines providing these connections, see our GETTING HERE & AROUND SECTION now...

FUMIGATION SERVICE (importing plants and animals)

All passengers importing plants, flowers, or fruits or vegetables must be in possession of an international certificate. To import plants and flowers, special permission is necessary from the Service of Rural Economy, P.O. Box 100, Papeete, Tahiti, Tel. (689) 42. 97, 80 (Fare Ute) or 82, 49. 99 ( Faaa airport).

Importation of live animals is prohibited. Contact the above-mentioned service for details. Office is open daily from 7:00 am to 11:00 am and from 1:00 pm. to 4:00 pm. Non prohibited items should be re-exported in a maximum deadline of 6 months. Certain types of animal life and flora are protected by customs regulations, by the Washington agreement ( requires a CITES certificate issued by the Nature Protection Service), and by territorial regulations (certain shells, etc...)

The local currency in French Polynesia is known as the French Pacific Franc (XPF). It is also known locally as CFP. Tahiti also happily accepts the Euro and American dollars.

Bank notes of francs are issued in denominations of: 10,000, 5,000, 1,000 and 500 francs (XPF); and coins are: 100, 50, 20, 10, 5, 2 and I francs (XPF).

There are several international banks in Tahiti, (see Useful Addresses section for list) including a bank at the Tahiti-Faaa International airport, and branch offices in many of the resort islands of French Polynesia. The larger hotels will also exchange various currencies for XPF. Major credit cards are also accepted in most hotels, restaurants, boutiques and other tourist establishments. (See TST Travel Tips for more on these topics)

There are a few foreign exchange offices located throughout Papeete:

1) Office at the Tahiti Faa'a International airport opens and closes in tandem with the incoming and outgoing international flights and has questionable schedules at other times.
2) Another office is in downtown Papeete on the waterfront next to the main harbor
3) third office is in back of the port immigration office (at the ferry wharf) and the Socredo Bank. Hours are Monday through Saturday from 7:00 a.m to 7:00 p.m. Also open Sundays and public holidays from 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

All currency with a legal exchange rate may be exchanged. The exchange rates used are the same as those used by the banks in Papeete.

Certificates of inoculations against cholera, yellow fever and the plague are required for visitors arriving from an infected area as defined by the World Health Organization.

French Polynesia enjoys a high standard of health, with excellent medical and dental services, pharmacies, private clinics and a large government hospital in Tahiti. The outer islands have hospitals or dispensaries, and a few private practitioners. All the islands maintain hygienic controls to combat potential epidemics of tropical diseases, such as the dengue fever. There are no snakes, poisonous spiders or fearsome animals in these islands, and hotels and dispensaries on each tourist island and atoll keep first aid supplies on hand to treat coral cuts, sunburn and the extremely rare case of poisoning, when the barefoot swimmer steps on the toxic spines of the stonefish.

The most common "injury" is sunburn! Take precaution and do not overexpose your body to the tropical sun, and wear tennis shoes or plastic sandals when walking on the reefs and in the lagoons of Polynesia.

CLOTHING
Comfortable and cool, natural fabrics such as cotton sundresses or T-shirts are perfect for daytime wear. The standard attire for men even at dinner parties is simply slacks and shirt. Women usually wear comfortable dresses in the evenings and normal resort wear around the hotels. Pareus or pareos are brightly colored and versatile hand blocked or painted fabrics 2 yards long by 1 yard wide, and are worn at home, at the beach or around the hotel pools. Some are elegantly tied for evening wear. Pareus are not recommended for downtown Papeete, as the city is rather cosmopolitan in dress code. Bathing suits and short shorts are also out of place in Papeete. (See TST Travel Tips for more on this topic)

POSTAL SERVICE
The main PAPEETE POST OFFICE is located on Blvd. Pomare in downtown Papeete. Services include stamps for letters and parcels, express delivery service, international telephone calls, telegrams, telex, telefax, and more. Open Monday-Thursdays 7 am - 3 pm, and Friday 7 am - 2 pm. Post offices in the outer islands are open Monday to Friday 7.00am - 3:30 pm.

Some of the most commonly asked questions of TST are from foreigners wanting to obtain employment in French Polynesia. They all ask, " How can I get a job there?" Some want to retire from the ratrace of a city they are living in and try a simple existence on a tropical island. Others are students looking for winter jobs for a few months while others are ordinary people from all walks of life with a tropical island dream in their head...

First of all, let us tell you, we understand the desire. Having a career or a good job in French Polynesia would indeed be a wonderful thing. Unfortunately, the bad news is that it is NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO DO for the average foreigner (non French citizen). Europeans have a slightly better chance of obtaining work permits than Americans due to the EU immigration laws, but not much.

For all those interested in the frustrating details, here's the scoop:

In order to work in Polynesia, non French citizens need to obtain a "carte sejour" or "permis de travail", otherwise known as a work permit. Obtaining one of these work permits is extremely difficult to do. The first and foremost criteria is that the person applying has to have EMPLOYMENT QUALIFICATIONS NOT FOUND IN FP, meaning for which no Tahitian qualifies. Although this is not impossible, the rub is that the applicant must first find employment, as it is the EMPLOYER THAT NEEDS TO APPLY FOR THE PERMIT! The process then can take up to 2 months, after which the employer has to advertise the job position for a certain time period in order to prove that no Tahitian applied for or qualified for that particular job. Only then can a permit be extended. Even then the probability of getting one for a foreigner is not guaranteed. In fact, it's highly improbable. In a recent 5 year period only 85 permits were issued! (The only exceptions seem to be for people bringing in heaps of money, have insider connections, or are very well known or prominent characters.)

Apparently, it used to be possible to "get in" by way of the hospitality industry (high level resort jobs), but those days are long since over. Tourism is way down and there are more qualified local and French citizens competing for these jobs than ever. The tragic events of 911 made this slow tourism situation even worse and many hotel chains have been laying off even their own current, loyal, local workers. The reality for Americans dreaming of getting a job in a resort is that the possibility is slim if not virtually impossible.

For those still not turned away by the above news and facts, then here are a few more things you'll need to know before embarking on your Polynesian job finding challenge:
1) Learn to speak French! Without a fairly fluent know how of the language, you'll stand virtually no chance at all. You could say that this is a prerequisite or mandatory thing. All your contacts will be in French, and the whole permit process and governmental conditions are spoken and written in French. Also, most certainly a good cultural knowledge of the Polynesian society as a whole can only help and speaking Tahitian is also a plus.
2) Realize that the FP government wants the few jobs that are available to go to Tahitians. (understandbly so)
Their immigration and work permit laws are tough for a reason. It will be a challenge to overcome them.

All that being said, it IS NOT IMPOSSIBLE TO DO...
What jobs and skills then are sought after by the Polynesian government? This is a good question that has no clear answer for now. We at TST are learning more about the subject and will report our findings here when we get them.

For those able to read French, you can learn more by checking out this French government site about the employment situation and getting jobs in FP: www.sefi.pf/

BACKPACKER'S AND ROAMING SURFER'S NOTE:
(Also, notes on differences between "travelers" and "tourists"...)

IF you clicked a HYPERLINK that said "BACKPACKER'S/ ROAMING SURFER'S CHOICE", and it got you here- read this: Note that all it means when you see this hyperlink is that we're merely noting where we know backpackers and roaming surfers LIKE TO HANG OUT. Most of these notes will be by lower budget or popular accomodations, locations, or activities that wandering or financially challenged travelers populate frequently or are looking for on our network.

TAHITI SUN TRAVEL enjoys backpacking and exploring the Polynesian Islands without always having pre-determined or well organized travel plans laid out before us. Although the majority of humans in the Tahitian islands DO NOT have this mentality, there are quite a few roaming travelers and surfers about THAT DO. This is a common attitude with people we look at as "travelers" as opposed to "tourists"... We at TST have been both.

Note: In our opinion, neither is better or worse than the other, its just a matter of your circumstances at the moment: How good do you know the area? Have you been there before? How tight is your budget? Whats your state of mind? After all, even if you are a fantastically experienced "traveler", and have seen all 7 continents, when you go somewhere for the first time, the local people will still consider you a "tourist", even if you are carrying a backpack!

So, now you know where the little blue "backpackers" hyperlink will take you and you don't have to click it again until you feel the need for the above paragraph all over again! Now...Go whence you came!

An Internetwork of Travel and Tourism Guides for the Main Islands of Tahiti Polynesia.