Tahiti and Moorea
One last swim at PK18 before the flight home, and the wedding band stayed in the lagoon
White sand at Vaiava, black sand at Pointe Venus and Lafayette, and Moorea a ferry ride across the water.
A wedding band lost at Vaiava Beach, the white sand beach at PK18 in Punaauia, can still be looked for once you have flown out of Faa'a, because the search is planned from your pin and your photos. What decides it is how closely you can place it: the patch of sand where your towel lay, or how far out you had waded into the shallow water.
Ring Seekers is a lost ring and jewellery recovery service that connects people who lost a ring, wedding band, watch, keys or phone on Tahiti or Moorea with a metal detectorist who can search there.
Tell us what happened and where. We find a detectorist who can reach the beach, brief them with your map and photos, and tell you honestly if the odds are poor.
This page covers Tahiti from Papeete to Punaauia, Arue and Mahina, and Moorea from Temae to Ta'ahiamanu.
Pin the towel spot, then note the PK number
Stand where your bag was and drop a pin on your phone's map before you leave. Then write down the order of the afternoon: when you went in, whether you swam out towards the reef, when you noticed your hand, wrist or ear was bare. The last photo that shows the band, watch or earring on you narrows the time.
On Tahiti, distances are counted in kilometre points from PK0 in Papeete, and Vaiava Beach is known locally as PK18. If you know the PK number of the place you parked, add it. On Moorea, name the public beach or the bay, and if the loss was on a lagoon trip, where the boat had stopped.
Places we cover on Tahiti and Moorea
- Papeete
- The Papeete waterfront
- Paofai park
- Marina de Papeete
- The ferry terminal in Papeete
- Punaauia
- Vaiava Beach (PK18)
- The Vaiava aquatic trail
- Taapuna
- Arue
- Lafayette Beach
- Mahina
- Pointe Venus
- The Pointe Venus aquatic trail
- Moorea
- Temae public beach
- Ta'ahiamanu public beach
- Opunohu Bay
- Cook's Bay
- Tiahura public beach
- Motu Fareone
- Haapiti
From PK18 round to Pointe Venus, then over to Moorea
Three Tahiti beaches, the Papeete seafront, and the public beaches on Moorea that most day trips reach.
Vaiava Beach (PK18), Punaauia
Vaiava Beach, on the west coast in Punaauia, has soft white sand, which is a rarity on Tahiti, and it is one of the beaches visitors like best. The water near the shore is shallow, and local families spend whole days here at the picnic site, playing beach volleyball or going out on paddleboards and kayaks. Snorkellers head for the nearby reef. Say whether you were on the sand, in the shallows or out over the coral.
Pointe Venus, Mahina
Pointe Venus is a family beach at Mahina with a vast stretch of soft black volcanic sand. There is no lagoon here, and the reef is close by. When the swell comes from the north, local surfers get good waves. If the loss happened in the water, tell us whether you were swimming off the beach, surfing, or out on the snorkel trail across the channel.
Lafayette Beach, Arue
Lafayette Beach in Arue has soft black sand and clear water, with a view across to Moorea. A photo taken towards Moorea from your spot is a good way to show where on the beach you were.
The Papeete waterfront and Paofai park
Papeete's seafront runs past sailing boats and catamarans to the park at Paofai, where people stay on to watch the sun set over Moorea. The marina sits in the centre of town on the seafront, with its pontoons, and the ferries to Moorea leave from the terminal in Papeete. On a quay or a pontoon, the exact berth or bench matters more than anything else you can tell us.
Temae, Moorea
Temae is a vast public beach of white sand in the north-east of Moorea, not far from the airport, and an easy first stop after the ferry from Tahiti. It suits swimming and snorkelling, and there are coconut trees to rest under. On a beach this long, your pin does most of the work.
Ta'ahiamanu and Opunohu Bay
Ta'ahiamanu is a public beach in the north of Opunohu Bay, looking out over the coral reef, with plenty of parking and a picnic area, which makes it a family beach. Tell us whether you lost it at a picnic table, on the sand or in the water.
Tiahura and the lagoon trips
Tiahura public beach sits next to a patch of woodland, with a shaded picnic site that local families like. Boat trips on Moorea's lagoon stop to snorkel with rays and blacktip sharks at Tiahura and picnic on motu Fareone. If something went missing on a trip like that, the operator and the stop are the two facts we need first.
Between your WhatsApp and the search
The chat stays open once you are home
Your case stays in one WhatsApp conversation with one person, whether you write from your room in Punaauia or from home a week later.
Everything the detectorist starts from
The detectorist gets your pins, the PK number or the bay, your photos and the order of your day, set out so they can start from the right patch of sand or water.
What we ask you for
A pin, a photo of the band, watch or earring, or of its partner, and a line on where you were standing or swimming. That is enough to open the case.
Cost, before anyone sets out
We explain the costs before any search is booked, and you decide whether to go ahead.
Lagoon, reef and open water
Lagoon water at Vaiava, open water off Pointe Venus, and surf breaking over the reef.
Two snorkel trails, 2 metres deep
Both Tahiti snorkel trails lie at a depth of 2 metres. The Vaiava trail is in the lagoon, sheltered from the most frequent winds, though a current from the south can be felt there when there is swell. The Pointe Venus trail is on the inner reef, separated from the point by a small channel, and you reach it by kayak or paddleboard from the beach or from the launching point 300 metres to the west.
Surf over the reef
Pointe Venus gets waves for local surfers when the swell comes from the north. Taapuna, in Punaauia, has technical waves breaking over a reef bottom and is best reached by boat, and Haapiti on Moorea is a known surf spot. Say where you paddled out and where you were sitting when it went.
The crossing to Moorea
A ring, phone or watch that went over the rail of the ferry out in the channel between the islands is a long shot, and you would hear that from us first. One dropped on the quay in Papeete or while boarding is a different case.
Questions about Tahiti, Moorea and PK18
We have flown home from Tahiti. Can the band lost at PK18 still be looked for?
Yes. Nobody needs you standing on the sand, because the detectorist works from your pin, your photos and your account of the afternoon. Vaiava Beach has shallow water near the shore and snorkellers swim out to the reef beyond it, so the first thing to tell us is which of the two you were doing when the band came off, and where you had set up in relation to the picnic site.
A watch came off on the snorkel trail at Pointe Venus.
That trail is on the inner reef across a small channel from the point, and you reach it by kayak or paddleboard. Tell us whether the watch went on the trail itself, in the channel on the way over, or while you were climbing on or off the board. A current can form in that channel when the swell comes from the north, so the time you crossed is worth adding.
One earring is missing after an afternoon at Lafayette Beach in Arue.
Send a close photo of the earring that is left, so the detectorist knows its size, its metal and the shape of the back. Lafayette is a black sand beach with Moorea in view across the water, so any picture from your spot that shows Moorea behind you helps fix where along the shore you were. Say too whether you lost it lying on the sand or swimming.
My phone went into the water at the marina in Papeete.
Give us the pontoon, the berth or the nearest boat, and the time it happened. A phone that dropped straight down beside a pontoon is a much smaller search than one lost from a boat under way. If it was at the ferry terminal instead, say which boat you were boarding and which side you were standing on.
Could an Oura ring lost at Temae be found?
Temae is a vast stretch of white sand, so the answer turns on your pin. If you came straight from the ferry, say when you arrived, where along the beach you settled and whether you went snorkelling. A photo of your towel with the sea behind it helps find the spot again.
A necklace went missing at the picnic area at Ta'ahiamanu.
Ta'ahiamanu is the public beach at the north of Opunohu Bay, with parking and a picnic area that make it a family beach. Tell us which table or which tree you were near, whether the chain came off while you were eating or later in the water, and describe the clasp and any pendant.
A bracelet came off while we were in the water with the rays at Tiahura.
Start with the trip itself: who ran it, where the boat stopped, and whether you were standing on the sand or swimming. Then give us the rest of the day, including the picnic on motu Fareone if your trip went there, because the bracelet may have gone later than you think.
I came in from surfing at Taapuna without my ring.
Taapuna breaks over a reef bottom and is best reached by boat, so tell us where the boat dropped you and where you sat waiting for sets. The same details help at Haapiti on Moorea or at Pointe Venus. Add the time of the session and which hand the ring was on.
Tahiti and Moorea
A beach name and a pin will do
Punaauia, Papeete, Arue, Mahina or Moorea.
Tell us which beach and roughly where on it, and send the pin if you have one. A photo of the missing piece can follow in the same WhatsApp chat, which is where to begin.