Everything Bora Bora!

From the moment we boarded the big, beautiful wooden hull boat at the Bora Bora airport, we could not get over the color, or I feel like I should say the colour, of the water. There are no words to describe the many shades of blue and green that make up the lagoon of Bora Bora. Tres magnifique!!

As the boat pulled up to the Four Seasons the staff were standing outside waiting for us. It was all very surreal that they were doing this for just us. I was so stunned that when the manager said, "Welcome to The Four Seasons, Mrs. Pierce. How are you today?"   I didn't say anything but thank you. They gave us a fruit drink, cool towels and we boarded a golf cart to check into our bungalow. Our check-in was done in our room with a tour of the room. It is by far the most magnificent place I have ever stayed. The bungalow is huge with separate bedroom and living room divided by a large bath with a soaking tub with windows that can be opened to have the breeze flow through and give you an unobstructed view of the lagoon while you are in the tub! There was a fruit tray and bottle of wine waiting for us. Yummy!

After we got settled in, we got dressed for the Polynesian show that evening. Think very elegant luau. Dancers, fire dancers, great French Polynesian food.

Things shut down early here at night. It is 99% couples and honeymooners. By 10pm,  everyone is in their bungalow. But truly, I think everyone is exhausted and sleep is welcomed.

The next morning we went to breakfast, and the breakfast buffets are wonderful. The first thing that struck us, is everyone knew our name. Even people we had not met. Still trying to figure this out. Maybe they have a hidden camera when you check in? Lol.

Next stop, the water sport center to meet our boat for a snorkel, sting ray, shark tour with lunch on a private motu (small island).

We got our fins, towels and boarded one of the coolest boats I have ever been on. It was a blue and white outrigger canoe (not small). There were four couples and our guide Ramone. We set off. It was a beautiful day and Ramone played the ukulele and sang Polynesian songs. Heaven!

Our first stop was the sting rays. So we donned our snorkel gear and jumped in with them. Boy were we surprised that a few black tipped sharks wanted to swim with us also. I had a hard time because I could barely touch and it was somewhat rough. I eventually got back in the boat and took pictures of Ramone playing with the sting rays and kissing them...French style. Gross!

Anyway, no one was harmed. Next stop, the coral gardens. By this point my ears have been sort of bothering me from water and wind so I decided to stay in the boat. Good thing I did. It was quite rough and I stepped up as first mate to throw out life preservers! We fed the fish bread and got some great pictures. Next stop, the shark feeding…

If you have seen Couple' Retreat with Vince Vaughn you know the scene. In the water with the sharks while the guide feeds them. Out of the 8 of us there were two brave souls, the two young guys. We had swam with them a couple of times by now but not with food lurking around us. They fight for the food! Then Ramone started hanging onto the sharks! Literally in a bear hug swimming with a huge lemon shark!!! We enjoyed the show in the crystal clear water safely from the boat!

Next stop, lunch! We had a bar-b-que on the beach. Grilled beef and fish, poison cru (raw fish salad), pineapple rice and coconut bread for dessert. Wine, beer and soft drinks. The island was very different from the one in Moorea. It was pristine! With a very nice little bathroom. So we grabbed a glass of wine and went exploring the island. Found some really cool coral that will probably serve as souvenirs as the shops are very tacky and mostly full of junk! After this 6 hour tour, we were ready to relax!

We decided to head to the Sunset Bar for the sunset, wine and sushi. Best decision yet! We had the most spectacular sunset I have ever seen!! 

The sky looked like it was on fire! Not to mention that it was up against one of the prettiest backdrops I have ever seen!!!

The next day, went to breakfast. Then set out for a jet ski tour of the island. We had so much fun. We were each on our own jet ski. Neither of us realized we were going to be going so fast! It was thrilling. At one point David got up to 50kph and I got up to 47!! Thank God the lagoon was pretty calm. As I'm writing this, we just saw another group going out today and the wind is super strong! They will be pounded for sure! 

So anyway, the way that Bora Bora is laid out...island in the middle surrounded by a lagoon surrounded by a coral barrier reef (our resort along with a couple others are on the coral barrier reef, hence the beautiful view of the main island)with only one passage out to the ocean providing the super clear water, with lots of fish. Well, we rode around the whole island stopping for three short breaks. All in all, it took us two hours. My legs and my fingers were killing me, but not as bad as this morning!

So after jet skis, we went to the beach, pool, ate a spiny lobster roll for lunch (goodbye, $40...for one!) and came in to rest for our trip to the main island for dinner.

We got on the shuttle boat with about 20 others and took the 25 min boat ride to town. We were picked up by a shuttle from the restaurant. Let me stop here and say that if you read any of my post, I am a TripAdvisor junkie. I research EVERYTHING!!! So against my better judgement we went on this little jaunt to dine at Villa Mahana. It is a restaurant run by a French chef and his Tahitian wife out of their French chateau style home. Their five year old daughter is Mahana. Cute! Anyway according to TripAdvisor, it is well worth the $85 shuttle and $$$meal. There are only 7 tables with one seating a night. We chose the five course tasting menu...shrimp and caviar salad, foie gras,  lobster risotto, beef with gnocchi and chocolate lava cake. I must say it was worth the trip! Delicious meal in a very unique setting. I didn't even know our server was the chef's wife until I asked her if she was from the island! These people could really teach a thing or two to the rest of the world. They are so happy and genuine. I was taking pictures of the kitchen and Chef Damien came right out and said "I give you tour of my kitchen!" First of all, it's about 6ft x 8ft. 

How he creates all that scrumptious food in that little area is beyond me. We took pictures, thanked him for his culinary delights and made our way back to the hotel on the shuttle boat(a huge two story catamaran). Any one that knows me, knows that I stay up LATE! Well it was 10pm when we got back to our room and we went straight to bed!! 

This morning I was sore. VERY sore. That jet ski did me in! A couple of Advil and a walk after breakfast did me a world of good. It's cloudy here now and it drizzles between a sunshine spotting. It is very windy today. The whole bungalow is moving a little. This is the first day that we do not have one thing planned. Will probably go get another lobster roll (we can't stop!) and go to the pool/beach later. This is for my Mom...

Some might ask why I would be writing this on vacation. Here is my answer…I am sitting on the porch of my overwater bungalow overlooking the most beautiful scenery I have EVER seen. 

The people… They don't just love life, they embrace it, with a ukelele in hand! They sing and dance and don't have a care in the world if anyone is looking or not!

Words may not be able to describe the feel of the wind, or the taste of salt in the air, the sound of the wind going through the palms on the thatched roof or the water lapping against the deck below. Pictures cannot do justice to the colour of the water, the clarity of the water or the panoramic view of everything wonderful and beautiful around us. But as I have said, I'm documenting this trip as I do most so that when I want to go somewhere and I can't go at that moment, I can read this and remember the FEELING I had when I wrote it. At the end of the day for me, it's not what you see or do while traveling but how it makes you feel. Right now, I feel like I need to be pinched!!

Swimming with Sting Rays and on to Bora Bora…

Well, the Polynesian show was wonderful! The highlight was a little girl, spitting image of Molly that stole the show. She followed all of the ladies moves and was so cute in her shell skirt with no top, hair  black as ebony, curly and barefoot. I loved her and took every picture I could. The food was horrible, I never even had a plate, but the wine was good and the band too! We left early because we had a full day of excursion the next day, early. 

Although we are 5 hours behind, we still haven't caught up. We started the trip waking at at 4 and we are now up to 6:30. Perfect for sunrise, which has proved all week to be better than sunset until tonight, but I digress. 

We woke up early the next morning to go on our snorkel, sting ray, shark safari. Sounds cool right? Until you realize the sharks that have been circling looking for something to eat at the crepe bar at night must go somewhere during the day and that's where we are headed! We  were picked up at our hotel with a lot of other people and soon were headed out on our tour . The boat part was very nice, we are boat/water people so no complaints. Our guide, Siki, with his Rastafarian look made David sure that we would be offered weed by the end of the tour. No such luck, he was just a really nice, funny guy that love to put his tongue on the sting rays and get right in there with the sharks! It was amazing to actually swim with the sting rays and back tipped sharks. And no, it was not lost on me in the least that some will never, ever do this. 

Throughout my vacation I am humbled beyond words to have this opportunity. Our guide was telling us that these islands are so poor, many Tahitian children have never been on a boat until they go to sailing school, which is subsidized by the government. I literally cried that they live here and don't experience this majesty. But more than that, that there is no opportunity in such a beautiful place, where clearly someone is making A LOT of money.

Anyway, we had so much fun on our bar-b-que on the beach, we decided to order room service on our last night in Moorea. Took showers, ordered burgers and watched the sun go down. Yes, heaven or so we thought...

Tomorrow, Bora Bora

We woke up at 6 ready to pack, go to breakfast and head to our final destination, Bora Bora. 

Breakfast was unassuming and we took a few last pictures of our bungalow and from our breakfast spot, but inside I was dying to go to the place that we had been talking about... Bora Bora.

We got our transfer to the horrific little Moore airport, think open air with no a/c and with stray cats.

Waited for one hour. We had a 45 min flight to Bora Bora and when we landed on the very TINY landing strip, we had seen it from the sky any couldn't wait.  

Turned out the boat from the Four Seasons was picking up just us! We were ecstatic! A private boat transfer for just us! This was the first thing that went very right. As any one knows about the Four Seasons it just got better upon arrival. To be continued….

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Moorea?

Austria this is not! Lol.  There are no problems with Moorea! From the time we woke up on our second day, the sky was beautiful, the water like clear glass and we were ready for our island tour. 

We were picked up in a very small 4x4 pick-up with the back bed refurbished as two benches with seat belts and an iron roll bar. Not really what were thinking, but going with it. Made a nice stop at one of the bays for a picture stop and then on to Magic Mountain. 

This is where it got iffy. The little truck huffed and puffed and we held on up a very little, very steep mountain road all the way to the top. Huge sigh of relief and we tried not to think about having to go back down. A short hike to the lookout (no, I didn't know there would be a hike and had on very cute leopard print flip flops) but it was worth it. A 360 view of the island! We could even see our bungalow from there! 

Pictures, pictures , pictures and it was time to head down. I had thought about this all the way up and just closed my eyes for the trip down. Next stop, pineapple fields! Very interested. It's amazing how hard the local people have to work for so little return. Unemployment is outrageously high and it doesn't go unrecognized that for a place so remote that cost a fortune to visit, very little seems to go to the local people. You would not know that many even live without electricity by their attitude. They have a joy about living, work, and relaxing that is wonderful and refreshing. No one is on cell phones here! Kids are playing outside and adults gather together mid day, businesses close for 2-3 hours and they enjoy lunch and each other. Island time! I've seen it on other islands, but they have such a welcoming nature, it's refreshing!

Next we went to a mountain lookout, beautiful.... Then to a jam factory (yum), a black pearl store (I'm not really a fan) and ended the tour tasting local fruit drinks at the Juice Distillery (even yummier)! Quite a nice time, it was a four hour tour.

Then we had Cheeseburgers for lunch at the hotel and it truly was a "cheeseburger in paradise"! 

We spent the afternoon lazily snorkeling off of our overwater bungalow. 

It was so cool. Water was crystal clear and David had so much fun with the underwater camera.

For dinner we decided to go to the Crepe Bar. They feed black tip sharks there at night and it was so neat to sit and watch them. Kinda scary that they had to swim under our bungalow to get there!! But they don't have a taste for people. All the same, it still freaked us out! We had a seafood crepe and a pineapple, coconut, chocolate for dessert. Scrumptious! Love how the French love to prepare their food, it was an event, with the chef personally delivering our crepes!

We had a long day and were in bed by 9!

Today we went to The Dolphin Experience that neither of us knew anything about. I just knew I had missed two opportunities in the past of having this activity scheduled at other places we went to and I was determined to do it. Long story short...Fantastic! But here is the long story...otherwise you probably wouldn't want to read this! 

I thought we would go in waist deep water, rub a dolphin, photo op and we were done. I was very wrong! It was an in depth, literally, life jackets for a portion on the education of these wonderful animals. You may have seen a pic ob Fb, that was a 19 year old guy that I would have compared to a dog, wanting his tummy rubbed and all. Then for he deep water portion, a 35 yr old female that was blind. She knew exactly what she was supposed to do. There is a lot of controversy over these centers and I can honestly say they are well taken care of, love the interaction, feel safe and are well fed!(we fed them) these animals are born into captivity and serve such a useful purpose to educate students as well as ...well us! We had a wonderful time!

We ended this evening with a Catamaran Sunset Cruise. The weather was not rolling in but barreling, so when we reached the activity pier, our guide, William, pronounced, Gilliam was waiting for us and immediately told us that he came because we had already had to cancel due to weather. He said you may get wet! We were in swimsuits and a cover up how bad could it be? Turned out wonderful! He bypassed the rain, we had a beautiful sunset and loved getting o know William. It was our best thing so far. So many times people travel looking for the most magnificent place to see but never really see it because they don't get to know the soul of the people. We did that tonight and it felt amazing and you know, I never even thought about my phone!

We ended the night at the Crepe Bar, another Seafood crepe and dessert crepe, banana, chocolate, coconut ice cream... It was a very good night indeed!

Relaxing tomorrow… sun, sea, sand!!!