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!!!

The Long Journey to French Polynesia!

We left our house at noon to grab lunch before our flight. Since I absolutely hate to fly, I wasn't much on eating.

So while some may think why would you be writing on vacation, I couldn't imagine it any other way. I love to go back and read journals, after all the memories are the most important thing about vacation! We arrived at the airport far too early. We do everything early. After waiting what seemed like an eternity we were off to Dallas. Watched an episode about French Polynesia on Anthony Bourdain and were in Dallas in no time. 1 hr layover, what to do? Seeing that is was 4:30, grab a glass of wine!

Boarded plane to LAX on time. Nice meal, wine and watched Safe Haven(great movie). Landed in LAX and the fun began, had to get our luggage and do the whole checking process again!!

Boarded plane, a couple glasses of wine,dinner, sleeping pills and we were off. 

Too bad the pills really didn't work on me and it was hot. David managed to get in a few hours. I did too when I put in my headphones and stopped obsessing that he was the only one on the plane snoring, thus leading me to fall asleep making two of us now snoring.

They serve breakfast before arriving in Tahiti at about 4:15 current time, 9:15 Lafayette, but you have to stick with the time of where you are traveling to to avoid jet lag.

Wait in Papeete, Tahiti wasn't bad. 10 min flight to Moorea, the shortest full flights have ever taken, welcomed by the hut the call the airport(not charming), met our transfer and we were dropped off at the Hilton in Moorea. It's a breathtaking resort and no pics will do it justice.

Our room wasn't ready so we grabbed breakfast and headed to the spa. We both agreed one of the best we have ever had!! Only downfall, we were right next to each other and heard each other moaning /snoring. Well at least we were rested!
Got into our over water bungalow, phenomenal!!!

Water is crystal clear and there are fish everywhere, and we can see them from the glass window in the floor of our bungalow!

Tested the waters...very cold! It is their winter and as I type this at 6:15 pm, I'm getting chilly wearing a pashmina!

We are going to the Polynesian dinner tonight at the hotel with show, I ll let you know how it goes...

Tomorrow 4x4 safari tour of the island!

Observations traveling abroad...

Children, while most important, especially to those parents that want their children to experience the world, are still considered second class citizens in the eyes of travelers. The old adage, seen but not heard never made it through the entire twentieth century, but it some countries it did. Traveling abroad, I have never been so impressed by children as French children. Aside from them sounding adorable, they know their place. Like little old souls, they soak up culture like a sponge and you just "know" they are French. To hear a twelve year old(next to me now) order her drink, I felt intimidated. "I would appreciate a pineapple, apple, orange juice with a pineapple garnish." WTH? And she's not holding a phone!!! She and her younger sister pick up their "cocktails" along with their mother and come and sit next to me...a story!!!

We watched the show. I got my calamari,  and I still don't know if I have a waitress or waiter. Long story, but to streamline, many males are forced into female roles in their family for the family continuity. Nothing wrong with it, just don't know wether to say Monsieur or Madam.

The show was terrific!