Last days in Bora Bora

We've spent the last few days just relaxing and enjoying ourselves. Paddle boarding, sitting on the back of our bungalow watching the sunset, swimming, snorkeling, and even a 2 hour jet ski tour. Here are a few pictures. We leave tomorrow about 4pm or so from the hotel. Its about a 24 hour journey. Boat to the Bora Bora airport-45 minutes. Fly to Papeete(about 1 hour) and hang out at the airport for about 4 hours. Then fly to LA(about 10 hours) and hang out at the airport for about 4 hours. Then fly to Denver(about 2.5 hours). Home soon!

Bora Bora day 3

When we were leaving the airport in Tahiti to fly to Bora Bora we were approached by a guy who said he worked for the Bora Bora tourism office or something like that. He showed us some guide books and talked real fast about going to restaurants on the main island and booking tours without going through the concierge at the hotel and so on. Before I knew it we had agreed to an all day lagoon tour and given him a deposit of $120. Then we flew off with a few pieces of paper with his phone number on it, some instructions to show up at the resort pier at 8:20 on Sunday with snorkel gear and towels, and hand written receipt. After I thought about it a bit I figured our $120 was gone but sure enough at 8:30 or so this morning a big outrigger boat showed up to pick us up. We went over to the main island to pick up a bunch of other tourists and with a boat load of about 30 tourists we set off.

First stop was coral garden. This is an area with big coral heads in 2-20 feet of some of the clearest water in which I have ever snorkeled. It was also just stuffed with fish. We also saw an eagle ray as soon as we hit the water. We spent about 45 minutes snorkeling around there and then hopped back in the boat. Next stop was an area with much deeper water. Probably more like 30-40 feet but you could still see easily to the bottom. Cruising along the bottom were several giant manta rays. I've never seen mantas in the ocean before so this was really cool. We spent another 30 or 40 minutes following the mantas around. They didn't seem to mind us at all. Next we went to an area with about 3 or 4 feet of water where all the boats go to feed sharks and rays. Here you could just stand on the bottom while dozens of stingrays and black tipped reef sharks circled around being fed. You could even hold the sting rays in your arms. Not sure how smart that was given how Steve Irwin died but no one got hurt.

After that it was off to a small barrier island called the lagoonarium. This island is privately owned by a single family and it seems a few tour boats use it as both a tour stop and a place to have lunch. Lunch was a buffet of local specialties including barbecued fish and chicken along with raw tuna salad, rice, taro, and fruit. It was really good and Margaret said the barbecue chicken was some of the best she had tried on our trip.  After lunch we all spent a few hours swimming in the pens off the island's shore. Essentially these are like huge fish pens but instead of aquaculture its local reef fish. So one pen had several lemon sharks and a school of eagle rays.  Another pen had two nurse sharks.  One other had a bunch of fish you could feed and a giant puffer fish. The final pen had three green sea turtles. All the animals seemed healthy although the turtles seemed a little restricted by the size of their pen. Overall it was cool to see the animals and it certainly didn't seem any worse and probably a good bit better than an aquarium (except for the turtles)

Over all it was  a really great experience. The people on the boat were great. One of them collected and opened coconuts for us on the beach. We learned the greenest ones have sweet coconut water and the flesh is thin, slippery, and very soft. Slightly older ones have a coconut water that is a bit fermented and bubbly like champagne. Kids loved this one. The flesh on these is harder like you think of with grated coconut. The most interesting is the sprouted coconut. If you open one that has already sprouted the water has turned to a spongy doughy sweet material like partially cooked bread dough which is really tasty and the flesh is not edible. Never seen that before. Very glad we did this tour.

Last stop Bora Bora

The whole time we were traveling whenever we got cold and wet we would say, "just wait for Bora Bora" Or if we were tired from having to get up earlier to catch a flight or go do something we would say, "just wait for Bora Bora". Or if the hotel was a bit dirty or full of bugs we would say, "just wait for Bora Bora"  The whole time I guess I was worried that something would happen and we wouldn't make it to the ultimate reward of Bora Bora. Or Bora Bora itself wouldn't live up to all the expectations of 7 months of waiting. So, when our flight from Tahiti to Bora Bora safely landed I breathed a sigh of relief. And another big sigh of relief when we go to the Intercontinental Hotel. Looks like our prayers and expectations were met. Should be an unbelievably luxurious and relaxing end to our 7 month trip. Hard to believe it is nearly over.

The hotel is all over water bungalows and we had reserved one that had a view of the mountain on the island in the center of the lagoon. So we had a beautiful, comfortable bungalow where we could snorkeling right off our porch or watch the sun set behind the mountain. No one has to wake up early as breakfast runs until 10:30 and there are no plans for the rest of the day. Just swimming, paddle boarding, kayaking, reading, and relaxing.  The first night we had dinner in their fine dining restaurant. You know the kind where you get 3 forks, 2 spoons, and 2 knives. Where the waiter gives you a little explanation of each dish before you eat. The kids were a bit freaked out. You can read their impression of the meal after this entry.  Anyway, here are some pictures of the first few days. We leave here for home in about 4 more days.

Bora Bora Fancy Dinner
8/9/2018


On our first night in Bora Bora, Tahiti, we had a very fancy meal. It was 8 courses long and was by far one of the nicest meals we have ever had. We started with bread sticks and pomegranate madaline cookies. Next we had bread and butter. There was all kinds of butter. There was lemon butter, olive butter, and Syd's favorite, chorizo butter. They also had a lot of different breads to choose from, include brioche, and rosemary with thyme. Next we had a weird but good potato soup . But the best part is that it came in a super fancy glass swirly cone thing and you get like 2 bites of soup. Next came the starters but Sydney and I didn't order one, but Dad got duck liver and bread and Mom had a black sea urchin souffle. Next came the main course.  I got guinea fowl but what I wasn't expecting was that I only got 5 little chunks of meat. Sydney got two way lamb that she said was very good but she wished there was more. Mom and dad each got a seafood dish. After that we had our "first" dessert which was a tiny apple tart with apple sauce. Following that we had the desserts that we ordered. Syd and dad both got a coconut and chocolate dessert, I had a chocolate and hazelnut mousse and shortbread, mom had a pina colada dessert. Then we had after-dessert which was some fruit gummies, white chocolate, a ferrero rocher lolipop thing, and a raspberry brownie . All of which were super super small and you only got one. That was it and we went back to our bungalows.

Nick's 5 meat chunks and fancy butter. 

Syd's little rack of lamb

My little duck bits

"Ferrer Rocher Lolipops" and other little treats

A quick trip to the Cook Islands

We flew Air New Zealand from Christchurch to Auckland to Rarotonga to Aitutaki all in one day. We left Christchurch at 6:30 AM on August 6th and landed in Aitutaki on August 5th at around 5pm after having crossed the date line. This was perhaps the travel day I was most worried about. Each of our connections was fairly short and we had to include customs and immigration in both Auckland and Rarotonga. I was worried if we missed even one of our connections we would basically fall behind and miss out on experiencing the Cook Islands. Fortunately we made every flight with time to spare.  The plane from Auckland to Raro is a 777 and almost two big for the airport. There seemed like there was more than the usual swerving, screeching of tires, and braking upon landing. Then when all 300+ people got off it overwhelmed the Cook Island immigration lines. It was looking very unlikely that we would catch our flight out but I asked a nice Cook Islander lady who was working there if she could help us make sure we caught our flight. When she heard it was leaving in less than an hour she grabbed us out of line and escorted us through customs, immigration and over to the domestic terminal. The domestic terminal was surprisingly old school. A simple analog spring scale to weigh your luggage and absolutely no security. You could take anything on the plane. Margaret and Nick even bought coconuts and brought them on. So much for no liquids.

The plane was a 30 seat twin engine prop plane-the smallest of our trip. The flight to Aitutaki was only an hour or so. The Aitutaki airport is even smaller than Rarotonga. When we walked off the plane we were met by a polynesian auntie with leas to hang around our necks. She told us she was driving us to our hotel-the hotel had the passenger lists for all the flights and knew when we would arrive. The hotel was a collection of a few dozen bungalows on a great beach with no waves thanks to the coral barrier reef off shore.  That night we had what they called their family barbeque hosted by the owner of the hotel and using recipes from his family.

Aitutaki is pretty undeveloped. Most hotels are small and family run. There is very little to do other than, fish, snorkel, kite surf, or dive. It might have been more on the beaten path even back in the 1950's. Back then it was a stop on the Coral Sea seaplane route across the South Pacific. This was a multiday trip using flying boats that was apparently very glamorous. Passengers included John Wayne and Marlon Brando.

The next day we did a lagoon tour. The weather was cloudy, windy, and rainy so more like Seattle than the tropical south seas paradise you might be expecting but the lagoon tour was great. It was in a glass bottom boat and included stops and at a giant clam nursery, views of coral heads, and sightings of giant trevaly and napoleon wrasse-huge fish.  Then we stopped on an uninhabited motu(island) for a picnic lunch. There were just 6 other people on the tour and no other tour boats where we went or where we stopped.

Giant clams

Honeymoon Island

Giant Trevallies.

The day we were supposed to fly back to Rarotonga we didn't have to be at the airport until about 5pm so we had time for another tour. We got a picnic lunch from the hotel and asked a charter fisherman to drop us off at One Foot Island for a few hours. One Foot has a famous story behind the name .  Since the weather was pretty bad with strong winds and rain we were the only ones on the island. We spent some time wandering around the island and playing in the water. We even played frisbee when the wind and rain died down. There are several shelters on the island and even some you can rent for an overnight stay but they were all deserted this day.  Great day for us

One Foot is the little island in the center

When we got back to the hotel we were told that they had reserved the spa for us to take showers before heading back to the airport for our flight to Rarotonga. Pretty cool considering we had checked out hours ago. Don't know very many places that would do that. At the end of the day we flew back to Raro for the night. We had a quick dinner on the shore and then to bed. We needed earplugs since our hotel was apparently famous for its hula bar with live band everynight until 11:30 PM. At least they provide the ear plugs in the night stand.

A cold dinner on the shore in Rarotonga