I am in heaven

I had bad dreams last night.  I dreamt that men in tuxedos (with guns) were trying to break into our room.  I guess I must have felt uncomfortable with the fact that we slept with our sliding glass door open.  The birds in the palm trees outside our open door woke me up this morning to just how beautiful it is here.

We have a 10 a.m. flight this morning with an 8:40 a.m. pick up time from our hotel.  It is too bad we couldn’t have stayed here another day.  We spent only 8 hours in this lovely hotel.  The breakfast buffet was like nothing I have ever experienced before.  It had all the foods that would be traditional to me but also fondue, full salad bar, fried fish, taro root, and more, as well as options like bacon or well-cooked bacon.  

We had researched which side of the plane to sit on to get the best view of Bora Bora. We flew Air Tahiti and unless you pay for a priority ticket you choose your seat when you get on the plane.  I convinced Gayle that she should get wheelchair assistance, which she hates but this is an airport in which you have to walk out a bit of a distance to the plane and then climb a set of stairs.  Because she had a wheelchair we boarded the plane right after the priority people.  However, our seats were chosen for us, the very back of the plane near the rear exit…and on the left side.  We were excited that we would get a good view.  As we came close to Bora Bora we snapped dozens of photos.

Only it turned out not to be Bora Bora and the people with the stunning aerial view of Bora Bora were on the right side of the plane.  We laughed at ourselves for a long time.  As we got off the plane in Bora Bora Gayle was greeted with another wheelchair.  I am so glad.  We are staying at the Intercontinental Bora Bora Le Moana.  We chose it because we wanted to be on the island, not on the motu around the island.  A hotel representative greeted us with another stunning lei, our bags were collected for us and we were put on a boat to our hotel.

Gayle sat on the boat with a delighted grin the whole time.  She is so happy to be here. We both are.

At a speedy clip we were driven around the island to our hotel, a half hour trip.

Gayle again was greeted with a wheelchair.  Obviously they had radioed ahead to have one ready for her.  We were told that we could keep the wheelchair the entire time we are at the hotel. It is a good thing.  It is a bit of a hike from the hotel’s front desk and our overwater bungalow.  Did I mention that we are staying in an overwater bungalow?

It comes with a glass coffee table that gives you a view of the ocean below.  You can slide the top back to get a clearer photo if you choose.  Also they recommend that at 6 p.m. we turn on the lights that shine below the bungalow because the light attracts the fish.  I am sure I will be adding many glass coffee table photos to this blog!

The view from our bedroom is stunning.

There is a ladder off the deck so you can climb down into the water and snorkel right from your overwater bungalow.There is also an outdoor shower so you can rinse off after you snorkel.  Gayle and I settled in and then headed down the boardwalk to their all-day restaurant.  We enjoyed our fish tacos, smoothies and salad….and the view, of course.

Before heading back to our room we got some snorkeling equipment, confirmed our snorkeling excursion tomorrow and asked to have breakfast delivered to our bungalow by canoe tomorrow.  While Gayle rested I headed down the ladder of our deck to try out the snorkeling equipment.

I was in heaven.  I can’t believe the number of different fish I saw.  Gayle took this photo of me through our glass coffee table. 

When I came back inside I found a website of the fish you can see in the Bora Bora lagoon and jotted down the names of the fish I could remember seeing.  I would have stayed out longer but I could see that rain was headed our way.

Our plan had been to cross the road from our hotel to the public beach to see the sunset but rain prevented a perfect sunset.  So instead we turned on the light under the bungalow and watched the fish through the coffee table. Then we headed down to the restaurant for some tapas before an early bed.  I hope there are no gun-toting, tuxedo-wearing men in my dreams tonight.