Heading Home

We were dressed, packed and checking out of the hotel when our transport arrived.  With two breast prosthetics and two knee replacements I know I will get a full search through airport security.  Today was the most thorough search I have had yet.  I am starting to feel like I have more artificial parts than real ones.  We were there so early we watched the sunrise from another open air airport.  

Gayle had exchanged USD for XPF and didn’t want to take home the cash she had left.  There was a place near our gate to donate your XPF to breast cancer research.  

We are flying Air France home.  We chose this flight specifically because it would be a daytime flight.  It is 8 hours from Papeete to LAX.  We didn’t want to spend that time trying to get comfortable enough to sleep.  I caught up on my blogs, watched two movies and tried not to be too irritated by my compressions socks.  On this airplane there was a camera on the tail and one underneath the plane so we could get a full experience of the plane.  I watched as we landed at LAX and I knew I was home!

We got through customs without hassle, grabbed our bags and got on the Ride Share shuttle to find a ride home.  We were back at my house before 9 p.m. and I was so glad to get those compression socks off and unpack my bags.  Travel is wonderful.  It opens you up to new understandings, challenges your comfort zones, fills you with a wonder about the beauty of the earth and makes you grateful to be alive…..and I am so glad to be home.

Leaving Bora Bora

Today we leave Bora Bora.  Yesterday I was very sad to leave paradise.  Today my mind is set on home and I am eager to wash my clothes, sleep in my own bed, have coffee in the morning that is made the way I like it, drive on the right side of the road, and see my friends.  We received a letter yesterday with a very detailed timeline for checking out, having our luggage retrieved from our bungalow and meeting at the dock for our boat to the airport.  We aren’t flying out until noon so we took our time enjoying our last views of this gorgeous place.

We were down on the dock ready to go as we waited for two other people to arrive.  It was one of those heterosexual couples we have experienced several times.  They aren’t here for the experience.  They are here for the photos.

Since Gayle and I were there first we chose the seats next to the open windows so we could get the breeze (it is very warm and humid) and so we could see well.  Gayle was a little short for the view but she managed to make herself taller.

The airport is on a very slender spit of land with the lagoon on one side and the ocean on the other.  It is only wide enough for two runways.  

The airport is completely open to the elements.  There is no air conditioner.  We were glad when we could board the plane and again we chose the wrong side of the plane.  We had a great view of the airplane’s propeller.  

We had a reservation with Hotel Tahiti Nui.  Our travel agent really wanted us to go back to the Intercontinental Tahiti but we were hoping to bop around downtown Papeete in search of souvenirs to take home.  Our hotel was extremely standard.  With sweat running down our backs we opened our door to a room in which the air conditioner had not been on.  The sliding glass door to the outside does not lock.  I didn’t want to once again have dreams about gun-toting, tuxedo wielding men trying to break into our hotel room.  So I devised this little plan.  I put three hangers in the slot thinking it would keep the door from opening.  However, it just made them fall over.  I figured the noise would wake me up.  Gayle thinks I am so hilarious that she had to take a photo.

Gayle was too wiped out by the extreme heat and journey to the hotel and ended up not joining me.  I headed over to Manua, a store that boasts exquisite Tahitian art.  Gayle had seen a carved bowl on their website that she would love to own.  Alas, it was sold long ago.  She had given me a price limit so I sent her photos of the two carved oyster shells they had (the only thing in the price range she had given me).  She wasn’t interested.  I headed over to the Papeete Market, an open air pavilion that boasts multiple stalls of flowers, black pearls, cloth, bedspreads, etc.  I arrived before 4 p.m. and found most of the stalls covered.

Call me disappointed! All the flower stall were open.  I would have liked to purchase a lei or a hei.  A hei is a flower crown.  They are beautiful.  I could have made one at our resort if I had been around any morning at 10 a.m….but I wasn’t.  But since we are leaving in the morning and I am very certain I would not be allowed to bring any fresh flowers into the USA I just admired them.  I did ask someone why everything had closed so early.  She told me that tomorrow, May 1, was their Labor Day and everything would be closed.  I checked out multiple black pearl jewelry stores….there must be five on every block.  Tahitian pearls are formed by the black lip oyster and mainly cultivated around the islands of French Polynesia.  I finally found a pair of earrings I couldn’t leave Tahiti without and headed back to the room to see if Gayle had coaxed the air conditioner to finally cool the room.

I had thought we might head out that evening to find an early supper but I just couldn’t make myself leave the substandard air conditioner.  The restaurant in our hotel opens at 7 p.m. and touts itself as gourmet.  We weren’t overcome with the menu. We ordered the green papaya salad and a plate of fruit.  Gayle had never had a green papaya salad. I was eager to introduce her.  This one had only pink papaya, cilantro and peanuts.  If there was any dressing on it we couldn’t find it.  But the fruit plate was lovely.  We ordered the Le Vacherin glacé dessert to fill us up. They should win awards for this dessert.  It wasn’t just lovely, it was extraordinarily delicious.  The dessert started out in the center of the table so we could share it but I noticed that it just kept moving closer and closer to Gayle’s side of the table.

We headed to bed as soon as we got back to our room.  We will be picked up at our hotel tomorrow at 4:50 a.m.

Jet Skiing…in Bora Bora!

Today we went jet skiing.  Fortified by a good breakfast we were picked up by Ali (our guide) and driven to the Moana Adventure site.  We had signed up to each have our own jet ski.  We were ready!

The limit for one guide to manage is four jet skis.  She figured out how to help me get onto the jet ski, gave us simple directions and told us to stay in a line and follow her.  Gayle has never jet skied before and it has been a minute since I did it.  Ali gave us a 10 minutes of following her before she stopped us to see how we were doing.  We both whipped off our hats and iPhone waterproof protector lanyards because they were strangling us and got ready to set off again.

Bora Bora has so many different colors of water.  It is often described as “fifty shades of blue.”  It is due to the absorption and scattering of light. Shallow waters are clearer and free of plankton.  Deeper water is a navy blue.  The varying shades are also influenced by the type of sand and sediment in the area.  We jet skied through every shade today.  The deeper waters had higher waves and I found myself concentrating so hard I didn’t look around me and see the wonder of it all.  We stopped on a private island on which Moana Adventures rents space for their jet skiers and a barbecue event they do.  

We got off and enjoyed the water and the view.  Ali found a couple coconuts on the ground that she deemed ready to open.  

Coconut water fresh from the coconut on a jet ski stop on a private island with a gorgeous view….it just doesn’t get any better than that!

We got back on the jet skis for another chance to enjoy Bora Bora’s fifty shades of blue.

We were back in our bungalow before noon and completely pooped.  We are closer to the equator here than our homes in the US.  We feel the sun intensely so we usually clean up and rest in the afternoon.  I got to FaceTime my grandson, which made me even more content.  We headed out for an early dinner off the resort grounds.  We ate at Lucky House Fare Manuia Restaurant.  Then we headed back to Matira Beach to watch one last sunset in Bora Bora. The place was crowded tonight with locals cooling off at the end of the day and so many tourists hoping for the perfect shot.  There was one couple there who spent at least 45 minutes getting just the right shot with different cameras.  Then they enlisted others to help them.  Gayle and I giggled as they spent so much time on their photos they missed the sunset.  Hopefully, they will see it in their photos.

We stopped on the way back to the room so I could take a photo of Gayle to prove that her hat almost matched her dress.

The moon is close to being full.  It makes the place even more magical. 

Back in the room we packed up.  We will fly to Papeete tomorrow to spend one night.  Then we will be picked up on Friday morning at 4:50 a.m. to make our 7:40 a.m. flight back to LAX.  

Quad biking in Bora Bora

Today we went quad biking.  We were picked up from our hotel at 8 a.m. by Mo and crawled onto benches in the back of a pick up truck.  

We made one stop to pick up more tourists, all of whom were from the cruise ships we saw in the lagoon today.  Some of them were going jet skiing.  First we had to put on lunch lady hair nets.

Then we were given helmets and assigned a quad bike.

We were glad we got Mo for our guide today.  There were five quads and eight people on our tour.  Gayle was our driver and I rode on the back.  Gayle drives a UTV around her farm.  I knew I was in safe hands.

Mo directed that we (the two old ladies) would be the bike behind him.  There was a couple in their fifties, a French guy whose sole purpose was to get out his drone at every stop, and a young couple for whom the whole day was about getting Instagram worthy photos of her jogging down hills and other such nonsense.  

Our first stop was up a very steep hill where we could see down to both sides of the lagoon.  

I thought that was an exciting ride until our next stop, which took us up a very steep, dirt, muddy road where we could see out to two of the American cannons placed here doing WWII and thankfully never used. The view above us toward the highest peak in Bora Bora was lovely.  Actually, every view here is lovely.

We rode along the major road (much of it next to the water) at 50 kph for much of the journey.

Our last stop was up a treacherous muddy road.  Gayle was having a blast.  I was white knuckled, trying not to pitch over the top of her and trying not to squeal.  The plan had been for me to drive half of the way but there was absolutely no way I would have been courageous enough.  This road confirmed for me that Gayle had to do the driving. We were definitely going through a jungle, ducking under branches and hitting them on the sides.  I would love to have taken a photo or a video but I knew if I took out my phone it would fly from my hands.  When we got to the top of the hill we stopped beside two American cannons.  

Mo talked about why the American military stationed people here during WWII, what advances they brought to the island, and why there are now some blue-eyed Polynesians with American last names.  Then he cut us up some grapefruit, unwrapped some coconut bread and gave us mango juice.  Gayle spent every stop taking photos of flowers and plants to identify later.

Before we left this spot I asked Mo if the ride down would be as treacherous as the ride up had been.  He said, “It will be easy for me.”  It wasn’t easy for me.  Gayle went slow to ease my unease but the road was definitely tricky.  We turned in our helmets and quad bikes, got back in the truck with Mo so he could deliver us back to our hotel.  We were sticky, sweaty, dehydrated and just plan hot.  We stripped off our clothes, put on our bathing suits and slipped into the lagoon to cool down and perhaps do a bit of snorkeling.  Again the wind came up while we were trying to snorkel.  We gave up and got out, disappointed but refreshed.

We made reservations for dinner tonight here at the resort for their buffet and Polynesian dance show.  We were hoping for Polynesian barbecue.  It was a large array of food but the most astounding part of the buffet was the dessert section.  We ate our savory food quickly and moved on to the dessert extravaganza.  

Right as we finished the drummers, ukulele player and singer got into place.  

There were five women and four men danced for 45 minutes, with multiple costume changes.

Before it began, Gayle asked if we could figure out how to get the wheelchair out of the restaurant after the performance began.  She was sure she wasn’t going to want to stay for the duration.  But we made it through to the end and with smiles on our faces.  I said I wasn’t going to dream tonight of gun-wielding men in tuxedos trying to break into our room.  I was going to dream of Polynesian men dancing.

It only gets better and better in Bora Bora

We left the curtains open in our bedroom last night so we could see the sunrise.  I slept through it but I did wake up in time to see the canoe coming with our breakfast.

The breakfast was lavish…enough for six people.  We weren’t quite awake yet, and our stomachs definitely weren’t awake.  Bu we did manage to eat some eggs, fruit and bacon.  We saved the pastries and yogurt for our lunch.  

We got on our swimsuits and hats and stuffed a bag full of all the essentials needed for a day on the water. I pushed Gayle down to the dock to wait for our captain to arrive for our 3 hour private snorkeling experience.  You can tell it was windy.

We were early and so was our boat.  We climbed onto the front of the boat and set off for our adventure.

Jean, our captain, took us out to see stingrays and sharks.

When he suggested that we should get on snorkeling gear and go out to enjoy them, neither one of us was keen on the idea.  Jean assured us that he had never seen a shark eat a person here.  We said we would just watch them from the boat.  There were lots of them.

When other boats arrived and all of their tourists got off to swim/walk among the sharks and stingrays, I decided I was brave enough.  When I came back to the boat I convinced Gayle she was brave enough so she went in.

Here she is with a shark swimming by her.  

We were both exhilarated by the experience….and pretty proud of ourselves.  But I had a hard time hauling myself back into the boat.  So when Jean suggested we dive into deeper water and peer down at the eagle rays, which can be as large as 16 ft long and have a 23 ft wingspan.  I didn’t want to have Jean have to lift me back into the boat so soon.  So we headed to the north side of the island to the coral garden.  Again we crawled onto the front of the boat and soaked up the sun and the scenery.

Jean warned us not to touch the coral and that swimming through the coral garden is like a maze.   We jumped off the boat (my jump was more like a stumble) and eagerly set off to see fish.  It was wondrous.  The place was alive with color:  clams with teal and purple mouths, red fish, blue fish, yellow fish, pink fish, spotted fish, striped fish…you name it.  It was a maze and we had to be careful where we swam in order not to brush the coral.  Jean came out to join us and lead us back to the boat…and then he hefted me back inside.  We got back on the front of the boat

and took a tour back around the other side of the island, past the motu resorts, private islands, catamarans full of tourists and sailboats in the distance.

We could see that rain was probably headed our way again this afternoon.

We pulled back to the dock of our hotel absolutely sated with adventure and beauty.  Back in our bungalow we got out our breakfast leftovers and snacked.  Gayle can’t stop smiling here on Bora Bora.

We put on our snorkeling gear and climbed down the ladder of our bungalow to see the fish under our glass coffee table.  But the winds came up suddenly making it very difficult to swim around.  We gave up quickly and by the time we got to the ladder to climb out it was raining.  I am glad we are having our adventures in the morning because it seems like wind and rain are a regular afternoon occurrence.  We cleaned up, took naps and got ready for our dinner reservation at La Villa Mahana.  Just before sunset we walked across the street from where we are staying to the only public beach on Bora Bora, Matira Beach.  It is known as the place to watch the sun go down.

We arrived at La Villa Mahana by taxi with two other couples from our hotel.  The restaurant is very small.  There were only five tables (10 people) for dinner and one seating. It feels like you are entering someone’s home or having an intimate dinner in a a small art gallery.  When I researched where to eat in Bora Bora this restaurant was on every list.  You have to get a reservation months in advance and so we did.  Chef Damien has an incredible culinary history.  He married a Tahitian woman and together they have created this restaurant.  A message in the menu from the chef tells how he feels about food.  He writes, “In the way that spices bridge countless cultures, so they open us up to the world, not masking the products but instead sublimating them.”

There were three different tasting menus.  Gayle went with the vegetarian menu:  tart of goat cheese and baby artichoke hearts (she wanted to lick her plate), mashed potatoes with bananas and mango sauce, asparagus and truffle risotto with mango sorbet for dessert.  I had the “exotique” choice:  seared ahi on a mixed green salad with edible flower petals and a lime dressing (beyond amazing), mahi mahi curry on the same mashed potato magic that Gayle had, beef tenderloin with gnocchi, and banana flambé.  Everything was exquisite.  The table service was perfectly timed and every dish was served with elegance.  As we ate a soundtrack of music played, everything from Frank Sinatra to Elvis to opera to classical to weeping violins to Ray Charles. At the end of the meal we were brought a guest book in which we could write about our experience at Villa Mahana.  I wept as I wrote about my gratitude for the flavors, colors and music…so grateful to have survived a double mastectomy and to be having this wonderful adventure in Bora Bora with my sister.

As we walked back to our bungalow with our leftover bread (sourdough and coconut bread) from the restaurant in our hands Gayle kept repeating, “What a perfect day!”

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.