Bora Bora

Finally got off my lazy butt and uploaded some pics


This is actually a pic of Tahiti. We had to fly 2 hours from SEA to LAX. Then 8 hours to Tahiti and spend the night before flying another 2 hours to Bora Bora. Tahiti is pretty nice, but has a similar feel to The Big Island (Hawaii) to me



We didn't have much time on Tahiti so we spent some time while waiting for our shuttle to the airport laying in a hammock



A different view



Here we are getting onto a plane to fly to Bora Bora



This isn't Bora Bora but some other island, but I like this pic because you can easily see how the series of islands are all in a lagoon. This made the water pretty calm and kept the water really clear



This is actually Bora Bora which is several islands surrounded by an outer reef creating the lagoon. Here you see the main island which has lots of little shops (about every other one is a black pearl shop, which is their main/only export)



This is a pic of the outside of our water bungalow. If you ever decide to go to Bora Bora, you're already spending a load of cash so you might as well stay in a water bungalow. I highly recommend it



Here's the living room. Basically the bungalow was a one bedroom suite with a seperate living room and huge bathroom



Here's the bathroom



And the bed



This is a shot of the rear deck. Has a nice glass hole you can see fish through. At night you can turn on lights under the bungalow and fish get attracted to the light. There's also a lower deck where you can jump right into the water. It also comes with a shower to wash off the salt water



Here's a pic of the kayak we borrowed (complementary) and pulled up on our lower deck



Here's us doing the kayaking



We also tried out jet skiing. We were averaging at least 30 mph and hit 40 mph a few times. Airi was screaming the whole time



We saw a bunch of hermit crabs



Airi taking in the view. Being in a lagoon, we could see the crashing of the ocean waves onto the reef in the distance. We actually kayak'd out to near the reef edge, although we didn't get that close as the waves were pretty big just past the reef



I did plenty of snorkeling off our deck



The fish are so used to getting fed by people that they come right up to you. I'm not using any zoom here.



Here's Airi trying out snorkeling



We saw these large fish on the bottom



Pic of the infinity pool that we spent quite some time in



Some seating under a palm



The beach



View from the dock that leads out to our bungalow. The water here is as shallow as it looks



Each resort provides a boat shuttle to go to the main island. Everything is ultra expensive as I have to think they import everything except black pearls, bananas, and coconuts. A can of coke is about $1.50 from the grocery store and $3.50 from the resort. We stopped by the grocery store twice to pic up drinks and snacks. There's lots of stray cats and dogs everywhere. They just come right into the restaurants and people just ignore them



This is one of the many restaurants we went to. Being French Polynesia, alot of the food was seafood with a French touch. I tried fois gras for the first time and hated it. This particular restaurant was pretty good. The restuarants sit around the biggest island (probably take an hour to drive all the way around). Basically to go to a restaurant, you call guest services at the resort to make a reservation. You then take the resort's boat shuttle. When you get to the main island, there's a shuttle waiting to pic you up to take you to the restaurant (paid for by the restaurants I think). The drivers are pretty crazy. There's basically a single 1.5 lane road that is shared with cars, bikes, and people. The drivers would get all the way up on the ass of the person in front regardless if they are in a car or scooter and when they can, go around them. After the first time, you just get used to it.



Here I am drinking it up (ok, it was just a virgin daiquiri)



After 6 nights and 7 days, it was time to go. Here we are waiting for the boat to take us to the airport



Airi saying goodbye to Bora Bora. Maybe we'll go back for our 10 year anniversary...