Saturday, September 8^th, 2001
Sitting in Moorea Airport – waiting to fly to Bora Bora.

Many mixed emotions about this being the last morning on this island.  We were here long enough to know at least part of the island pretty well.  I am going to miss this place, and obviously will never forget our unbelievable time on this wonderful island.  There were so many new things to experience here… so many additions to my memory banks that I will never be the same.  The way of life.  The recreation.  The diving.  We are now spoiled in our SCUBA diving… everywhere else will be tame compared to here, and the freezing water of California will seem SO cumbersome after being able to see and do all that we have in the waters here.  Being able to see 150-250 feet underwater here compared to 5-10 feet on the California Coast.  50 degree or less water temperatures in California versus 80 degrees here.  It will take adjusting to.  The smells of Tahiti are gorgeous… (At least some)  It seemed like everywhere we went someone was either burning something in their yard – or cooking.  The smells of the burning flora was distinct to here.  The freshness of the air – and the purity of area is something that is difficult to find in this day and age.  The flowers are miraculous.  So many new and exotic varieties.  The colors are what I shall remember most.   I am told that Bora Bora is even more beautiful, but I can hardly imagine that.

            At 9:15 this morning a gentleman came by our bungalow for our luggage.  It was now official.  Our time at the Sofitel Ia Ora on Moorea was coming to a rapid close.  We gathered our belongings, and after taking a few last minute photos, locked our door for the last time.  (We are currently landing on the island of Huahine on our way to Bora Bora.  We are landing as I now type!  Nice island… Wow – that was a scary landing.  We kind of waved back and forth a bit more than I would have like after hitting the ground.)  At the main office, we settled our bill.  OUCH!!!  54,230 CFP!  That is like $480!  It was a little more than I expected, but included a few meals, 2 dives each, and the Tiki Village excursion.  I guess it was OK.  They gave us our Shell leis as a goodbye, and then we were on our way to the Moorea airport.  (Where I began typing this entry.)  We made a quick call home – and it was good to hear my mom’s voice again.  Home.

Bora Bora.  Even the name conjures up images of exotic locales and adventures.  Our trip is set up to get better and better as we go along… Tahiti, then Moorea, the Bora Bora.  Garden room, Deluxe beach bungalow, and now a deluxe OVER-WATER bungalow.  We can’t wait.  We can’t imagine this trip getting any better… it has been a dream so far.  We are about to take off from the Huahine airport, and I am going to end this for now.  I will update later tonight!

BORA BORA

            We arrived around 1pm at the airport that is settled on the outlying Motu surrounding the island of Bora Bora.  From the air, we were given a preview of the island… Oh my God.  And to think that I couldn’t imagine a place more beautiful than Moorea!  I have never witnessed a more awe-inspiring place of beauty in my life.  The lush island filled with perfect mountainous peaks surrounded by several motus… all wrapped in the most gorgeous water that I have ever seen.  It doesn’t look real.  Tami and I joked that they must dye the water… paint the sand… add chlorine… etc.  We were greeted with flower leis by our hotel upon exiting the plane.  What is really neat about the airport in Bora Bora is that it isn’t attached to the Main Island at all – the only way to get to and from the airport is via speedboat.  Pretty cool, huh!  We were loaded onto our special boat for a 20-minute ride to the luxurious Sofitel Motu hotel.  Unbelievably enough, the water here is SO much clearer and brighter than in Moorea… it almost glows.

            We see our hotel in the distance...  

            Wow again.  I think we nailed it on this one.  We originally wanted to stay at Le Meridian – the hotel that is in the pictures on our web page – but went with The Motu on recommendation by our travel agent.  I am SO glad that we did.  We passed the Le Meridien resort on the way to ours and it did NOT look anywhere near as classy or private as ours.  Ours is a tropical paradise.  It is situated on it’s own small motu across from the Main Island… the only way to get to it is by private speedboat – which you are only allowed to get on if you are a guest.  It is SO peaceful and quiet here.  The bungalow that we are staying in is perfection.  Let me repeat that.  The bungalow that we are staying in is perfection.  I cannot imagine ever being in a hotel room that compares or betters this one.  It is beautiful… Tami and I were SO pleased with this place even on first sight.  They even left us a fruit basket on the table filled with delicious Tahitian fruits… the pineapple here is SO sweet compared to ours in the states.  Their banana is different as well.  (At the Tiki show they said that for white people, while the Tahitian banana is delicious, it could screw up our bowels if we eat more than a couple.  We can’t “handle” the Tahitian banana.  He said that almost like bragging.)  We are over water… have a gorgeous view from our room, private steps into the water… etc.  This IS a million-dollar view.  The peaks of the island are directly outside – we can even see them from lying on the bed.  There is even a glass circle in the floor to watch fish from.   (We haven’t seen any yet!)

  Starving, we hustled up to the building that serves as reception, activities desk, cashier, and restaurant, and had burgers for lunch.  Again, it was SO quiet and peaceful.  There are only 18 bungalows on the island or so… not many people, and everything here is just for us.  We then took the speedboat to the Main Island and did a little exploring.  We scheduled two dives for Monday… and two more for Tuesday.  We then went to a car rental place and rented a car for 24 hours.  We are going to skip the 4x4 tour here because they are closed on Sundays… we’ll do our own!  We got a little white car – 4-door, and stick.  Tami can’t drive it.  ;)  We decided to go for a little drive around the island – it is not very big, so we headed out at 5:30.  We stopped at a gas station where I made a big mistake.  The tank was at half, and it was a small car.  I told the guy to fill it up. THIRTY DOLLARS!!!  The guy at the rental shop said that we’d only need $10 for the day… I thought he meant that was how much it would take to fill the tank up.  After filling the scooters up for $3, I didn’t think it was going to be that expensive.  (They don’t list the per-gallon price anywhere)  Oh, well… they are going to get some free gas from us now.  Still in shock a little, we went across the street to the market and spent $35 in snacks and film.  We drove further and found a LARGER grocery store… and decided to go inside.  It was neat seeing all of the brands we know -- and yet slightly different.  Tami said that she never thought it would be that much fun to go grocery shopping.  We quickly realized that we had WAY overpaid at the last store – everything here was much less for the same stuff.  It was the second time in a half hour that I felt like I had thrown away money.  We purchased a few more things for another $25 – more film, some of their awesome-smelling coconut soap and a few other things.  We have lived on bottled water during this trip – always making sure that we have one with us.  Expensive night!  We drove the rest of the way around the island.  On the way we saw several crabs crossing the road.  BIG crabs.  I stopped a few times to toy with them… their pinchers were as big as my hand on a couple!  I poked one with one of my sandals so that it would grab on.  It is strange – the road kill here consists of crabs… not dogs and cats.  We saw several that had been run over on the way home.