Bora Bora
Welcome to Bora Bora
We flew from St. George to LAX and met up with everyone - then from our overnight flight from LAX to the Fa'a'ā International Airport on Tahiti. From there we took another smaller plane for the quick flight to the island of Bora Bora.
So excited to finally be here!
Pics of our boat ride to St. Regis. We flew all night so we were tired, hungry, and hot… but excited. It’s going to be a great week!
Arrival to the St. Regis Resort
Already we are blown away by the service. Fresh mango juice upon arrival and unmatched service from our personal butler, a cute French woman named Julie, ready to take care of our every need. We took a quick tour of the island in golf carts and were then dropped off at a table for eight in what became our little corner of the covered open air restaurant all week.
We loved our buffet breakfast complete with crepes, sugar coated french toast, fruit, made-to-order eggs, fresh juices, pastries and my favorite - an amazing salad bar. When Chris mentioned he enjoyed trying the new fruit - like a grape that you have to peel and then de-pit, the waiter brought him a whole bowl. Breakfast and dinner comes with our Costco package. I think we’re going to like it here.
St. Regis Bungalow
It was Marilee’s 50th birthday that prompted this trip. She and Adam booked the resort and invited anyone who wanted to come and we were first to sign up. A ‘bungalow over water’ vacation has been on my bucket list for years and it was truly amazing.
The cute wooden huts were beautifully furnished and actually quite spacious with a large bedroom and comfortable King bed looking out to the deck and turquoise ocean, a large bathroom with sunken tub (not pictured) and a sitting room with a glass floor looking into the water below. It was perfect.
We loved the grass hut ceiling, the white linen bed canopy, the lounge chairs on the deck, the bathroom mirror that opened for a view of the ocean and the views in all directions.
Ready for Dinner
We spent several hours in the afternoon hanging out by the ocean on matching blue and white lounge chairs. We swam, talked, slept and relaxed. We got ready for dinner and headed over to Adam and Marilee’s bungalow for pictures on their deck. When everyone arrived we walked over to Te Pahu, the resort’s main open-air restaurant for Polynesian cultural night, featuring traditional music and dance performances. We enjoyed the Polynesian buffet and fire dances — especially taking turns heading to the middle to be part of the dance. We were a little apprehensive but it was fun!
Morning Bike around the Island
With the jet lag we were in bed as soon as we headed back to our bungalows after dinner, and awake before the sun was up — which was great. Each bungalow comes equipped with two bikes sitting right outside your door. Chris and I decided to take the bikes for a tour around the island and ended up at the workout room, where we met up with the other couples.
After our work out we rode to the far end of the resort to check out the lagoon filled with fish and enjoyed the beautiful views of Mount Otemanu, the prominent jagged peak visible from most locations at the resort.
St. Regis Pool
Then over to our corner of the restaurant for breakfast and our morning check in from Julie, the butler. We sat for an hour talking and then got ready for a morning at the pool. Adam and Chris had to explain to the other couples why they always stare at each other for pictures — honestly, 32 years later and they are still doing it and thinking it’s the funniest thing ever. They can hardly do it without laughing these days. We thought we’d just relax at the pool for a minute before heading to the Lagoon but we talked and relaxed and ordered a quick lunch and sat in the shade and it was lovely.
The Lagoonarium
We were excited about the Lagoon. We picked up complimentary snorkle gear and rode over to the far end of the island with a dock jetting out over the clear turquoise water. The Lagoon is teeming with fish — including the resident Napolean fish named…
We snorkeled for a good hour. Dave brought fish food and amused us all with schools of fish swarming all around him - practically slapping him in the face. The water was perfectly clear and we could see so many fish as we swam up up through the lagoons little side streams. It was SO MUCH fun!
After exploring for awhile we hung out on the dock and started taking videos. So many jumping-in videos that had us laughing so hard. I took a few screenshots just so I could remember the fun. Especially unique was the fact that we were jumping into a huge group of fish.
Of course Chris made a highlight video that is super fun. Marilee read us a text from Annie early on in the trip that said… ‘Chris better be making a highlight video of this trip!’ And so everyone got on board —- and he did. And just the coming up with video highlights made the trip magical.
Back to the Beach
More beach time, but this time we carefully sat under the shaded canopies since several of the group got burned the first day. Chris checked out a paddle board and had fun paddling around the bay - and then we played some cribbage.
Isn’t the water just amazing! Love this picture. You can see our bungalow from here… one of those in the middle somewhere.
We spent some time at our bungalow lounging on the deck, and then getting showered and ready for dinner. We rode our bikes back over to Adam and Marilee’s place to take pictures and then walk to dinner. We love our option to ride everywhere on these tree-lined cobblestone roads.
Walking to Dinner
The golden-hour lighting and sunset were so pretty that I had to excuse myself right after ordering to capture a few nearby pictures before the sun went down. Such beautiful views! Our dinner at Restaurant number 2 was lovely and we outstayed every other guest - enjoying the live guitar music. Another day in paradise!
