You are quite welcome. It has been fun reprising each day of our vacation. Day 6 is coming later today. Thank you so much for reading.
While we await my day 6 post, here is a link to video footage from our tour of St Regis given by Nozomi our butler on the day of our arrival on August 7.
The original footage was 31 minutes, but I cut it down to 16 minutes to focus on the highlights. It is good for a one-time watch to see the property. Although Nozomi’s voice is somewhat muffled by the wind noise, you should be able to make out most of it.
Day 6 (August 9)
“Never get out of the boat” 
At around 7:30 AM, I woke up with a burning sensation in my lower belly and, immediately realizing what it was, jumped out of bed and ran to the toilet, just in time.
While on the main island the day before, we’d stopped at one of the local food stands in Vaitape to see what they had and, although we didn’t buy anything, I was very thirsty and asked one of the girls behind the counter for a bottle of water. She must have misunderstood me because she brought me a plastic cup of water instead. I thanked her and downed it. It wasn’t ice cold but it quenched my thirst.
Before our trip, my travel agent told us to avoid drinking the tap water in Tahiti if we could. He advised that it may be okay but other of his clients reported GI issues afterward. I played this back in my head as I accepted the cup of water in Vaitape but figured my constitution could take anything thrown at it. I was wrong.
Sitting doubled over in the toilet of our villa, with my belly on fire and my head pounding, the scene from the movie Apocalypse Now when the guy is yelling “Never get out of the boat, man! Never get out of the boat!” came to mind. Never drink the water, man. Never drink the water.
We had a shark and stingray excursion scheduled for 9:00 AM that I knew I wasn’t going to make. I advised my wife to go ahead without me but she was too worried to leave me alone and said she wouldn’t enjoy herself without me anyway. She called the front desk to advise that we could not make the excursion to which she was told that because we cancelled less than 24 hours prior to the excursion that it could not be rescheduled, nor refunded. At this point, I could not care less as I was still exploding from all orifices. Afterward my wife was a little miffed at the lack of accommodation. After all, I hadn’t planned to become ill.
After coming out of the toilet and cleaning up, I crawled back into bed. I suggested to my wife to go ahead and go to breakfast as it would be ending soon. After being reassured that I was fine, she went.
By the time she returned, it was nearing 12:00 and I was feeling better. With not much else planned for the day, my wife contacted our butler to inquire about visiting one of the other resorts. We’d previously discussed visiting the Four Seasons, which was within viewing distance of our resort. Our butler, however, advised us to visit the Le Meridien resort instead as it and St Regis are both owned by the same company and arrangements could be easily made to take us there and schedule a return, so we decided to go to Le Meridien instead.
Because St Regis and Le Meridien are sister resorts, travel to and from each by boat is at no cost. Our butler Nozomi made arrangements for the boat to be at the St Regis main dock when we arrived. The boat ride to Le Meridien was approximately 10 minutes, and when we arrived staff from Le Meridien were waiting for us at their dock.
Although Le Meridian also has overwater villas, the resort looks and feels quite different than St Regis. One thing you notice right away is how shallow the water is, even going out hundreds of feet. Here is a photo of a guy standing in the water at least 200 feet out from Le Meridian’s main dock.
We were led inside Le Meridian’s registration office where we were given a bottle of water, a map of the resort property, advised to let them know if we needed anything during our visit, and to let them know when we were ready to go back to St Regis so they can prepare the shuttle boat.
Here is a photo of the path leading to the Le Meridian boat dock, and a couple of photos of their beach..
As previously advised, Le Meridien’s villas are much smaller than St Regis’ but still look nice from the outside. We didn’t ask to see the inside of one, although we should have.
My wife bought a few things from Le Meridian’s gift shop, which she said had a few actual bargains, and cheaper prices than St Regis’ boutique.
Our over all impression of Le Meridien was because there seemed to be far fewer trees than St Regis, it felt a little more spacious, even though it is smaller. Also, there seemed to be many more guests walking around the property and especially on the beach than at St Regis. My wife also said there seemed to be more American guests there than at St Regis which, to us, seemed to be approximately 60 percent French.
After a couple of hours, we made our way back to Le Meridian’s registration desk for the boat ride back to St Regis.
Upon our return to St Regis and our villa, we showered and prepared for dinner at Lagoon. Although it was very windy that evening, the host at Lagoon placed us outside near the pool which, on any other night would have been great but, was very unenjoyable, to the point where we began to feel a little chilly. They’d already brought out our appetizer and were preparing the main course when we couldn’t take it anymore and asked if there was seating available inside. Nothing available and the wind becoming more pronounced, we asked if we could have our meal wrapped to go. The host did one better and advised that our entire meal would be brought to our villa at no charge, which was great as the delivery charge for room service is quite expensive.
Approximately 20 minutes after getting back to our villa, our doorbell rang. Two servers from Lagoon brought in a rolling food cart with dishes under a number of cloches. They prepared the dining table with a cloth, napkins, silverware, glasses, plateware, and condiments, then placed each dish, with another appetizer, and dessert, and held out the chair for my wife. It was the full service of the restaurant, but in our villa. I have to say it was pretty great.
The main server asked if we needed anything else and advised us to call the restaurant when we were done and they would come back to take everything away.
One thing before I forget: all beverages during dinner meals are extra, even if you have a meal plan as we did. My wife and I don’t drink alcoholic beverages, which is good because you could easily spend the equivalent of $30 for a single cocktail. As it was, we paid approximately $15 for a 750 milliliter bottle of Pellegrino every night.
As we were finishing dinner, our housekeeper came by to ask if we wanted turndown service. We declined and accepted the two bottles of water from her.
St Regis has a library of DVDs that can be borrowed and played in your villa, which we’d planned to do after dinner but we both fell asleep instead of taking the walk to the community center to check one out.
Day 7 (August 10) The Big Day, next.
Interesting topic. But I find it way more funny than OP would. Hey, it is MPSIMS. I can share too. Anyone seen Eurotrip? That topic has just the right material for some Tahititrip sequel.
Sorry, I could not help myself, but you poor thing. I just hope that at least stewardess’ cleavage was satisfying.
And you were not riding A380 but an A330 (comparable with B767). If you would ride A380 in first class, you might get your own room, with shower and butler.
But keep going. I just learned, that they do not use Euro for currency in that places.
I have never seen Eurotrip and so am not familiar with the stewardess cleavage reference but thank you for your comments.
You are correct that the plane I flew was an A330 and not an A380.
Day 7 (August 10)
All the agony, all the buildup, all the months of preparation, and actually each of the previous 24 years of our marriage culminated in this special day.
I met my wife 28 years ago when I was a struggling 26 year old with no money working full time in a dead-end job as an accounting clerk at American Savings Bank in New York clearing mortgage remittances (anyone here remember single-debit accounting?), part time as a shift manager in the ladies shoes department on the 6th floor of Macy’s Herald Square, all while finishing up some graduate work. I was busy, driven, and not looking for a girlfriend, at all, much less a wife.
Long story short, I was very foolish to believe I had any actual say in my relationship status once she locked her gaze on me. We met, dated for a couple of years, and married in 1991. We’ve experienced our share of ups and downs throughout the years, lots of downs at the beginning, but way ups for the last 10 or so years, so balance.
On the one hand, I took the opportunity to start my company 4 years ago when my former employer retired and agreed to sign over to me the MSA for one of his lucrative biopharmaceutical clients. On the other hand, my wife and I never had children, which has only begun to weigh on us emotionally within the last 3 years, too late in a practical sense to address at this point in our lives, so again, balance.
So I found myself, in Bora Bora, sitting on the side of the bed at 5:00 AM, in the dark, on the morning of August 10, at the most beautiful resort I have ever seen, with memories of many of our two and a half decades of experiences together playing in my head, and a couple of tears streaming down my cheeks.
When my wife awoke at around 6:00 AM, I had already showered and dressed. She became a little emotional as well as she puttered around, to which I told her to get over herself so we can go to breakfast. She laughed.
Breakfast was great, as usual. When we got back to our villa, we hurriedly changed into our swimming gear for our scheduled jet ski tour around the island at 9:30, which we were really looking forward to. When we met the Moana Adventure tour guide at the main dock and were taken by boat to where the jet ski tour would start, we were surprised there were other couples there for the tour as well. For some reason, I thought it would be my wife and me alone. Turns out it was 6 of us plus the guide. No matter, we just wanted to get out there.
I guess I should state that my wife nor I had ever ridden a jet ski before so let’s go ahead and skip over all of our wipeouts, lost controls, and flipovers (us, not the jetskis) as we went too fast too quickly more times than makes sense after being told, more than once, what to do, causing constant delays for everyone else in the group. To be frank, I would have hated me.
Anyway, we eventually got the hang of it. The tour lasted 2 hours and it was a blast. We went around the entire island of Bora Bora, stopping a couple of times for a water break and a demonstration of the “best” way to open a coconut. I didn’t have my camera with me, so no photos. Sorry.
When we got back to our villa, we were bloody wiped. All we wanted to do was sleep, and then the phone rang. It was Adelaide asking if my wife was ready for her make-up appointment at Miri MIri Spa. We knew the schedule and also knew that our time would not be ours alone for much of the rest of the day.
Adelaide had already picked-up my wife’s outfit and jewelry for the ceremony the night before so the only thing my wife had to do was be taken to the spa. Adelaide sent a cart and my wife was off.
One of the things my wife and I (but mostly my wife) agonized about in the months leading up to our trip was what we were going to do for rings for the ceremony. She didn’t want to use our existing wedding bands so we went shopping, and shopping, and shopping, for something she felt would be appropriate for the expression of our recommitment to each other. We didn’t see anything she wanted, and so, having run out of time, she reluctantly settled on having the ceremony without rings. I, however, of deceptive thought and intent, had a secret idea a-brewing in my noggin.
If you don’t know by now, Bora Bora is a lush, tropical paradise, with tall palm trees, many varieties of flowers, and thick and tall grasses almost everywhere. Considering we were going to have a traditional Polynesian ceremony, with Polynesian dancers in traditional attire, my idea was to attempt to create our recommitment rings from a local reed. I’d never done anything like this before and wasn’t sure it was going to work, but I needed to try so a few minutes after my wife left I embarked on my quest for the perfect reed.
It actually took just a few minutes to find what I was looking for. The reed was long, thin, strong, and very maleable. I pulled a few blades from the ground and went back to our villa. I split the reeds lengthwise and coated each with body lotion from a bottle in the bathroom. I then mixed a solution of 3 parts water to 1 part body lotion in a glass, placed the reeds in the glass, and let them sit for about 30 minutes. When I pulled the reeds out of the glass, they were no longer green but brown. I took a reed, formed a small ring with it, and began wrapping the remaining section round and round the ring. Afterward, I tucked and snipped off the end peices. I did the same thing for the second ring. When I was done, I placed both completed rings in a glass of clear water to set. After some time had passed, I pulled out both rings and tested their strength by pulling on them. They held! Not only that, they were very firm. Here is a photo of the rings after they were placed by our wedding photographer.
We have been back from our vacation for a few weeks now and the rings have hardened even further. I amaze myself.
Day 7, part 2 next.
Day 7 (August 10) - Part 2
At around 2:15 PM, I received a call from Adelaide asking if it was okay for her and the photographer to come over. I thought it was a little early but said yes. 15 minutes later, Adelaide, the videographer Sadry, the photographer Stefan and his “assistant” Bunny… thaaaaat’s right :), were in our villa setting up equipment.
I air-quoted Bunny’s title because seeing Stefan, who looks to be in his mid 50s but could be older, and Bunny, who is Asian, model hot (and I mean smoking), in her 20s, and obviously and laughingly unfamiliar with the equipment she was fiddling with, engage in their work/flirt dance (a touch here, a sly glance there) that anyone with eyes could see from the other side of the world, made me smile a little, but hey, Stefan is French, so…
The first thing Stefan wanted was various poses of me in the villa; in the living room, in the bathroom looking in the mirror, standing on the balcony looking out over the water, sitting on the balcony looking back at the entrance, etcetera. This went on for approximately 20 minutes as he asked me to pose for a few shots numerous times as, I suppose, he was attempting to get the perfect shot.
After Stefan was satisfied with the current series of photos he’d taken, Sadry the videographer then stepped in and verbally sketched out scenes he wanted me to enact, e.g., “walk from the shadows at the back of the bedroom, out to the balcony, stop, go to the balcony and place your hands on the railing, pause for two seconds looking out over the water, then turn around and slowly walk back into the bedroom.” Sometimes he was able to get what he wanted on the first pass but other times he asked me to repeat the sequence 2 or even 3 times.
My impression is Stefan and Sadry have worked together before. They coordinated their respective shoots flawlessly, giving each other turns to capture stills and footage of each composition. Sadry would also get scene ideas extemporaneously from Stefan’s composition and vice-versa. I always find it interesting and appreciate seeing people work so well and seemingly effortlessly with each other.
The next set of video and photos was taken just outside our villa: walk slowly down the pier with your hands in your pockets, again but with your hands at your sides, again but toward me, again but stop after five paces, turn and grab the handrail, etcetera.
One of Bunny’s responsibilities during Stefan’s segments was to select and hold various reflectors to capture the sunlight in a certain way. It was hilarious watching Stefan tell Bunny what he wanted and then, as Bunny moved the reflector into place, ask repeatedly “do you have it? do you have it? do you have it?” When it was obvious Bunny didn’t “have it”, Stefan would calmly walk over, smile, take the reflector, reposition it, and say “like this.” Sheesh. Get a room already.
Afterward we, along with all the photography and video equipment, piled into Adelaide’s cart for the ride over to Miri Miri Spa. Upon arrival, Adelaide led me to one of the waiting rooms to cool off, relax, and rehydrate. I must have been in there for around 30 minutes when Adelaide came by and brought me out to the beach behind the spa for another photo and video capture session, but this time with my wife who Stefan and Sadry had just completed a solo shooting session with.
After another 30 minutes or so of capturing footage of my wife and me in various poses, and enacting Sadry’s scenes, a few multiple times, we all crammed back into the cart for the ride back to our villa, where an oarsman in a canoe decorated for the occasion met us on the balcony. My wife and I enacted a scene of me leaving her on the deck, hopping in the canoe, and waving as the oarsman paddled us away from the balcony.
The oarsman’s responsibility at this time was to take me to the ceremony site. During the ride over, which took approximately 15 minutes, he told me stories of his employment at various resorts in Bora Bora, including St Regis, which he’d been hired by just weeks ago. The oarsman, sorry, he told me his name but I forgot it, who is a native of Bora Bora, and whose French is much better than his English, explained how challenging it is to work for the resorts as most workers cannot visit their families on the main island for weeks at a time, and that even when they are having a bad day, they must project happiness and positivity at all times during their 14-hour shifts. Whether they are a cabana or pool boy, a dancer, or part of the cleaning or maintenance staff, guests must always be given the impression that all the workers are happy to serve, even if they are not, or are dealing with a personal issue.
One thing you will notice as you walk or bike around the resort is whenever you encounter someone on staff, regardless of their role or responsibility, they will always, every time, and without fail say “iaorana” to you with a smile. Iaorana means hello in Tahitian. The requirement to greet everyone every time is obviously bored deeply into the brains of all workers as even when a housekeeper who greeted you upon entering your villa to clean, will greet you again if she sees you when coming out of the bedroom or bathroom, or in from the balcony. I think it is a bit much but policy is policy and as advised by the oarsman (I feel badly for continuing to call him that), there are many more applicants for employment than there are jobs and there is assuredly someone looking for a job who will greet everyone with a smile if you won’t.
The oarsman also said there are a few resorts that are well known as being less than desirable to work for as they don’t, according to him, treat their staff well, causing stress and resentment among the ranks. He told me a story of his time at a different resort when he was a fire dancer. He’d burned his leg during one of the shows and the resort threatened to fire him if he missed his next shift. He said that all fire dancers get burned; it is an accepted hazard of the job (for some reason I was taken aback by this), but this particular burn was pretty serious so he went to a local clinician to have the wound addressed, and missed his shift. He didn’t say whether or not he was fired, and didn’t name the resort, but he did say he was happy not to work there anymore.
As he rowed us within sight of the shore, He changed the subject and asked me how I like Bora Bora. I told him I did, very much. He told me about the island’s lack of crime and how he is thankful every day to live there where he’d spent almost his entire life, with Papeete being the farthest away he’d ever travelled.
As we reached the shore, he thanked me for speaking with him along the way. I thanked him for taking me to the ceremony site. As I stepped out of his canoe, I had an uncomfortable thought that perhaps some of the ebullience we’ve seen expressed by staff on the resort property was a veneer but I shook it off.
Walking toward the ceremony site at the beach, I saw my wife being led by two Tahitian women in traditional Polynesian attire, each with real coconuts covering their breasts.
Day 7, part 3 next.
While we are awaiting my day 7, part 3 post, here is:
Tip #4 - While visiting French Polynesia, you may have occasional need to use your phone, for either texting, browsing the Internet, using your connected apps or even, heaven forfend, making calls. 
Here are the things you should do to ensure you are not slammed with massive per transaction charges.
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First and foremost, make sure your phone is set up for international calling. This option is not enabled by default in your phone so you will need to contact your carrier have it turned on. You can have this enabled at any time prior to your trip and there is no reason not to do it now even if your trip is not for a few months.
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Data - Prior to arrival in French Polynesia, you will want to turn off Data. Do not forget to do this unless you want a very big surprise in your next month’s bill when you get home. Your phone uses data when it is operational, even when you are not using it so turning this off is a must. On an Android phone go to Settings, then Data Usage, and uncheck Mobile Data.
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Calling and texting - Carriers have international calling plans that lower your rates significantly when using your phone in many countries. The carriers usually have a list of countries that are covered in their international calling plans on their websites. Sorry, French Polynesia is not on the list of plans but you can still find out what you will pay on their sites.
For example, my carrier is Verizon. On Verizon’s site, they list the voice rate when calling from French Polynesia of $2.99 per minute, and 50 cents for each text sent, and 10 cents for each text received. Doesn’t sound so bad until you realize how much we’ve all begun to rely on our phones, and then SLAM! Your carrier may also suggest purchasing a sim card upon your arrival in French Polynesia. Don’t do this. The savings are not worth the hassle.
You can actually pay nothing while making phone calls and sending texts while in French Polynesia by enabling WIFI Calling. WIFI Calling uses the accessible WIFI at your location to transmit voice and data. With WIFI Calling enabled, simply connect to your local WIFI signal and you can make and receive calls and texts with your smartphone in French Polynesia and not pay anything. When we were in Tahiti and Bora Bora this is how we communicated with people back home. The downside to this, of course, is when there is no active WIFI connection, such as when you are out and about, you cannot make or receive calls, or send or receive test messages. For us, it was great as we had free WIFI in our villa and typically made calls and sent texts in the mornings and evenings, and I was able to check and send emails as well.
To enable WIFI Calling on an Android smartphone, go to Settings, Advanced Calling, select Wi-Fi Calling, and select the button labeled “OFF” to turn it on. If Wi-Fi Calling is greyed-out for you, call your carrier to have them check it out.
And that’s it. 3 simple steps: Turn on International calling before your trip, turn off Mobile Data before arriving at your destination in French Polynesia, and turn on WIFI Calling.
When you arrive home after your trip, you will want to turn off WIFI Calling and turn on Mobile Data.
We are still awaiting!
Please accept my apology for the delay. I should have another installment sometime tomorrow…er, I mean later today.
Day 7 (August 10) - Part 3
There are a number of wedding ceremony types that can be accommodated, from traditional Western, e.g., American / European, traditional Asian with further delineation by culture, to traditional Polynesian with variations on that theme. There is also an 8-page listing of options that can be added a la carte, giving you the opportunity to make your ceremony as personalized or as opulent as you like, at an additional cost of course.
As I may have stated previously, we opted for a traditional Polynesian ceremony. We worked with Adelaide on the ceremony location, how it would be decorated, how many dancers we would have, and a myriad other details, one of which was what the priest would say as he was marrying us, a draft of which Adelaide was kind enough to provide to us prior to our arrival in Bora Bora. As someone who has no belief in the supernatural, one thing that was important to me was to have no invocation of deities or other religious references made during our ceremony so Adelaide worked with the priest and made alterations to accommodate us. For example, all references of “God” or “under God” were stricken. A portion of the ceremony is performed in Tahitian, and we trust (and were told) religious references were removed there as well, although we would never know if they weren’t.
The ceremony, which lasted approximately 30 minutes, was very nice and the weather was perfect for it. During the ceremony, we were each given a traditional Tahitian headdress made of flowers. I placed one on my wife’s head, and she placed the other on mine. My wife and I each wrote vows we didn’t share with each other until the ceremony. My wife choked up a few times as she recited her vows, which were so laudatory I started to feel undeserving and began to well-up myself. I then recited my vows.
The priest recited a few phrases in Tahitian and then wrapped us together in a large red and white floral pareo and then recited a few additional phrases in Tahitian. Near the end of the ceremony, the priest provided us with our wedding certificate, which was printed on a parchment made of ground tiare leaves, and two folded white pareos.
As the ceremony neared conclusion, the dancers, who seemingly came out of nowhere, began dancing for us while my wife and I sat in oversize wicker chairs and watched. After a few minutes, two of the dancers came over and pulled us into the melee. We had no idea what we were doing but when I saw my wife start to dance, I joined in as well.
When the dance concluded, each of the dancers lined up and, one by one, walked up to us, grabbed our hands, and congratulated us. That was nice.
By now it was becoming dusk. The videographer and photographer, who captured the entire ceremony, wanted a little more footage and photos, so we were brought over the main dock for a little more of that until the good light left us. Afterward, Adelaide had a car ready to take us back to our villa.
Upon arriving at our villa, we had to rush to prepare for the candlelight dinner that was set up for us on a private island. Here is a photo of the table upon our arrival. The photo doesn’t do it justice as it was absolutely breathtaking in person. There were also red petals on the sand surrounding the table arranged in a heart-shaped pattern that you cannot see in the photo as it was too dark.
The resort arranged for a waiter for us exclusively, who not only brought over our courses, he stood approximately 30 feet away for our entire meal, ready to respond to any requests we had, whether to top-off of our beverages, or even to bring over something not on our ‘bespoke menu’, to use Adelaide’s term. The waiter was very attentive and, I have to say, it was very nice having someone dedicated to us exclusively for the entirety of our meal, although we did feel badly that he stood there for the better part of two hours.
Our meal consisted of the following:
Starter: Goat Cheese Agnolotti - kind of like a raviolli, and was mixed with salad greens. It was really good.
Main course: Fried Barramundi, with Arborio Risotto - Barramundi is a local fish, the flavor of which I associated closely with cod. It was paired with a vegetable risotto that was out of this world delish. We’d never tasted anything like it before.
**Desert: Vanilla Praline **- Leaves of crunchy milk chocolate filled with Tahaa vanilla mouse, caramelized peanuts and vanilla ice cream. There is absolutely no way something that tasted that good is good for you.
After finishing our meal, we decided to tip the poor waiter, which he greatly appreciated.
Upon our return to our villa, we saw this us on our bed.
At this point, we were in a certain type of mood so I will end day 7 here and pick it up with day 8.
By the way, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.
Here is a photo of the floral headdresses and leis, on the coffee table in the living room of our villa, that we wore during our ceremony earlier in the day.
Thanks so much for sharing all this - I’ve really enjoyed your adventure.
Day 8 (August 11)
We spent most of the morning, during and after breakfast, reminiscing about the events of the day before.
After breakfast, when we returned to our villa, my wife decided to avail herself of one of St Regis’ services, which was to have tea (or coffee) brought to us by our butler. This service made no sense to me as, even though it was free, we could make tea and coffee ourselves. My wife’s rationale was we were on vacation and shouldn’t have to make tea for ourselves. Am I imagining the tea and coffee we just had at breakfast? Approximately 30 minutes later, Nozomi our butler arrived and set the table. Turns out tea is not just a beverage in a cup. It is a large metallic pitcher of hot water, a container with a selection of caffeinated and decaf tea bags including my wife’s favorite English Breakfast (blech), a carafe of ‘regular’ coffee, a carafe of decaf coffee, biscuits, a selection of jams, a small container of honey, packets of sugar and artificial sweeteners, two small bottles of Pellegrino, and an actual printed newspaper (haven’t seen one of those in years). It was almost like a second breakfast. As I said, it made no sense.
Afterward, with nothing planned for much of the day, we decided to check out the cabanas, which are located in a secluded area of the resort marked by a sign indicating that this was the ‘Adult Pool’. By now, we expected the cabanas, like most everything else at the resort, to be completely devoid of people, and we were right. Each of the five 9’ by 12’ cabanas contained two loungers, a small table, a few large towels, and a post-mounted telephone. The front of the cabana could also be closed for privacy. In front of each cabana was its own private pool area that fed into a larger pool in front of an artificial waterfall. The air near the pool was very misty and cooling. Here is a photo of the private pool area for the cabana we occupied. The water here is approximately 3 feet deep. Here is a photo of the larger pool that all the private pools fed into, and the waterfall. The water here is a little more than 5 feet deep. The entire area gave us such a burst of tranquility, and with the sound from the waterfall that was almost like a constant white noise, we almost fell asleep in the cabana. It was absolutely wonderful.
After an hour or so of lounging and playing around in the pool, we decided to order something to eat so my wife used the phone in the cabana to order some club sandwiches. 20 minutes later, the sandwiches arrived with a couple bottles of water. The sandwiches, however, were not prepared to my wife’s specifications. She began explaining to the person who brought the food what was wrong with the sandwiches but, rather than advising that he would have the order redone, the guy began to contradict my wife’s assertion of what she ordered…dun dun dunnn. Wrong move, buddy. My wife is Hispanic and didn’t learn English until she was in her late teens so when she gets upset everything she says is in rapid-fire Spanish, so yeah, that happened. The guy, obviously not understanding a single word my wife said and, I guess, taken aback, quickly apologized and told me in French that he would be right back. 20 or so minutes later he returned with the sandwich my wife actually ordered. I felt badly for the guy as I suspect he had nothing to do with the mistake in the order but I think he learned a valuable lesson not to contradict a guest, especially not a Latina guest, and definitely not my hot-blooded Latina wife. Feeling badly about losing her temper, my wife apologized to him, which I thought was a good idea, not to mention surprising as my wife is not the apologetic type.
After eating, we played around for a while on a swing made from a life preserver that was hanging from a tree in front of each cabana. After getting ourselves soaked to the bone, we decided to dry ourselves off and leave. It was fun but, even though we’d come to expect it, we did wonder why no one else came to this wonderful place the entire time we were there.
My wife had another spa appointment scheduled for the afternoon so we went back to our villa and puttered around for a while. Here she is looking at the spa menu. She doesn’t know (yet) that I posted this photo, or that I took the photo in the first place, but I am not showing her face so she should be okay with it. If not, I will have to break the link to it. I have to say, for 51 years old my bronze goddess still has it. She turned the TV on and watched a little of the Olympics which, although all the commentary was in French, she enjoyed. Eventually, she received a call that the cart was waiting for her outside and she was off.
When she returned, we needed to prepare for a dinner we’d scheduled at a restaurant on the main island called MaiKai, which was recommended by our travel agent and was part of our package. At around 6:15 PM, we walked to St Regis main dock and were met by the captain of a small shuttle boat who was waiting for us. We hopped in and in approximately 10 minutes, we were on St Regis’ dock on the main island.
We left the boat and there was a small minivan with the rear passenger-side door slid open. A woman walked up to us and said “Bonjour, MaiKai?” and, upon receiving my acknowledgement, cheerfully led us into the back of the minivan. The woman was accompanied by a man who drove the minivan but who never said a word to us. She began pointing out the various points of interest as we passed them, asking if we’d heard of or been there before. She then asked where we were from and the moment I said “l’etats-unis” she switched to English as though she hadn’t communicated with us in French at all for the last 15 minutes. It was kind of jarring to me, and funny at the same time. Her French was much better than her English, which I found to be typical when speaking with other Tahitians. I was thinking of telling her that it was okay to speak in French, but I was concerned she may take it as an insult so I kept my yap shut in that regard.
Along the way, the woman continued to point out the sites and to give us other information she thought we’d find interesting, but all in English now. Some of the information was, in fact, quite interesting. For example, Tahitians bury their dead in their front yards. There are supposedly only two cemeteries on the entire island, and they no longer accept the dead and are not open to the public, and there are ordinances and guidelines for how and where a body can be buried on one’s property. There’s been an uptick in interest to purchase real estate on the island by French nationals, Canadians, and Americans in the last 10 years or so, and the issue of bodies buried on the property has become a big problem. Potential sellers don’t want their dead bothered, or worse, dug up and discarded by purchasers of the properties, and potential purchasers are freaked out by the prospect of human remains being buried under the front lawns of the properties they’re interested in purchasing.
The woman told us there is just one police station (gendarmerie) and one jail on the island, which we saw when we visited Vaitape a couple of days before. She explained that the population of Bora Bora is perhaps just 20,000 and everyone’s family knows everyone else’s, and there is virtually no crime at all on the island. She said the worst she hears is someone being picked up for drunkenness, but even then they are taken to the home of one of their relatives and not to the police station.
She also advised that there is no hospital on the island, and the seriously ill have to be airlifted to the hospital on the island of Raiatea. I thought that was crazy and asked her what they do in case of a medical emergency. She said a local clinician does whatever he or she can while the patient is driven to one of the helipads on the island. Pregnancies are managed at the local clinics or at home for the most part with the mother opting for the flight to the hospital only if there are perceived complications, and even then it has to be pretty bad for the pregnancy not to be managed locally.
Each bit of information the woman imparted to us was more fascinating than the last. She was so interesting that my wife said I should have recorded her. Sadly, I didn’t think of it.
After approximately 40 minutes, we arrived at MaiKai. Walking in, to me it had the vibe of a TGI Fridays, but with far fewer people and no booths. It did have the large TVs and the island-themed tchotchkes on the walls. In the US, I would have considered it tacky, but there I have to admit it kind of worked. They also had seating outside on the marina side, which is where they placed us. This wasn’t too special for us as we have a dockside restaurant at our marina back home, but we appreciated the effort to give us a nice atmosphere.
Shortly after taking our orders, the first course arrived. Here is a photo. It was just alright, not terrible, but not really good, either. Our main courses were not memorable at all; we didn’t bother taking photos. Our disappointment having overwhelmed us, we decided to skip dessert; there’s nothing worse than a bad dessert to end a bad meal. We signaled to the waiter that we were done and were advised that our driver was waiting outside.
We hopped in the back seat of the minivan of the same couple who brought us to the restaurant and engaged in more banter with the woman on the way back to the St. Regis dock. As we drove through Vaitape, my wife asked if there was a pharmacy nearby. The woman advised that yes, there is a pharmacy next to Chin Lee but that it closed at 7:00 PM. The day before, I scraped my left ankle pretty badly while walking down some jagged rock steps. My wife did what she could to clean it up but said I needed some antibacterial cream and an antiseptic and, as the resort had nothing, we made plans to come back to the island in the morning as she was concerned my ankle could become infected if not addressed properly.
Before we knew it, we were at the St Regis dock and boarding the shuttle boat to be taken back to the resort. Upon arriving at St. Regis, we walked to our villa and prepared to turn in for the night.
Day 9 (August 12) next.
You are welcome. There is more to come but we are, sadly, nearing the end. 
Day 9 (August 12)
What the Heck? How was it Friday already? Alas, we were down to our last full day in Bora Bora. We woke up before sunrise and headed out as soon as the sun was up. Here is an early morning view of our area of the resort from where we left our bikes each night.
After yet another amazing breakfast, we walked over to one of the resort’s beaches that we’d spent very little time on and realized that although we’d been there almost a week, and kayaks, paddle boards, and jet skis were always available on the beach, we hadn’t taken advantage of them. Here is a small video clip of a section of one of the resort’s beaches. You can see the canoes, kayaks, paddle boards, and jet skis sitting unused as they typically were throughout the day.
The resort has two publicly accessible hammocks that we saw (there could have been others); one on the beach supported by two large trees, and the other approximately 30 feet out from the beach over the water supported by two former tree limbs. Here is a photo of me in the over water hammock. The depth of the water at the hammock was just approximately 3 feet and easy to walk to if there isn’t much of a current. Getting into the hammock, on the other hand, was a bit of a challenge as the water works against your attempt to manipulate yourself into it. Once in, however, it’s great. Forget about keeping dry, though, as your weight will dip you down into the water and the current will have you sloshing about. It is also no where near as relaxing as the over land hammock, but it is much more fun.
We wanted to make another run to Vaitape on the mainland, so after approximately 15 minutes of goofing off at the over water hammock, we went back to our villa, showered…again, dressed, and prepared to head to the main boat dock.
Please note that although guests are allowed to go the the mainland whenever they want, as long as there is a shuttle running, the resort will want to know when you expect to return. As the resort is responsible for the safety of its guests, I believe they have a protocol in place to search for someone who hasn’t returned when scheduled.
We’d originally planned to spend approximately 5 hours in Vaitape on the mainland but, having been there on our own a few days before and remembering how small the town is, we concluded that 2 hours would be more than enough time there, so when we arrived at the dock, we were added to the list of those who would come back at approximately 1:00 PM.
Upon our arrival in Vaitape, my wife stopped at a few shops but didn’t linger and didn’t purchase anything. We walked down to Chin Lee and purchased two small bottles of water just to stay hydrated, and then walked to the pharmacy, which was just two minutes further down the road.
The pharmacy was the most modern looking establishment we’d seen in Vaitape. Other than all the French signs and labels, I could have sworn I was in any contemporary pharmacy in the US. It was bright, clean, and looked kind of like a small CVS but without the snacks, beverages, and other junk you’d find in a CVS. Here, everything was pharmaceutical, and everything was organized logically.
My wife walked up to the pharmacist’s counter and, not knowing the pharmacist’s English proficiency, began to speak somewhat slowly and concisely. My wife was thrilled when the pharmacist responded fluently and fluidly in English with just a trace of a French accent. In fact, the pharmacist had less of a French accent than my wife’s Spanish one.
After my wife explained the issue with my ankle, the pharmacist wanted to see it. She brought around a small white table covered with examination paper, pulled two medical exam gloves from a dispenser mounted on a wall and put them on, and asked me to sit and place my leg on the table. She actually examined the wound, which surprised me, pressing around the inflamed and swollen areas. After a minute or so of this, she went into the back and returned with a small metallic bowl of warm water (I am not sure if there was anything in the water), a plastic bottle of what I assume was alcohol, and a few cloths sealed in plastic. She wiped the wound and surrounding area of my ankle with one of the cloths she’d submerged in the water, briefly examined the wound again, and then applied the alcohol with another cloth in a wiping motion to the affected area. It stung a little. She then applied something called Aureocyde, which is a hydrogen peroxide cream, and something called Cooper Solution Antiseptique 5% chlorhexidine, and then wrapped my ankle in a gauze bandage. She did all of this unprompted and unexpected. We were charged for the bottle of Cooper Solution and the tube of hydrogen peroxide cream. She gave us a roll of gauze that she did not charge us for, and advised my wife to change the dressing later in the evening. She didn’t charge us for anything else, not even the examination. My mind was absolutely blown.
I thanked the pharmacist, walked outside, and waited, as my wife, having found a new friend, chatted up the pharmacist for another ten minutes or so about who knows what. When she was done, we walked back to Chin Lee and purchased two 2 liter bottles of water and some fruit, and went back to Robert Wan to wait for the van to take us back to the shuttle boat.
Upon returning to our villa, we sat out on the balcony for a while eating fruit that tasted something like a nectarine, but wasn’t. It was juicy and delicious, though. We then went outside to take a few more photos near our villa.
An hour or so later, we returned, showered yet again, and prepared for dinner, which we reserved at Far Niente, the resort’s Italian cuisine restaurant. We arrived just as the restaurant was opening for dinner and, although there was a table reserved for us, we were told we could sit wherever we wanted as they were not expecting a large number of guests that evening…naturally. We selected a table and were shortly brought menus.
My wife and I must have perused the menu four times before admitting to each other that we really were not in the mood for anything there. There was nothing wrong with what was on the menu, other than the selections being less Italian and more italian “inspired” than we were expecting, but we wanted something a little lighter. Hey, it happens. We called over the waiter, apologized and asked if we could move to the Aparima Bar instead. He said “certainly” and asked us to wait a few minutes. When he returned, he asked us to follow him to Aparima. Upon arriving, an Aparima Bar waiter welcomed us, brought us to a table, and gave us menus.
We had a couple of chicken salad sandwiches, a fruit salad that we shared, a large bottle of Pellegrino, and my wife had a cup of hot tea. That was all we wanted and it hit the spot.
When we returned to our villa, we began the arduous task of packing our luggage as our boat to the airport was scheduled for 10:30 AM, and we didn’t want to wait until the morning as we both hate feeling rushed.
Day 10 (August 13) next.
Did you take any pictures of the native girls?
Let me add my voice to join in the appreciation, not just the travelogue but also what we get to know about you as a couple. What a great read!
Not intentionally, although you can get an idea of how some French Polynesian woman look by viewing the video clips linked in my posts #55 (Chin Lee video) and #71 (wedding video) above.
French Polynesian woman typically, but not always, have shoulder length (or slightly longer), jet black hair, with the current local style being to have it pulled back and tied into a bun on the tops of their heads.
Although you will see Polynesian women of all shapes and sizes, there is less of a tendency for women to be very thin, opting (or settling) for a fuller and more shapely body than the average Western woman. Women tend to be fuller-bodied the older they are, but don’t seem to be self conscious about it. Many of the larger Polynesian women seem to be more secure with their bodies than the corresponding American woman.
Their skin color also tends to range from light tan to brown, with very few white-skinned among them, although, because of a Chinese influence in Bora Bora, you will see some women with lighter skin tones along with more East Asian facial features. Also, from what we saw in town, the women of Bora Bora tend to be in the 5’ to 5’5" range in height.
Thank you so much for your comment. It was a great experience.
One more chapter on the way. Please stay tuned.