Bora Bora, L’Ile du Paradis

One does not need a French dictionary or an advanced level of French to understand what this means. This little island of paradise was indeed the perfect romantic setting for my second honeymoon.

I had arrived in Tahiti at midnight on Wednesday, 13 December 2005. After more than a day of flying and transits from KL to Tahiti, I was really looking forward to holding my hubby in my arms after a month-long separation. It was rainy, windy and cold – certainly not good weather for welcoming tourists to the island! When I landed, I was glad to finally see the last of airports for a long while.

[Little did I know that Xav had planned a surprise for me.]

Over dinner that Friday night, I suggested to Xav for us to visit Mo’orea that weekend. Mo’orea is an island situated just about 30 minutes by ferry from Papeete. Xav somehow seemed reluctant to go, but did not divulge his reasons, so I dropped the idea, assuming he must be tired from work that week. As we sat down to dinner, he placed an envelope before me.

Inside were flight tickets and hotel reservations for two to Bora Bora! Apparently, two weeks before my arrival, Xav had booked this trip as a second honeymoon-cum-birthday present for me. I was SOOO surprised and thrilled to be going to an island reputed to be the most beautiful place on this Earth.

So, just four days after my arrival in Tahiti, we lugged our one-piece shared luggage to Faa’a International Airport. This time the weather was sunny, humid and extremely hot with little or no wind blowing through the terminal area. It was Saturday morning and everyone was traveling somewhere. Our line to check-in for the flight to Bora Bora was terribly long, filled with tourists pushing trolleys of luggage. I mean, seriously, how much do you need for a weekend on an island? One swimsuit, a hat, a pair of shorts, a couple of t-shirts, a good book and lots of sunblock!

By the time we boarded our plane, it was time for take-off. There were no seating arrangements, so we chose to sit on the right side of the cabin. 45 minutes later, we craned our necks to the ooohs and aaahs we were hearing from the left side of the cabin. The aerial view of Bora Bora was 80% big heads and curled hair, and 20% dots of greenery – oh well, we chose our seats badly!

Upon our arrival, we were given garlands of jasmine flowers to wear around our necks. It took about another 30 minutes or more to arrive at Sofitel Motu. I thought that Xav had booked us into a normal hotel room, but NO, he had reserved us an overwater bungalow on a private island! Thank God for the passion and romanticism of the French! :D

Check-in was warm and hospitable. First, we were offered a huge coconut drink. It looked sooo typically tropical – a BIG coconut (seriously, bigger than those in Malaysia) with a small opening at the top, from which stemmed a brightly-coloured hibiscus and a striped straw. A plump little Tahitian lady came up to explain to us the services available on this private little island. Then she left us to fill in the necessary forms while sipping our cool coconut drink.
There was one thing missing from the coconut though – a spoon. Having sipped the very last juices out of the coconut, Xav and I decided to pick at its flesh. I got up the nerve to ask the plump little lady: ‘Est-ce que vous pouvez me donner deux cuilleres, si’l vous plait?’, only to receive a long reply on how difficult it was to pick the flesh off the coconut, etc etc. I managed to convince her (or confuse her) with my French until she relented. With a doubtful look on her face, she handed me two spoons.

We were shown to our bungalow right after, Xav and I trailing behind our hostess, our coconuts grasped securely under our arms and spoons sticking out of our pockets. The bungalow was 100% made of wood with thick dried coconut leaves fastened together to make a roof. It stood directly in the sea water and we sighted several brown shadows of corals. The clear waters wrinkled once in a while to allow a school of fish to swim back and forth.

In spite of its primitive shell, the interior of the bungalow was all modern – air-conditioning, ceiling fan, rain shower, TV, electric kettle, king-sized bed with oh-so-fluffy pillows and soft blankets. In addition, we had a little balcony with a folded wooden table and two chairs, which faced the open sea. There was also an extension off the side of the balcony, where two chaise lounge chairs sat, the attached long cushions inviting us to lie down and just bask in the wonderful warmth of the sunlight. Leading down further from these chairs was a steel ladder right into the waters below our bungalow.

We did not hesitate even an instant! We hurriedly put on our swimsuits, climbed down the ladder and immediately soaked ourselves in the cool clear green waters. There were schools of fishes swimming around our feet and bodies. Here, on this paradise island, you can truly be at one with nature.

Xav and I frolicked in the waters for a while, then lied down on the chaise lounge chairs to fall asleep to the quiet sounds of lapping seawater beneath our bungalow. Hours later, we decided to move out of the bungalow (trust me, this takes a lot of effort!) to go for a walk along the little trails on the island. We reached the tip of the island, which led to a little lagoon hidden away from the open sea. Later we found out that this place was actually ‘Le Jardin de Corailles’ (The Coral Garden), a popular place for snorkeling.

Here we saw plenty of crabs – big black ones, scampering about sideways as they heard our footsteps closing in on them. There was one crab in particular, beige-pink in colour, which, instead of wearing a shell as its mobile home, chose a piece of pink plastic bottlecap. Xav asked me to lift it by its ‘shell’, and I did, only to have the crab crawl quickly out of its home in a blind panic. It dropped onto the rock and scurried away into hiding under some rocks. I felt SOOOO guilty about chasing this crab out of its home.

We waited patiently for it to come out. Xav picked up the pink plastic bottlecap and set it down close to the crab when it finally braved itself to venture out from under the rocks. Much to our surprise, the crab slowly and methodically crawled backwards into the cap, and having secured itself inside, began to move back towards the water!

It was close to sunset when we walked back to our bungalow. We took some aerial shots of our little island hut and of course, of the red-orange-yellow hues as the sun set. That night, we took a boat out across the island, to a sister hotel called Novotel. This main island had many local restaurants where the food is more reasonably priced than those at the hotels. Right after dinner, we took the boat back to our little island. It had been a long day.

We didn’t do much on the second day. We rose late in the morning, took a long swim in the water and an even longer nap out on the terrace. Finally we decided to take the boat across to Novotel again. We took a walk to a beach bar which had huge shady coconut trees and comfortable seats right on the shore itself. Xav and I ordered a pina colada - I felt that it was time we drank another typical tropical drink.

Actors in movies featuring scenes on tropical islands are always sipping this drink, with little umbrellas sticking out of their tall glasses. Staring far out into the ocean before us, Xav and I had a serious and rather solemn conversation about the world, religion, science, etc. There was an aura in the air that necessitated this discussion - you know, when you are in the presence and in awe of the great big creation before you, you tend to ask yourself 'deep' questions!



After a long talk which ended just as solemnly as it began, Xav and I took a stroll back to Novotel. This time we had dinner right in the hotel restaurant itself. It was not as expensive as we’d thought actually. Dinner was later accompanied by a Tahitian dance and fire show. Xav and I were pulled out to dance. All of my pictures dancing were blur no thanks to Xav! But his picture is here and is a clear example of how the dancers looked like and what we were doing :D


The fire show was impressive too. The photos here are a bit dark – those with the flash were not very natural. After this night show, we went back to our bungalowfor another early night. We had big plans on Monday morning.

Monday morning was another bright and windy day. The night before, we had decided to go over to Club Med and take advantage of their promotion – buffet lunch + all water activities for 4600 CFP per person (roughly translates to less than 46 Euros). We decided to do some sailing. Of course, I’d never done it, but Xav has, and he assured me that it would be easy. Indeed it was, and I actually sailed! :D

We went all the way to the coral reef, and could see the waves crashing ever so violently against it. We couldn’t go closer though because there were too many corals (the French call them ‘patates’ or potatoes) to sail through, and we might hit or scrape some of them. The waters were unbelieveably clear – crystal green all the way through. We stopped sail at one point, and took turns taking a swim in the water. I wasn’t so confident swimming at sea yet, so I held on tightly to the long rope that anchored me to the sailboat. We sailed for nearly two hours, then retired to a huge buffet lunch!

It was incredible! Now that I’ve become a Pourtauborde, I eat like one too :D There were all sorts of food, from smoked salmon all the way to devilish desserts like creamy chocolate cake with rich chocolate sauce. We had everything there – the salmon, the raw tuna, the cheeses, the meats, prawns, the list was endless.

We had had some after-lunch activities planned – like snorkeling or canoeing for instance, none of which even happened, simply because our stomachs were too full of food to do anything but lie down on the bed and nap! We took our last boat back to Sofitel Motu, looking forward to going back to the room, and just lying down for a while before checking out and heading to the airport.

It was a little depressing when we had to leave finally. We packed everything while the nice plump Tahitian lady prepared our bill. We were presented with two bead necklaces as souvenirs of our stay in Bora Bora. We settled everything and waited for the 30 minutes boatride to the airport. Accompanying us on the boat was a Tahitian man with his little rhythmic guitar. He played us a nice Tahitian tune all the way until we arrived at the airport.

The tune lent an air of melancholy to an already unwilling departure back to real life. Yet it lingered on a note of promise that we would someday return to this paradise island, Bora Bora……