#1704 - 07/01/06 08:02 PM
Bora Bora 6-3 to 6-10 long winded
|
jroche
Junior Member
Registered: 01/31/06
Posts: 5
Loc: Rock Hill, SC
|
My wife and I took our first trip (of many to come) to paradise June 3-10. I would like to say first off, that the trip was VERY well planned out. Being our first trip to FP we elected to book through the travel agency that runs this site. THANK YOU very much to Amy for a very smooth trip. This trip report will be a bit long and may ramble a bit but I feel it is better to give too much information than too little. I read several hundred posts and trip reports in my planning.
6/3. Got on our plane to LA from Charlotte, NC. We had a short 1 hour layover in Chicago then to LA. When traveling for long periods of time I try to break up the trip as much as I can. I gave us 3 hours between our arrival and the flight on ATN at 4:10. We packed for the week in 2 carry-on bags plus a book bag. We arrived in LA at 12:30 and headed straight to the Tom Bradley terminal. Since we managed to get there as the 1:10 flight was departing we had to wait about 20 minutes before they would take our two carry on bags. There really was no point in taking them on the plane and we had a bunch of time to kill and didn’t really want to lug the bags all over LAX. We ate a relaxed lunch at one of the restaurants and headed to the duty free shop. There we purchased 1 liter each of vodka and rum. When we went to pay the clerk at the register said “You must be going to Tahiti right?” When I asked how he knew this he stated it was because of the smiles on our faces. He then looked at our boarding passes to confirm his suspicion. Before the ATN flight boarded we grabbed our bottles from the gate and headed on. We flew on the Bora Bora. The flight into Tahiti was long. My remote to my LCD screen didn’t work very well which made the flight even longer. We flew coach. Next time it will be business class. I brought 2 Ambien with me for the flights to/from LA but unwisely didn’t take one as I thought I would be able to sleep. No go. We arrived in Tahiti at about 9:45pm. Once we rounded up our bags we headed to the bank and exchanged some cash. The exchange was about 8600cpf to 100usd. After the exchange we headed to the entrance and checked in with Marama tours. They gave us a lei and loaded our bags in a van to take us to the Sheraton. The room at the Sheraton was a place to sleep/shower. We had a drink at the bar and went to bed.
6/4. We got up around 7:00am and took showers then headed off to breakfast. The food and service were good. When I signed for the bill there was a spot for a tip. I left a 500cpf tip and the waitress crossed it out and stated that the hotel doesn’t give them the tips. After breakfast we walked around a bit and took some photos of Moorea in the distance. Marama Tours picked us up at the hotel at 9:00am and took us back to the airport. We got through security no problem and waited about an hour and a half for our flight to Bora Bora at 10:45. Make sure you sit on the left side of the plane (thank you to the many posters here)!!! We made a quick stop in Huaine then continued on to Bora Bora. We took several photos from the plane and several actually turned out fairly decent. Once we landed we checked in with the Pearl Beach. This is where you find out what room you got as they don’t assign or guarantee specific rooms. We got POWB #34. More on that later. We boarded the boat to the PB and it took about 10 minutes to get to the hotel. Upon arrival we were take upstairs to the bar area and given cool towels and drinks. The group was broken up by language and several hosts explained the layout of the hotel, boat schedules and various other things. They also collect your billing info at this point. After the paperwork was done everyone but us was rounded up and headed to the rooms. We were taken aside and told our room was not ready yet but that it should be within the hour. We went and played some pool (pool balls are smaller there than in the US?) for about 30 minutes. During that time the PR person for the hotel came over and introduced herself. She was very nice. She said it was somewhat unusual for a couple to be at the hotel for more than a few days and wanted to introduce herself incase we needed anything. She also said we would be pleased with the room. Shortly thereafter a hostess came and got us and we started walking. And walking. And walking. The lower number bungalows are located next to the boat dock. At the end of the main pier you either go right to 36+ or left. We went left. The rooms in the middle of the “U” shape are mid to upper 20’s. 2 rooms at the end. 35 on the right and 34 on the left. WOW. All I can say is WOW. We had obviously heard which room #’s were the top picks but WOW. The bathroom was huge with a king bed and a daybed. Now the view. On the deck straight ahead at 12:00 is the left side of the mountain. The mountain is at about 2:00. It is not a direct view but it can be seen from the bed. VERY private. If you looked left you could see the other bungalows if you were out at the rail, otherwise you saw nothing but water pretty much. #35 could not be seen to the right. It is perfect. I checked the view from some of the other rooms and #35 was a bit more of a direct view as well as #44. In my opinion they were all fairly equal.
We headed straight for the water as I am sure everyone else does. It is so nice to have a ladder straight in. The water is about 4ft deep for about 100 yards then it goes to about 3 feet then it gets deeper until you hit the drop off. The bottom is 100% coral sand. The pearl does have some artificial reefs but it is basically sand. One note about the water. There are buoys about 125 yards out from the room that mark the boat lane traffic. If you want to go into deeper water you will be in the boat lane (not that many boats come in that close but still). There is a fresh water shower on the lower level of the deck. The hotel provided us with two large blue beach towels. They ask that you don’t use the bath towels for drying off from the lagoon. That is fine but at the end of the day the staff always took our beach towels and never replaced them. We had to fetch them from the hut beside the hotel each morning which was not a big inconvenience considering we were right there when we ate breakfast.
We paid for the meal plan which included breakfast every day and dinner except for one. The food for the most part was VERY good. I have read several reports that the food wasn’t that good. Both the wife and I thought the dinners were excellent. She did have one meal she didn’t like but we both felt it was because the flavors were very different than what we were used to not that it was poorly cooked. The bar runs a happy hour from 5:30pm to 6:30pm with ½ off cocktails. Make sure you get there early for a decent seat on the outer edge overlooking the property.
6/5. We planned on getting up early and heading into town to get some supplies. Ok not supplies. Beer and Tahiti Drink. As it turned out today was a French National holiday. We hung out on the deck and swam around most of the day. Dinner tonight was the one dinner not at the hotel. We took the boat to Chancelade and were met by a truck to take us to Bloody Mary’s. The bar and restaurant are a must see but nothing impressive. The food was ok. Both the wife and I had the Mahi-Mahi which was coated in rosemary. If you like rosemary I guess it was good. I can’t stand it. Rosemary was a reoccurring theme while we were there. Most of the vegetables were loaded with it. We got back to the room and passed out.
6/6. We got up early. You quickly get used to rising with the sun and going to bed around 10:00pm. We took the boat to Chancelade that meets the free shuttle into downtown Vaitape. The shuttle program from the pearl is very well laid out and easy to get used to. Once we got into town we hit a few shops then went to Chin Lee and picked up some Hinano, bottled water, Tahiti Drink and some bread (wife had to feed the fish). Make sure you bring a collapsible cooler with you. We got one from http://www.rei.com and it was the best thing we brought. I got the 24 can size and it was perfect. Once we were done shopping we headed back to the hotel as we had a 4x4 tour with Tupuna Safari and Mountain Tours. All the tours are pretty much the same from what I heard from other people. Go see the cannons and take the wild ride up the hills. The driver stopped by a local artist up in the hills that hand paints pareos. Very pretty. We ended up buying one. It is really fun and worth doing. At the end they show you how to open a coconut. They also take you by Bora Bora Pearl Farm which in my opinion is mostly a tourist trap. They explain the pearl process then it conveniently ends up in the showroom. When we got back to the hotel I arranged for them to make an appointment on Saturday with Marama tattoo. Make your appointments early as he works only by appointment and they can be hard to get.
6/7. We had breakfast then hung out in the room until 1:00pm. At that time we were picked up at the dock by Moana Adventure Tours ( 78.27.37) for a stingray and shark feeding trip.
The boat we were picked up in was small and only seated 4 people. That was a huge plus in my book as we prefer more intimate experiences over group outings. We took a 20 minute boat ride out to a large expanse of deserted lagoon and as soon as we stopped the rays started coming in. We had about 10 rays with a 4ft span hanging out and coming in to be fed. Several of them were quite friendly and would come right up to you and stay against you waiting to be fed. We took this in for about 30 minutes or so. Near the end some larger boats started showing up so we left. The other boats were big and must have had 10-20 people on them. We then headed out the main pass and tied up to a mooring line just outside the main reef. Here the water was about 70ft deep. We all jumped in and were immediately surrounded by hundreds of colorful fish. Then the sharks started coming in. About 10-15 black tip reef sharks slowly circled us. The sharks were not terribly large. I’d say they were in the 5ft range. Most stayed a good 15 yards or so out but some would occasionally come to within feet of us. At no time did either my wife (who was very nervous) of myself feel threatened in any way. We spent a good 45 minutes taking some pictures and just enjoying the moment. After we got back and headed towards the airport. We went into a coral garden with huge coral heads. We all enjoyed snorkeling while our guide played some music. There was not a lot to see at the coral heads other than the coral itself. Not a lot of fish in the area at that time. After about an hour we got back in the boat and headed back to the hotel. Overall I’d say this was the best outing. I would go as far to say it is a must when in Bora Bora.
6/8 & 6/9. Basically we had nothing scheduled so we just kicked back and enjoyed the wonderful weather. The weather up until now was sunny and calm. Today it started to get windy and it stayed that way until we left. We headed back into town once and restocked on Hinano and some Rotui juices to mix with the liquor we have yet to touch. We also purchased one pearl and some gifts for friends and family. So far it has rained once at night but the wind was really strong. Strong enough to wake me several times during the night.
6/10. Saturday morning and our last day. Pouring down rain. We had breakfast and checked out of the room since we would not be back by the 11am checkout time. We got a day room for about $60. I left the basically 2 full bottles of liquor in the POWB. The hop that brought our bags from there to the day room asked what I wanted to do with them and I said he could have them since that is what I intended by leaving them. He was very thankful. The day room isn’t bad. It is just a sink, shower and a daybed. No AC, just a ceiling fan. My appointment with Marama was at 9:00am. Since the 8:15am boat to Chancelade is not met by a shuttle we had to get a taxi to take us all the way down to his shop which is located just past the Club Med. The taxi ride cost 3000xpf. When we got to his shop he was just opening the doors and sweeping up. We headed in and I looked through his book of designs. I found one I liked and he said it would be no problem but he would not do the same design as he does not do the same tattoo twice. Everything was clean and all the equipment is sterile. I was made a bit nervous when he started to lay out the design on my arm/shoulder as he did it freehand and made very few marks. When I told him that in the US they mainly do a stencil he said something about skill and went on to tell me he has been tattooing since he was 7. He started and it took about 2 hours. All freehand and all done with a single needle. All the filling in..everything. And it looks awesome! My wife who is not really into tattoos even loves it. By the time he was done it had stopped raining as well. He charged me 20000xpf, which I thought was low for the size. I paid up and he gave the warning about staying out of the water. We were feeling like taking a walk so we decided to start walking. We passed the HBB and kept on going. WE decided to stop for a drink and ended up at Ben’s. Got a couple of drinks and had a great conversation about the island and how the hotels avoid paying taxes. If you do nothing else while you are on the island take a pit stop at Ben’s if for nothing else but a good chat. We decided to keep on walking and finally ended up at Bloody Marys. We had a few beers and had them call us a taxi. The taxi to Vaitape cost 1500xpf. We decided to have lunch at Snack Bora Burger while we waited for the free shuttle back to Chancelade. Pretty good food. We headed back to the hotel and just hung out by the pool until it was time to shower before the flight. The flights back were uneventful since I remembered to take the Ambien to LA.
That’s basically it. We had the time of our lives and are already planning our return. We will probably take in the other islands next time we go but will definitely save a day or two for the Bora Bora Pearl Beach. There were two items that really made the difference on the trip. The biggest was the collapsible cooler and the second was some bug spray from http://www.buggspray.com . We didn’t have any mosquitoes in or around our room but there were a few at the bar and restaurant. The liquor was really a waste. Get some Hinano and Tahiti Drink and you are good to go. I will post some pictures shortly whenI find a good site to host large .tif images. If anyone has any questions feel free to send me an email at vf8magick@hotmail.com.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#1706 - 07/02/06 05:28 AM
Re: Bora Bora 6-3 to 6-10 long winded
|
Never Home
Member
Registered: 01/05/06
Posts: 192
Loc: Philly area
|
Ohhhhhh how I wanted a Tahiti fix this morning, so I printed your trip report to read on the porch....and wanted to see your pictures but it says it's not available.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#1707 - 07/02/06 06:38 AM
Re: Bora Bora 6-3 to 6-10 long winded
|
jcsnhgirl
Member
Registered: 03/17/04
Posts: 314
Loc: NH USA
|
Great trip report. I can't seem to get to your pictures on that site...anyone else having a problem?
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#1708 - 07/02/06 07:55 AM
Re: Bora Bora 6-3 to 6-10 long winded
|
gleff
Member
Registered: 05/16/04
Posts: 254
Loc: DCA
|
Can't get the pictures via that link either.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#1709 - 07/02/06 08:24 AM
Re: Bora Bora 6-3 to 6-10 long winded
|
DenverJoe
Expert Advisor
Registered: 09/10/02
Posts: 1869
Loc: Denver, Co.
|
Can't see the pictures either. Great report though.
_________________________
Nothing better than a Hinano in hand and toes in the sand.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#1710 - 07/02/06 11:51 AM
Re: Bora Bora 6-3 to 6-10 long winded
|
superstar
Advisor
Registered: 02/16/06
Posts: 567
Loc: Laingsburg, Michigan
|
Very good descriptive report. We also took the Moana Tours shark and ray feeding tour. I thought that was our favorite excursion too. Even though only the two of us booked the trip they did not cancel it.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#1712 - 07/03/06 09:52 AM
Re: Bora Bora 6-3 to 6-10 long winded
|
wendrz
Junior Member
Registered: 06/16/06
Posts: 31
Loc: San Diego
|
Thanks for sharing your trip report and photos!How much was the Moana tour per person?
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#1713 - 07/13/06 05:57 PM
Re: Bora Bora 6-3 to 6-10 long winded
|
Nana
Member
Registered: 08/11/05
Posts: 59
Loc: ny
|
jroche: I agree about the Tupuna Tour pit stop to the Pearl Farm. It wasted about 1 hour of our tour time. A new bride and her husband pondered over whether to get one, what color, what matched her eyes, how much, etc. etc. An hour later, we were zooming around the island to get back for the PD tender. I'm sure there is some kick back to the tour guide when one purchases a pearl. I would have thought they would go back ON THEIR OWN TIME and decide what she wanted. The tender back to PB waited for us after the tour guide called him and said we'd be late! That was pretty annoying. We did get to see the cannons, pick guava from the side of the "road" and get to see beautiful views though. George was our guide. He was a character, to say the least.
j.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
Moderator: BarbiJKM, hamara, DenverJoe, Poehere
|
6901 Members
15 Forums
10250 Topics
91339 Posts
Max Online: 118 @ 04/08/12 01:59 PM
|
|
0 registered
and 8 anonymous users online.
|
|
|
