The Relationship Test...

Day 8 (July 31, 2011):

I'm starting this blog at 3:30AM. I managed to get a few good hours of sleep (thanks to MerCalm & exhaustion), but once I rolled over I was up for the duration.

Let's flash back to just before 7AM & I will fill in all the details of our first day at sea without Marseille. I crawled into bed with Avatar playing the night before & was asleep within minutes. However, once the boat started to sway in the middle of the night, I tossed and turned. The bed was hard & the dinghy was smacking the waves violently near our head. I pulled our windows halfway closed because the cold wind was chilling me to the core. Tossing and turning, turning and tossing and voila it was 7AM. I was extremely grumpy when I woke up & my back was sore from the stiff bed.

Our plan was to bring Marseille back to Sunsail by 8:30AM, so that we could get underway and head out to Tahaa. Once out of bed, we got ourselves ready for the day (basically put our bathing suits on & took care of hygiene needs) & we began breakfast. Marseille had coffee going by the time I got upstairs. It was glad that he started it and could talk me through how to make another pot (pour hot water in our “coffee pot” while holding the filter full of grinds over the pot).

I decided to make French scrambled eggs for breakfast since Curtis loves them & they've become a specialty of mine. Curt had the bacon in the oven & our pot (yes I said pot not frying pan – it's absolutely the only way to make proper French scrambled eggs – thank you Institute of Culinary Education) was ready to go. I was just about to pour my mixture into the pot, but while Curt was pouring milk into my coffee mug the board under my bowl slipped and the entire egg mixture ended up on the floor (both our faults because we shouldn't have been preparing food on the cover to the drying rack). I was so annoyed (still very grumpy from lack of sleep), but Curt quickly cleaned up the mess & brought me more eggs.

Round two of making eggs went off without a hitch. We enjoyed some coffee, juice, eggs & bacon in the saloon before pulling up the anchor and heading back to Sunsail. Once at Sunsail, Marseille brought us to the market. We first stopped by a local farmer & picked up 1 large breadfruit (basically an island grapefruit) & a bunch of white bananas (the peel is orange) that Marseille recommend we try baking in the oven.

We walked over to the only supermarket in town to get some fish, meat & veggies. I was pretty disappointed by their vegetable selection, as they had tons of lettuce, brown tomatoes, shriveled up peppers & cucumbers filled up an entire row. We opted to get carrots that looked decent & a giant bunch of green beans. Curt went in search of seafood, but wasn't impressed by the selection they had in the freezer or fridge section (no counters with meat or seafood here). We decided that we'd try and pick up fresh fish from a fisherman the following day to cook on our grill. Curt managed to find 1 piece of steak that looked decent (it was only $3.60 – looking back on it I'm wondering if it was actually steak. It could have been dog at a cheap price like that, as many locals eat wild dog).

We loaded up all our groceries & the beverage provisions that Sophie forgot to put on the boat yesterday & head back to our catamaran. We were ready to start our first sail...just the two of us. Once out of the marina, Curt asked me to take the wheel so he could get the main sail up. I refused. I was really nervous to take the wheel of this 40 foot catamaran & would rather put the sail up. Sunsail has a sail cover that is permanently attached to the boom (basically the sail flakes into it and you use tie it closed with the sail ties), which made it difficult for Curt to see which lines did what (without him coming up front to get a look), so he couldn't really give me instructions.  I was on my own to figure out which was the halyard, etc...

He was getting frustrated with me for not taking the wheel, but I keep refusing & eventually we got the 2 reefs in & the sail up. Our morning sail was quite nice. We were headed to our first anchoring spot near, which was halfway around Tahaa. The plan for mid-morning was to anchor, snorkel around the Motu & head out early afternoon for our night anchoring spot on the other side of Tahaa.

By the time we got to the Motu, I had spilled my coffee all over myself when we hit a wake. This was just not my day (and this was still only the morning). I rinsed out my cover up, hung it to dry & mentally prepared to set the anchor. Curt was still at the wheel & it was my job to drop the anchor. We arrived at our location and assessed the best place to drop our anchor. There was a lot of coral & we were just outside of very shallow water.

Our first attempt at dropping the anchor was not a success. Curt kept yelling for me to drop the anchor & I kept yelling that he was near too much coral. It was a battle of stubborn minds trying to accomplish a tricky task (the current and waves were pushing us into the coral & we were just not working together). After another failed attempt, Curt left the wheel to assess the situation & thought we needed to attach the anchor lead rope (used with catamarans to keep the anchor centered) to the rode of the anchor. He attached it and we went for our third attempt (this time I didn't argue that he was too close to coral & decided that if our anchor got stuck in coral it would be the captain's job to dive & get it out). This time the anchor didn't go anywhere. I told Curtis that his brilliant plan to attach the lead was a failure because we should have attached it after the anchor was secure at the bottom (he didn't come back to see what I was talking about and didn't really understand what I was talking about). He wanted to try again with the lead still attached. I took the lead off because clearly the anchor wasn't going to go anywhere (in my hast I didn't reattach the lead to the boat but wouldn't realized this until later in the day) & it was at that point that Curt told me to put the anchor away & we went for the mooring instead.

I grabbed our boat hook and prepared to grab the mooring. As we got close I realized that the moorings didn't have any rings and the hole at the top was too tiny to hook through. Curt went back for try number two & told me to try and grab the rope right under the mooring ball and pull it up. While he was giving me instructions we passed the mooring & since I was listening to Curt's instructions I missed it again. We were both frustrated with each other, our unsuccessful anchor attempts and our unsuccessful mooring attempt.

Curt motored away & said we were moving on. I was equal parts upset because we were arguing with each other and annoyed that he left the anchoring spot because I thought eventually we'd get it. I went into the cabin and pulled out my sailing books to figure out why we were unable to anchor properly (note: normally we don't anchor since we mainly do day rentals where we can tie up to moorings or dock the boat, but we were both taught how to set various types of anchors). I realized that I forgot the key 5:1 ratio, but also realized that our anchor wasn't marked in feet or meters so I had no idea how much rode I was actually letting out. Since the rode was inside the boat, I had no way to pull it out and flake it out in sections of 10 feet. Curt came into the cabin, did a little math & we figured out that 60 revolutions of the winch would roughly equal 5 meters to the bottom (we were mainly anchoring in water 5-10 meters deep, so this should work).

It was only when Curt was working out the math that I got nervous (not sure why since we were in 40 meters of water, not close to any shores & with no other boats in sight) that someone wasn't manning the wheel, so for the first time all trip I got behind the wheel. This was a turning point for our morning, as I felt successful at something, Curt was glad that I was actually feeling confident enough to take the wheel & we both apologized for being short with each other during our anchoring exercise. I stayed behind the wheel for a while, which gave Curt a much needed break. We both were able to sit on the captain's bench and enjoy the morning (we've been motoring since our failed anchor attempt).

I realized that it had been quite some time with our sails down & asked when we'd put them back up. Curt pointed to our instruments & it was the first time I realized that we've been going directly into 30 knots of wind for the past hour. Had Curt not pointed that out (I get really nervous in high winds & large swells), I probably would have stayed behind the wheel for a bit longer. I used the excuse that I wanted to check out our next anchoring location for things to do nearby & headed into the cabin for a bit. The wind was getting stronger & stronger as the day went on.  It wasn't exactly smooth sailing.  

After going through some guide books, I thought we should check out l'Hibiscus hotel & bar. We could use their free mooring, get drinks with them at happy hour & stay tied up to the mooring over night. Curt liked this idea & we both thought that since l'Hibiscus was in a bay that we'd be more sheltered from the wind at night, as opposed to anchoring out in the lagoon by the Motu.

It was about 2PM & we decided that we'd still go to our original night anchor location, practice our anchoring again & snorkel around a bit. This location was much more desirable for anchoring since the water was a bit deeper around the Motu, there wasn't a lot of coral & the current wasn't pushing us toward shallow water. We successfully anchored on our first try!! This was not only huge for our afternoon plans, but also a huge success for our relationship (no bickering this time around & excellent teamwork).

We opened a bottle of wine & sat in the saloon for half an hour watching our swing to make sure that we were in fact set properly. We still needed to connect the anchor lead line to the the rode. I tried to use our boat hook, but the lead was directly below the trapeze, so I couldn't reach it and pull it where it needed to be hooked onto the rode. Curt put on his flippers & snorkel gear and jumped in to hook it on from the water. The wind was picking up a lot and our boat was swinging bobbing around a lot. I was really nervous that Curt was going to get hurt in the process, but he managed to successfully attach the lead. I needed to let the anchor out a bit more, so that they lead made it's proper Y shape and the anchor lie in the center.

Once we were set, Curt came back on board & we prepared to snorkel, only we couldn't find Curt's mask. He had it on when he went in the water & he thought he handed it to me after he attached the lead, while he waited for me to let out the rode. I was certain he didn't hand it to me. He realized that when he swam back to the diving platform he tossed them up on the deck. We searched & searched but couldn't find it (we figure it fell off the back when we went over a big swell), so I stayed on board while Curt swam around for a bit checking out what was around us. By 4:30PM, we were showered & ready to head into the bay for l'Hibiscus happy hour.

We tied up to a mooring & were preparing the dinghy when I thought it was much windier than it had been all day. I asked Curtis if this was a good spot to tie up for the night & he told me that if it was rough (large waves & strong winds coming in to the bay) that we'd have to rough it for the night because the sun was about to set. We got into the dinghy & I felt really queazy. The swell was getting bigger & the sun was almost set. I was nervous about heading back to the boat in pitch black (we left our anchor light & deck lights on but it was still very dark). Curt told me we would be fine.  I love that his calm demeanor is always able to balance my high anxiety.

We spent the next couple of hours hanging out at l'Hibiscus, drinking wine, checking our email (I of course posted yesterday's blog) and unwinded from our tense day of sailing. Curt adjusted to the land within half an hour, but I still felt like I was on a boat the entire time we were at l'Hibiscus. We boarded our dinghy at 8PM & planned on making dinner once we got back on the boat. The ride back to the boat in the dinghy was rough (swells were high, the wind was still strong & we had very low visibility). I started to feel really nauseous.

I wanted to put the dinghy back up on the boat (this catamaran has a drop down bar to set it in the water). I held the dinghy as stable as possible, while Curt searched in the dark for the hook to connect to the drop bar. Our dinghy was bobbing all over the place, despite my best efforts at holding it steady. I feared Curt was going to get knocked off the dinghy by the drop bar & I would never be able to find him if he was knocked unconscious at night. We tied the dinghy up, but let it drift a bit further from the boat so it wouldn't smack around so much while we slept.

All of a sudden the nausea took over & I ran to the edge of the boat. We found some MerCalm in our first aide kit & I laid on our kitchen bench to let the anti-nausea medicine kick in, while Curt prepared dinner. This was the first time I have ever gotten sea sick in my life. I'm not sure if it was true sea sickness or part nerves from the waves/strong winds & part sea sick. The MerCalm worked well & I fell asleep at the kitchen table. Curt tried to wake me up for dinner but I was out for the count. He managed to prop my head up with a pillow & cover me with a blanket. I slept from about 9PM to midnight before waking up to boat bobbing up and down violently (ok maybe I'm over-exaggerating this part a bit but the movement definitely startled me awake). I tossed and turned on the bench but was afraid to go down below to the head because I thought I would get sick again.

At about 3AM Curt woke up to check things out. I decided it was time to try sleeping my bed & went down below. I lasted about half an hour before coming up to take more MerCalm & blog, since sleep was not on my agenda this evening.

I'm desperately hoping tomorrow is a better day. For a large chunk of the day, I felt terrible that Curt was marrying someone who couldn't handle living on a boat, when this is one of the things he loves most in life. I did feel better when he told me that a family friend that races all the time gets very sea sick & always takes Dramamine when he gets on the boat. We'll see how I feel tomorrow – I'm certain that my attitude will improve over the next few days with regards to feeling more comfortable living on the boat & am hoping that the nausea goes away.

Next up on our itinerary is the island of Huahine. We'll actually be heading out into open water to sail to this island (so far we just been sailing inside the reef). I'm nervous for the larger ocean swells & the wind is supposed to be equally as strong (if not stronger) for most of the day tomorrow.

**Photos will be added at a better WIFI location, as the slow connection isn't cooperating.**

Honeymoon - Part 2 ... The Mahana (our Catamaran)

Day 7 (July 29, 2011):

Goodbye St. Regis!! Today we start part 2 of our honeymoon adventure – where we leave our 5 star hotel, concierge & butler service & “rough it” (as I like to say). Curt says we will hardly be “roughing it” on our 40 foot catamaran, but I'll be the judge of that. I was not born a seaman, so I may require an adjustment period before I feel like a real yacht woman haha.

After boarding the yacht from the St. Regis to the Bora Bora airport, I got a bit mopey. It was the same feeling that I got every time I would fly back to NYC or Curt would fly back to SF, during our 21 month cross-country trips. It's the “I'm leaving something amazing right now & it will be a while before I can enjoy it again” feeling. We actually chatted a lot about how we wished our stay at the St. Regis was longer, so we made a tentative plan to return to Bora Bora for our 5 year anniversary (leaving any children behind with their grandparents). Who knows - maybe we'll stay in the royal overwater villas when we return (there are only 5 of this specific room type & they are the furthest out in the water, largest, have swimming pools on their decks & are much quieter/more peaceful).

We got to the Bora Bora airport, checked in and waited an hour for our flight. Our flight was pretty full, as it had two stops (1^st in Raiatea & 2^nd in Papeete). The flight was literally 10 minutes long. Very strange feeling to ascend & descend with very little air time (I was very thankful for my Earplanes). Once off the plane, we were greeted by our taxi driver. She was scheduled to bring us to Sunsail's marina (literally 2 minutes away in the taxi).

Sophie & Marseille were the first to greet us at Sunsail (Sophie was the manager & Marseille was our real life Captain Ron). Since neither of us has experience chartering large catamarans, Sunsail requires us to sail with a captain the first day. It was nice to have Marseille on board to show us were our water tanks, gas tanks, instruments, etc... were located.

Marseille helped me unpack, while Curt dealt with paperwork in the office. I had us fully unpacked by the time he got back. We picked up our snorkel gear, put away all our groceries & were ready to go by 1PM. Marseille navigated us out of the marina. Curt took over the wheel when we were out in deeper water, while Marseille manned the sails. We had a lot of wind & needed two reefs in the main sail during our afternoon sail. Curt told me that I didn't have to do much today (he was Marseille's first mate), so I lathered up with suntan lotion, manned the camera & tanned on the trapeze (occasionally checking to make sure that everyone had enough champagne).

We sailed from Raiatea to a Motu on the outskirts of Tahaa. We were pretty close to the reef, which had great waves breaking over it. Marseille explained that this Motu was pretty tricky to sail into or even to take our dinghy in to because it was shallow with a lot of coral. Sunsail suggests that you anchor by 5PM, since the sunsets at 6PM in the French Polynesian islands, so we turned around here.

We headed back to Raitea to anchor where Marseille suggested. We set our anchor near Motu Tahunaoe (anchoring proved to be quite difficult this evening because the current & wind were moving in opposite directions, plus we were anchoring on the edge of deep water so little changes meant we could be anywhere from 1m to 25m in our depth). After a successful anchor, Marseille showed us how to operate our dinghy (lower it into the water, outfit it properly with the motor, etc...).

Curt & I attempted to take the dinghy out near the Motu & watch the waves crash over the reef during sunset. This proved to be a bit more difficult than we anticipated because of the change in depths. We noticed that we couldn't get very close to the Motu because of the shallow water & coral. Other dinghys had their anchors set far from the Motu & a few people were walking from the dinghy to the Motu (that's how shallow the water was). We got stuck navigating our way through very densely packed coral gardens.

We found a nice spot & watched the waves for a bit before exploring a bit of the coastline. We headed back to our boat, Mahana VI (Mahana means sun), for some snorkeling before the sun went down. Snorkeling without a guide freaked me out, as this water was less clear than our previous snorkel spots, there were no guarantees that a giant shark would not eat me (not really possible in the depth/location that we were swimming) & the depth kept changing (you could go from deep water to being able to stand in no time at all). Curtis didn't seem to mind the murky water, but I swam back to the boat after a bit.

We rinsed off, opened some wine, set out cheese & crackers & prepared for sunset. It was very peaceful out near the Motu, since we were one of only 3 boats anchored (the other 2 boats had their dinghys out near shore). I decided it was time to prepare dinner, but was at a loss as to what dinner would actually be. Curt asked what I was cooking & I really wasn't sure since the provisions he got didn't include any veggies, meat or fish (he opted for the “Get Up & Go” package – which I think only really includes things for breakfast, a lot of pasta, rice, condiments, etc...). I surveyed our options & decided to make a macaroni & cheese (of sorts). I caramelized onions, while Curt prepared garlic bread. In my “mac & cheese,” I used tuna canned in oil, caramelized onions, herbs de provence, gruyere cheese, heavy cream & lots of butter (really the only suitable options we had for a meal).

We sat out in our saloon with white wine & our dinner. Marseille joined us for dinner & told me it was delicious. I think he was being polite, as I wasn't really convinced that it was a yummy dinner. However, itt was the best I could pull off with very little to work with & supplied with a teeny-tiny galley kitchen. Gordon Ramsey would not have been impressed with my lack of creativity, but it was dinner (let's see his Master Chef's try & pull off a gourmet meal, with barely any suitable ingredients, in an itty-bity kitchen. We decided that we should definitely hit up the market tomorrow morning when we dropped Marseille back off to Sunsail, so that we could pick up fresh vegetables, fish & meat (& hopefully prepare a proper meal tomorrow night).

Marseille turned in for bed about 7PM. At which point, I decided it was time to shower & get ready for our first night on the boat. Curt joked that if I held the shower head above my head, then I would feel like I was back at the St. Regis in our rain shower. I didn't see the humor in this & wasn't very keen on showering in this stall at all. To the bathroom's defense, it did have hot water & I only needed to use the shower pump-out one time. All in all - not a terrible experience, but definitely not the St. Regis (maybe it would have been better to do the sailboat before the St. Regis so I wouldn't have known what I was missing).

We decided to settle in on the trapeze with a bottle of wine, pillows, my travel snuggie & Avatar playing on Curt's laptop. The trapeze was extremely peaceful at night & with only the anchor light on we could see many stars in the sky, as we enjoyed the movie (pointing out all the details Cameron borrowed from Bora Bora). The wind picked up a bit during the movie so we relocated to our cabin where I fell asleep with Avatar playing in the background.

Stay tuned to hear about our first day at sea...ON OUR OWN!!!

Sent from a remote location on Tahaa - while regaining our land legs at l'Hibiscus during happy hour

Our last day at the St. Regis...

Day 6 (July 28, 2011):

It was an extremely cloudy day & ended up being a day full of rainstorms.  We still had one last excursion to fit in before we left the St. Regis.  I did Kettle Worx pre-excursion & was all set for whatever the day had in store for us.  We hopped aboard a boat for a morning of reef snorkeling.  Luckily our excursion was in the water, since it rained for most of the morning.

Our guide Christof brought us to three locations on our snorkel adventure.  We've been lucky that all of our excursions were with only a few other groups.  This excursion was no exception - there was another couple & a family of 4 (the first Americans to be on the same tour as us - I complained to Curt later on that they were loud - I guess I've gotten used to the quiet and hushed tones that exist outside of the US).

Our first location was to try and spot some mana rays having their breakfast.  Their mouth is much larger than sting rays & they feed off of plankton.  I finally mastered snorkeling and could successfully snorkel my way around the lagoon without any water sneaking in to my mask.  I stayed near our guide who pointed out all kinds of fish & explained about the sea life.  Curt swam off in a quest to follow the mana rays.

Before heading off to our second location, our guide found a few octopus at the bottom.  He managed to pull one out of his hiding spot.  We all got to feel how he holds on to you with his tentacles.  Poor octopus kept releasing his ink & was very stressed.  After our guide released him, he quickly swam to an new hiding spot & probably prayed no other tour guide would disturb him.

Our guide pulling up the octopus - the video clip was too large to upload 

Off to our second location which Christof called the lagoon's aquarium because of all the fish we would see.  He pointed out black urchins, coral worms, sea horses, surgeon fish, angel fish, etc...  It was still raining but we were able to see great sea life (including the angel fish which Christof said is normally very hard to see, but since it was cloudy we lucked out).  We spent about 30-40 minutes exploring this spot.  We even found a surprise written in the bottom of the lagoon - check out the video clip below to see what's written.

Our last location was snorkeling on the reef.  It was pretty shallow here, so we needed to be careful not to get cut by the coral.  We saw some pretty amazing fish, while fighting the current coming in from the ocean.  Even though we were slathered in sun tan lotion & it was raining/completely cloudy, Curt & I managed to get a bit sunburnt on our backs (up until today we managed to be burn free).

When we arrived back at the St Regis it was pouring, so we settled in for a cocktail at the bar & enjoyed each others company.  We hitched a ride back to our room on a golf cart and hung out for a few hours before being picked up for our 4PM couples massage.

The Miri Miri Spa wasn't able to do an in-villa massage (even though we had been trying to have them confirm one for us since the first day we arrived).  In hindsight, it was much better that we didn't have the in-villa massage because of the rain.  We wouldn't have been able to appreciate the in-villa if were actually inside the villa (not on our deck like I had originally wanted).

I arrived to our spa room first & was face down when Curt came in the room.  I chuckled instantly, as he was in what he claims was a child's robe.  It was so incredibly snug on him I couldn't help but laugh.  He had never had a massage before and wasn't sure what to expect.  He looked at me and whispered, "was I supposed to keep my boxers on?"  He had tucked the spa undies into the belt of his robe & thought it was an eye shade.  My stomach hurt I was laughing so hard.

He settled in on the table & we both had a fabulous 50 minute Balinese massage.  Just what I needed to completely release all tension & stress.  I don't think Curt really appreciated the massage & claimed he didn't have any stress or tension that needed releasing.  In any case, I loved the spa afternoon - complete with laughter at how ridiculous Curt looked in his robe.

After our massage, we relaxed until dinner.  The rain was off and on all afternoon.  We got all dressed up for our last dinner at the St. Regis.  We went to the Lagoon restaurant (which was the main restaurant featured in Couples Retreat).  The food here was incredible.  We both opted for the local fish entrees, which were to die for.  Finished our meal off with chocolate meringue, lemon sorbet & thai basil sauce - fabulous!

We headed back to our room, had some more wine & decided since we needed to be on the St. Regis yacht at 10AM that we'd get up early to pack, go for our last swim in the lagoon & eat a leisurely breakfast.

When we woke up on Day 7, it was still very cloudy.  We hopped in the lagoon for a dip, Curt did all our packing (which stunned me because I am usually the one who packs everything for us) & we said goodbye to the fabulous St. Regis.

Stay tuned as our next adventure will soon begin.  Captain Ron will take the wheel of our 40 foot catamaran.  Our plan is to sail from Raitea, Tahaa, Hauhine, Bora Bora & possibly 1 other very tiny island for the next 5 days.  Not sure how often we'll have WIFI available, but I will update you on our adventure as often as possible.

Welcome to Pandora!

Day 5 (July 27, 2011):

Up bright & early for our full day excursion.  We stopped for a very quick breakfast before catching the staff shuttle to the staff dock, where a taxi was supposed to be waiting to bring us to our guide.  We arrived at the staff dock & I noticed that many Tahitian & French staff members went directly to a "staff quarters," while others went to their cars or were picked up by family members.  The staff quarters reminded me of Dirty Dancing & I joked with Curt that we should pick up watermelons tonight, hop on the staff boat & party with the locals.  I was half waiting for a Tahitian Johnny Castle & his dance crew to come out in their dance gear.

Our taxi was not there on time (he was obviously running on island time).  We waited patiently & after 5 minutes were almost the last people standing around the dock.  One of the staff members was about to drive off with his family, when he stopped to ask what tour we were waiting for.  We should him our itinerary & he called the St. Regis concierge from his cellphone.  While on the phone with the concierge, our taxi finally appeared.  We hopped in and went to pick up the other members of our excursion (2 Australians staying at the Sofitel) & met our guide in front of Kaina Hut (the restaurant we ate at a couple nights back).  He hopped in the passenger seat of the cab and introduced himself as Tama (he's a Frenchman with Moroccan roots that now lives in Bora Bora).

Tama told us we were in for quite an adventure on our full day hike (I was psyched for the hike!  Curt needed some convincing on this excursion, but I won out since we both agreed that once on our catamaran Curt was going to veto a lot of excursions).  Our first stop was to the supermarket to pick up sandwiches for lunch & plenty of water.  We had a perfectly clear day for a hike (it wasn't too hot either).  He suggested we try a local style sandwich (chicken in an oyster sauce wrapped in a steamed bun), but we could also opt for a ham sandwich (which was very European on a giant baguette).  Curt & I picked up 2 of the local sandwiches & 1 baguette (we knew from our Half Dome hike that we'd need to keep our bodies fueled).  We had taken 4 half bottles of water from our hotel room, so we just picked up one giant water bottle.  Curt packed it all away in our backpack (he insists on carrying the backpack because he says it's heavy & I'll complain half way through - in actuality I don't mind the extra weight since it's essentially an extra workout).

Our driver dropped us off to our starting point.  Tama asked us all to sit down & explained that we were in the Valley of the King.  He would then launch into a full history lesson that lasted about 45 minutes.  Of course being the history geek that I am, I was soaking in every word he said & asked numerous questions.

Tama is an absolutely fascinating man.  He was born in France & his parents were from Morocco.  He said he's probably one of the only Muslims in Bora Bora (he no longer actually practices - he drinks beer, eats pork & worships nature).  He is a certified archeologist & botanist & studied in Tahiti.  He explained that since Tahitians are lazy the universities make everything a competition.  The top graduate in the program gets to pick which island they want to do research on (and also give guided tours during the high season to make cash for doing research in the low season).  Tama graduated top in his class & chose Bora Bora (1.  it has the highest amount of tourism  2.  there is only 1 guide for the whole island - many of the smaller, less appealing for archeological dig islands could have up to 4 guides  3.  it's Bora Bora).

Tama told us that the first Tahitians settled in Bora Bora in the 600's B.C roughly (they are descendants from Malaysians).  The king and his people lived on the mountain, farmed the land & practiced pagan worship (roughly 20,000 people lived on the island).  Contrary to what many believe the Tahitians were not fisherman living on the beach initially.  Once the French missionaries took over everything would be altered permanently.

The king initially resisted the take over.  The missionaries set up a small town on the beach, while the king & his people stayed in their mountain villages. The Tahitians started dying rapidly.  The contracted the flu from the Europeans and since the Tahitians don't believe in burying their dead in the ground the bubonic plague broke out once the bodies started to accumulate (their dead are buried in caves on the mountain, but once they were full they had no choice but to stack them up).  Their initial number dropped from 20,000 to 6,000 people (roughly the same number of Tahitians live on the island today).

The king begged the missionaries to explain what was happening to his people.  The missionaries told the king that his gods were not as good as their "white" god.  If they moved down from the mountain, the missionaries god would protect them.  The king moved his people to the beach & the missionaries forbid anyone from going on the mountain (Tahitian people still consider it taboo to go on their mountain as they fear that Tupapau - a ghost made up by the missionaries - will do harm to them & their families).

I was stunned to find out that the islanders still believe in Tupapau and don't use all the resources their mountain can offer them (coffee plants, banana plantations, papaya orchards, pineapple fields, ginger, etc...).  The French missionaries have done such a diservice to the Tahitian people.  They are so dependent on Westernization that they don't even know how to live on the land their ancestors thrived on.  Tama said many locals complain of poverty due to the decline in tourism.  He yells at them and calls them Bounty (like the candy bar - dark on the outside & white on the inside).  They have completely allowed the French government to keep control of them and have lost touch with their roots (essentially living like a Frenchman only without comparable salaries).

Tama has begun converting families & has begun to teach the Tahitians about their past (they don't know anything about their ancestors - only what they French missionaries have taught them).  Children don't even learn about their own culture, geography or ancestors in school.  They are taught all about France's history, geography & culture.  It really is sad to learn that the only thing the missionaries didn't strip from them was the Polynesian dance (the missionaries never figured out that through their dance they could still teach each other how to make thatch roof huts, hunt for fish, etc...).  Now, Tama teaches at the primary school 1 day a week & teaches the students about their history, brings them up on the mountain and sometimes has the kids help him with a dig.

The missionaries destroyed all the temples they found on the mountain, but didn't realize there were many more hidden in the forest (eventually completely consumed by the vegetation).  Tama began his research on Bora Bora in 2005.  Since then he has discovered 5 temples, the tomb of the king, 21 villages & continues to excavate new areas of the mountain in the low season.

It was as this point that Tama brought us into his jungle.  He pointed out the taboo line (not an actual line but where there is no longer a road and only his foot trail - we've never hiked without an actual dirt trail).  Tama told us currently 25 Tahitians come with him on Sunday to gather food for their families to live on during the week (nobody will go up there without Tama because they fear Tupapau).  25 people out of 6,000 actually use all the wild fruits, vegetables & wild animals to help reduce the cost of food bills (everything on the island is obviously imported from New Zealand).  A couple of the families have begun to sell the Bora Bora fruit in town.  I'm amazed that only 25 people (this includes children) will go into the forest for free food - instead they'd rather struggle to keep up with the increasing prices at the supermarket.  Tama told us that he doesn't buy much at the supermarket anymore & lives off what he gathers.

Tama taught us about all the plant life around us.  The giant leaves pictured with Curt & the Aussies above are the only type of leaf used to make the roof on Tahitian villas.  We learned the the flower at the end of the banana actually holds thousands of small banana flowers (once a petal falls off it reveals the next bunch) & the bananas won't grow to full size until the flower fall/is cut off.  I love learning about different cultures and was so inspired by Tama's anthropoligical lifestyle.

We continued on our hike & came up upon a cement water system.  We learned that the American soldiers built this system (which the Tahitians stopped using after the American's left because they didn't understand how to maintain it), as well as the main road (the only asphalt road in Bora Bora).  Tama told us that the Tahitians hate the French (if they could survive without the system in place & depend on their ancestors skills I bet they would revolt to take back their land), but love Americans.  Americans did a lot of good for the Tahitians while stationed here in WWII.  The French continue to reap the benefits of tourism industry in Bora Bora, while the locals struggle on a daily basis (the French don't even put money back into the island to repair schools, roads, etc...).  He told us that if a Frenchman is walking around town at night he will most definitely get beat up, but if an American was walking around town at night nobody would bother him.

US bunker from WWII

We began our 15 minute hike to Tama's first major archeological site (on our way we saw coconut groves, papaya groves, coffee trees & found ginger).  **Remember the Tahitians have been afraid to go on the mountain, so when Tama first began exploring the forest he spent a lot of time with his machette cutting out trails & clearing areas.  He stumbled upon a Tahitian temple on his way back from a hike.  He moved some leaves out of his way & it gave way to a wall (definitely not a natural wall as it was smooth and had coral mixed in).  Tama began to clear away the area & discovered it was in fact a traditional temple complete with a perfectly in tact altar.  The floor of the temple was made of volcanic ash stone & the walls were made of huge sections of coral.

 Tama's trail (really just a worn down footpath)

 You can see ginger roots in the center of the dirt

Coffee tree - Tama explains how all of this grows wild in the forest & the Tahitians don't use any of it

Coffee tree & vanilla vine

At the temple site, Tama showed us where the ceremony tattoo stone was buried (tattoos were forbidden once the missionaries took over - they felt it would give them too much freedom to return to paganism).  We saw the outline of what would have been the priests home (which is very close to the temple, so that he could guard it from evil spirits).  Next to the priests house there is the site where the king would lay for 1 year after death (for mummification) before being taken to his tomb (they kept the body so that they could see the tattoos of their ancestors - tattoos on the front of the body represented the person's life & achievements while tattoos on their back represented the achievements of their ancestors).  I was completely blown away by this temple.  

 Coral inside the temple walls

 Ceremonial tattooing stone - you can see the circle where the ink would be placed

the perfectly preserved altar 

The Australian woman asked if the Tahitians sacrificed at this temple because she heard they did a lot of sacrificing.  Tama explained that the missionaries informed people that the Tahitians were savage & sacrificed humans, so that they could justify needing to convert them to Christianity.  He said they did not sacrifice & the only offerings that were made were by the family chosen by the king on a weekly basis to feed the priest because he was single and had no wife to cook for him (the family would take half and give it to the priest & put the rest of the meal on the altar as an offering to the gods).  

The stones are the remains of the priests hut.

The missionaries also told stories of seeing the Tahitians having massive orgies in the temple.  Tama told us this was another lie because women were forbidden to enter the temple.  The entire temple was considered sacred & clean.  Since they had no way of determining when "Aunt Flo" was visiting they didn't allow women in the temple because menstruation was considered dirty and their temple was sacred/clean.  

Tama launched into a story of how Tahiti TV filmed a documentary of the site after it's discovery.  While filming the director asked him to show how he clears an area to begin a dig.  He began cutting away at vegetation with his machette & WHACK... the metal of his machete came into direct contact with a massive stone.  He cleared away the plant life & found what he calls the "artifact," which learned was a guardian.  This statue is placed at the foot of the kings resting place (right next to the priests house) to guard the king from evil spirits.  

 Tama shows us how the statue takes the shape of a human like form without eyes, ears & a mouth.

**It reminds me of the ancient fertility statue - only much larger & sans ta-ta's.

Tama demonstrates how the statue is sitting in true lotus form - he points out markings which show the legs & arms.

He asks both couples why we chose Bora Bora for our honeymoons.  We all said the same thing (it's supposed to be beautiful, there's great sea life in the reefs, etc...).  He told us that we could get that at any island, but we chose Bora Bora because it's "the honeymoon" location.  This dates back to when the kings still ruled the Tahitian islands.  Many traveled to come & touch the kings guardian.  It's said that honeymooners would come to touch the guardian and if the guardian of the king liked you, he would protect your family always.  Many couples made a pilgrimage to the guardian so that their new families would be protected from evil & they would prosper.  **We obviously had no idea about why people originally sought out Bora Bora as a honeymoon destination, but we definitely rubbed that artifact to make sure that our new family would always be protected.

We ate our lunch on the outskirts of the temple & headed off to find the King's Tomb (after spending a year outside of the temple, the kings body is taken to the tomb).  I was expecting a very traditional tomb, but was surprised to learn we were actually going to see a tree.  The Bunyon tree has roots that grow down to the ground & once connected with the Earth will entomb whatever is on the inside.  When you see the picture below you will feel transported into Pandora (Avatar reference).

Tama told us that James Cameron modeled the Tree of Life after this exact Bunyon tree.  Cameron had spent 8 years researching the culture, forests and stories of the indigenous people that lived in many of the Polynesian triangle islands.  He was fascinated with the Tahitian islands & sought out Tama's professor to assist him with his research.  He asked the professor to show him the largest Bunyon tree in all of the islands.  Fortunately for Tama & James, the largest Bunyon tree had just been discovered a month prior in the Bora Bora mountains.  

Tama said James Cameron spent a couple months going into the forest with him. He was fascinated by this tree.  He modeled the Tree of Life not only physically to match up to the real one, but also portrayed how the great ancestors were connected to the tree.  All great kings used Bunyon trees as their tombs, as it would reconnect them with their land.  The roots that grow towards the land are said to connect people to the past of Bora Bora.  

Tahitians believed much of their strength was in their hair (which is why the warriors had very long hair).  They would touch their hair to the roots to make a connection to their ancestors (I hope you're all seeing scenes from Avatar play in your mind because it was taken straight from Bora Bora's history).  Warriors would come to the Bunyon tree before a battle to get centered & gain strength from their ancestors.

 Notice the exposed root hanging down on the left side of the picture

 Up close & personal with the king - I climbed back as far as I could before the roots become to densely packed together (which is where the royalty rests).

Making a spiritual connection

When we signed up for the hike, I had no idea that we'd be learning so much about the ancestors of Bora Bora (I figured we'd hike, see lots of fauna and get great views of the island).  I could have never imagined the beauty that we were privy to.  We've actually been to the "tree of life!"  I connected my hair to roots of the tree and you could really feel the serenity, peace, connection with the past when you stood here.  It was an incredible place to visit & the feelings that rushed through your body were unimaginable. 

 It was at this point that I turned to Curt & said this is my absolute favorite excursion (1. because I'm a huge nerd & love learning about the past 2. the forest is full of the most amazing discoveries that very few people have ever seen in person).  

 pineapple grove

 the big mountain - Cameron used this in Avatar as well

 the tiny green leaf was replicated in Avatar - it closes when you touch it

wild pumpkin patch

Tama told us that James Cameron used other elements from Bora Bora in Avatar.  The white bird with the long tail is an actual bird that lives at the top of the mountain (Cameron made it bigger for the film, but it was modeled after the Bora Bora bird - I couldn't get a clear picture because it was flying so high in the sky). 

 He also modeled plants after ones found in the forest.  You may recall when Jake (main character) first enters the forest and touches a plant that folds up when you touch it, well it actually exists.  It's much smaller in real life (Cameron changed the color, enlarged it a bit & changed the shape, but the premise comes from this plant).  It was really cool to touch the leaf & watch it fold up.  It reopens a few minutes later.

We continued on our hike.  For about 30 minutes we hiked straight up a mountain.  When we got to the to we could see all of Bora Bora ( you could even see other islands out on the horizon).  I still can't get over how the locals never see Bora Bora from here or get to experience what we just did.  Hopefully one by one Tama will convert the families & teach them how to live off their land again.  

We got back from our hike at about 4PM.  We jumped straight into our lagoon to cool off from a long day of hiking.  We had a few hours before dinner, so I multitasked (caught up on blogging, tanned & sipped on white wine).  Curt thought this was hysterical & wanted to prove that even while blogging I'm enjoying all that Bora Bora has to offer.

 Blogging away on our diving dock

Beautiful sunset

We headed to dinner at 7PM.  Tonight's dinner was a traditional Polynesian feast complete with Polynesian dancing & a fire show.  The food was so tasty & a welcomed change from heavy French dishes we'd been indulging in.  

The show was absolutely awesome.  After listening to Tama speak about the culture all day, we knew what to look for in the dance moves & could actually see the women telling a story with their movements.  The women pulled guests out onto the grass to dance with them.  I was chosen to go dance & Curt captured me making a fool of myself on video (thankfully it was with my HD video camera so I can't post the video up here - it needs to be converted).  

What a long but fabulous day!!!

Stay tuned to hear about our last full day at the St. Regis before heading off to our catamaran.