Let the excursions begin!! We woke up bright and early this morning (7AM). Enjoyed a beautiful sunrise before heading to breakfast where we were greeted by our favorite island server (woman or trannie - still not sure - but pretty convinced trannie). Curt had an omlette & I indulged in crepes (I know I should be swearing off carbs before the wedding but oh well we're on our honeymoon). It was a bit overcast and there was a nice brisk breeze blowing through at breakfast. Once again we were surrounded by all couples (mostly in their late 20's/early 30's).
After breakfast, we headed down to the main dock to meet the concierge, as she prepared us for our first excursion. Pick up time was 9AM & our guide was a few minutes late. Once he arrived everyone was all smiles. Our guide was playing the ukulele & singing "That's Amore." We hopped aboard & were whisked away on our Bora Bora Lagoon Cruise. We started off with an island tour from the lagoon. Our guide pointed out the mountain on the main island and areas where the reef met the ocean. He was very entertaining.
We arrived at our first stop on the cruise = shark feeding!!! This is by far the excursion I have been anticipating most on the trip. Unfortunately during this excursion the guests were not allowed to feed the sharks. Our guide was the only one allowed to feed them & he baited them in with sardines. The cameraman & the guide were the only ones in the water & they urged everyone else to get in. We put on our flippers & masks but hesitantly waited on board. There were about a dozen sharks circling the boat (black tipped sharks & lemon sharks). Again he urged us to get in. I thought, "What the hell? When in Bora Bora..." so I jumped over the side. I was the first guest to get in the water & our guide led me around pointing out sharks as he fed them. I struggled a bit w/ my snorkel gear, which frustrated me to no end.
Curt jumped in next & I handed off the underwater camera to him, as I was having difficulty getting my gear to cooperate, was being pulled by the guide and for the first time thought "Oh my god, there are sharks circling me!!" Curt was in heaven. He donned his mask & started taking pictures. The other 3 couples aboard slowly began to join us in the water. We spent about 30 minutes swimming with the sharks, which were rather skittish. There were about a dozen to twenty black tipped sharks circling the area. They didn't seem to be bothered by any of the humans that intruded upon their territory. All was fine, until one of the Italians got bit by a shark on her leg....just kidding (my mom is probably going into cardiac arrest right about now). Many of us got back on the boat, but Curt and one of the Italian men continued to snorkel & capture these amazing creatures on film. Our guide hopped back on board & started chucking more meat & sardines into the water. The sharks began to swim quickly towards the boat and were breaching the water (sometimes fighting each other to get the fish). I asked Curt when he got back on if he was scared when they were jumping all over the place & he hadn't even noticed it (too busy shooting video under the water).
As quickly as we got there, we sped off for more views of the main island & the lagoon. Our guide pointed out the dock that receives all their imports. They receive shipments 3 times a week from Tahiti (this includes all food, goods, gasoline & other imports needed for the island). There were huge garbage bins, so I imagine they pick the trash up only 3 times a week as well.
We made had to slow down as we entered our next stop on the cruise because it was pretty shallow. We put on our flip flops & prepared for wait awaited us in the water (flip flops were a must since we'd be able to stand and walk around, plus there was a bit of coral and some sharp rocks on bottom). Once again our guide jumped out with some fish & the stingrays started to swarm him. He warned us not to touch their stingers when we got in the water. I got a bit nervous that their barbs would brush up against me & jab me in the leg or heart. Still I hopped into the water first. I walked over to our guide & he showed me how to pet them on their heads. He warned us all that if you put your hands or other body parts on the underside of their bodies that they will suck on you & leave hickies. He informed the men that if they start to swarm them, it's best if they cover their "bananas" as he wouldn't want anyones "bananas" getting sucked on (he wasn't kidding even though we were all hysterically laughing).
One of the girls from Spain joined me in the water. She was nervous and kept grabbing on to me and pulling us in circles when the stingrays got close. I was getting a bit panicky because I was still afraid of the stingers & feared she would pull us into a barbed stinger. The others hopped in & Curt had the camera. I managed to pull away from this girl & became a bit more comfortable with the rays. The guide had me kiss the ray. I was not to keen on that idea, as every time I bent down to kiss the stingray it started to make a crazy sucking noise. Curt was laughing and captured me on video as I flailed about worrying about stingray hickies. Eventually, I managed to kiss the ray (after about 3 attempts).
Curt wandered about petting and kissing the stingrays. I wondered whether he was a sea creature in a past life, as he could spend hours in the water and is at such ease with all the sea life. The Europeans with us were nervous the whole trip. I wondered why on Earth they opted for this tour when they were afraid to touch the stingrays and didn't stay in the water with the sharks very long. I on the other hand was somewhere in the middle (not quite the merman that Curt was, but not afraid of the challenge like the Euros).
Our guide LOVED the stingrays. He even had one that he called his girlfriend. This ray had it's barbs taken out & you could actually grab it by it's stinger. He kissed and frolicked with this ray. It was quite hysterical. He even pulled a needle-nosed fish out of the water and had it in his mouth. It really freaked out many people around us, but Curt & I were laughing hysterically and taking pictures.
We were off to our next stop = the coral garden. After swallowing lots of sea water in our first snorkel experience of the day, I was not super keen on getting back into the water. My mask just wasn't tight enough & I kept getting water in the nose area (later in the day I practiced snorkeling off our diving platform with a new mask). Curt was one of the first to jump in. The European women didn't want to get back in the water. I eventually climbed back in, but my goggles were fogged up and still I kept getting water in the nose area. I couldn't really see a ton, but knew Curt was capturing it all on video & taking lots of photos. Our guide wanted me to dive with him, so I tried it but with my terrible mask I only came up with a ton of water. I sort of felt defeated by my snorkel gear, but Curt was really encouraging and said we'd practice when we got back (I went through 2 more masks later on that afternoon until I got one that worked properly).
Curt spent what felt like an hour (probably more like 20-30 minutes though) exploring the coral garden, while I sunned myself on the back of the boat. Our guide brought him sardines to feed the fish with & I was cracking up watching him. He was like the Pied Piper (but with fish & sardines as bait). When he finally climbed back in the boat, he told me that a fish nibbled his ear while he was feeding the fish (I told him it was because he has meaty ear lobes & the fish thought they looked tasty hahaha).
Once back at the hotel, we had some time to kill before dinner on the main island. First item on the agenda, figure out why on Earth I couldn't snorkel properly. We returned my dud of a mask & picked up new ones. I tried the first mask. It was too loose but we couldn't make it any tighter. I gave it a try anyway, but of course water just rushed in. I tried our second one (which we made as tight as possible) and it worked fine. Curt also gave me a few tips on how to maximize time underwater. I snorkeled around our villa for a bit, until I was certain I had mastered snorkeling (of course I will only be using this 3rd mask for the rest of the stay at the St. Regis).
After my "lesson," I swam around a bit in our lagoon. It was really warm & so relaxing. We took a few photo ops of me swimming under our glass bottom window while Curtis was inside looking down. The pictures came out pretty cool.
We headed down to the beach. I set up shop on a comfy hammock with my magazine, while Curt went windsurfing for a bit (he thinks he was out for a REALLY long time, but in actuality it was more like 15 minutes tops). He did a great job though, but decided he wouldn't be teaching me on this board because the sail was too large to learn on (I think he just didn't want to hear me get frustrated if I couldn't stay up right away). We swam in the ocean & watched the cabana boy attempt to teach a 16 year old girl how to stay up on the board. Poor girl couldn't even pull the sail up without falling over (Curt pointed out this was because she was using her arms and sticking her butt out - I made a mental note of that so when I actually convince him to teach me I'll be ahead of the game).
It was nearly time to get ready for dinner (they put all the water sport gear away & take down all the beach umbrellas between 4:30 & 5). The sun goes down by 6PM here (which I still can't get over because it goes down at about 8:45PM in Moss Beach nowadays). We decided to grab a cocktail at the swim up bar before heading back to our room. We both had margaritas (I had a coconut margarita = tasty & Curt got a more traditional rita). The swim up bar was so quiet (so was the entire beach, pool & bar area for that matter). Everyone heads back to their rooms by 5PM to get ready for dinner (if you head into town for dinner the shuttle leaves at 6PM).
We headed back to the room since there was nobody to socialize with at the bar (or anywhere for that matter). I decided today was the day to start my Kettle Worx regime (my plan is to complete the 6 week regime in 3 weeks - normally it's 3x's a week for 6 weeks, but I decided since I have to be in a wedding dress in 3 weeks that I'd do it 6x's a week for 3 weeks). **Bringing the Kettle ball to Tahiti was not an easy task. We packed carry-ons only, but I insisted on checking the one with the Kettle ball as I'm sure taking that through security would not have been fun (especially internationally).** I busted out the cardio DVD & got in a great workout (the work outs are 20 minutes which make it very managable while maximizing difficulty). While I sweated my behind off, Curt swam around the lagoon.
We made the 6PM shuttle in to town and went to Kaina Hut for dinner (our concierge recommended this restaurant to us). Once we got to the main island, taxis were waiting to take us to our restaurant locations (St. Regis makes your reservation for you & has pre-arranged taxis, so no $ needs to be dealt with while off the property). There were about 6 other parties that opted for Kaina Hut. We were one of the last couples to be sat & were told to choose a seat anywhere. I spotted this secluded table behind a screen & made a B line. I think some of the other honeymooners that were already sat were jealous when they saw us sitting there (oh well... you snooze you lose).
Dinner was fabulous. It was a French restaurant (so I was obviously in heaven). I had an enormous pad of foie gras for an appetizer (Curt had gnocchi which was their signature dish - I thought this was odd for a French restaurant to claim this as their signature dish - especially since we were in Bora Bora). I tried their local pikepicket fish & Curt had a perfectly rare tuna steak (wrapped with a very thin layer of phyllo). We shared the chocolate fondue for dessert (after this very rich but delicious dinner - I was certainly glad that I busted out Kettle Worx today).
Once back at the hotel, we picked up some wine at the bar for our night of stargazing. We both fell asleep with our wine glasses in hand.
Stay tuned for our next excursion (this one had my heart racing with excitement)!!
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The pictures and videos are amazing...looks like you guys are having a blast!!!
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