Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Bora Bora,Tahiti


One quarter at work Ryan was awarded a trip because of some of the projects that he had completed for the company! Though it didn't make up for all the many hours of overtime that he does, it ended up being quite a nice little perk!! They would pay for plane and hotel up to so much so we decided to go someplace that we would typically never go to, that was expensive. I wanted a beach and Ryan had to scubadive...So Bora Bora, French Polynesia it was!! My mom flew out to watch the kids...and off we went!


I actually had a hard time leaving the kids as the BART took me to the airport...but I definitely needed a break...we actually haven't gone on a trip together alone since our honeymoon (and this year will be our 12 anniversary...so it was about time). Even just getting on the plane without having to worry about diapers/toys/games/extra clothes...not having to undress and redress the kids a security...it was all pretty weird to me. I actually got to sit down and read! (I almost finished a book by the time we got to Bora Bora!) We flew through the night and got their Wed.
This was the airport, one runway and only boats to pick us up.
The island in the middle of the lagoon.

We stayed on a little private island in the over water bungalows. This was the second night, a full moon and it was gorgeous on the water, the water even at night was so crystal clear it was amazing.
The hotel restaurant...so the bad part about the trip was the price of everything! The food wasn't so great and SO expensive!!!
One night we saw the dancers dance some of their native moves...

One day we decided to walk on the one road that goes around the island. We saw this beach and just relaxed...it was so weird to just be able to do that!
I thought taking pics of kids was tough but we were 0 for 3 here...my eyes were closed, ryan's were closed and then he wasn't looking at the camera! What do you do??




One of the beaches at our hotel. It was so nice because really it's rainy season there and it only sprinkled for 10 minutes twice I think (at least during the day), and NO ONE was there!!

This is the lookout from the island we stayed on. The gorgeous part was really the water. I can't tell you how many different colors of blue there was!
Our bungalow (forth from the end)
off our balcony, we would lay around and read here, also there was a little bit of coral so we got our snorkeling stuff and there were stairs that led us into the water off our little bungalow.

One day we went on a hike with a guide and had a great time. He was hilarious and told us all of the history which was really interesting. Showed us all the fruit that grows there, the hidden farms on the Mountain that no one goes to anymore because they are "forbidden", and a temple that is hundreds of years old.
a piece of the temple covered in vines.

the rock that he found that is where they would have sacred ceremonies and tatoo their history on themselves.
the rock "god" that was watching over the king while he was in purgatory, in lotus position.

the second (the oldest being the redwoods here in Ca) oldest tree in the world, the Banyon tree. This where the king is buried
Pineapple farm
The view

Another day we rented a little boat that we put putted around in the Lagoon. Bora Bora is set up with an Island in the middle and then a very shallow lagoon surounding most of it and then a reef where the ocean waves crash and then the deep ocean starts. There is only one place to enter by boat in the reef with is the one deep place in the lagoon, which is where submarines entered during WWII. So this means that you can walk out for a couple miles and the water only reaches your chest...crystal clear water the whole way, a few pieces of coral here and there.
You can kind of see the wave crashing in this picture in the distance.

Beautiful beaches, stunning water...




we took a canoe to the other side of the little island we stayed on to do some snorkeling

the walkway for the hotel we stayed at
some fish and a little shark if you look closely, is towards that top but has the same coloring of the fish. He was there everyday so Ryan always had to check to make sure the shark was doing well...
another little beach at our hotel...and this is really what we did most, lay around and read and relax!!

5 comments:

elizabeth said...

What an amazing trip!! So happy for you and a lot jealous of your trip!

Taylors said...

Oh . MY . GOSH . That place is beautiful!!! I've decided I MUST go there!! You and Ryan totally deserved it!!!

Jacki said...

I feel relaxed just looking at your pictures.

Laurie said...

Oh my goodness. Looks like it was AMAZING! so jealous

Sarah S said...

Your trip looked FABULOUS!!!! I'm so glad you guys got to get away to such an amazing, beautiful place.