Day 6 – Captain a Boat, Why Not
Every day since we’ve been on vacation, our Tahitian buffet breakfast has not disappointed! It has been the perfect start to busy days, and this day was no exception.
One of the many unique things about Bora Bora is the fact that to get anywhere from your resort, it must be by boat. Pretty awesome, right! This area of the island is called an atoll, which is a ring-shaped coral reef or series of islands. There isn’t any room for cars/roads on any part of the atoll. Only place to find cars is a small section of the main island, one road around the edge of the island.
So, we arrive by boat to the main island to rent a boat for the day. Yup! Exactly that! Our pontoon boat is the perfect vessel for cruising around the entire island. It’s not a big island, 6 miles long and 2.5 miles wide, but we will take our time exploring.
Stop one, a first for us, a dive into the corner of the lagoon to see spotted eagle rays. These rays gather in the lagoon from April to October for seasonal reproduction. We were lucky to swim with a few to start our day!
Our leisurely boat journey was just that, stopping frequently as we were in aw of the changing lagoon colors and chill places to swim. Quick changes in depth also creates an incredibly distinct line we were able to capture with our drone (DJI Mavic Air 2).
As we lapped our way around the island, we encountered one challenge… the ever changing weather landscapes. As afternoon approached, the winds picked up, the waters got choppy, and a quick pelting of rain began to smack down on us. That was a really wild stretch of time, and a big relief when it finally passed.
Fortunately, it didn’t last long, and we were pulling up to Matira Beach to have lunch at the Bora Bora Beach Club. Matira Beach is a hidden gem, consistently ranked as one of the world’s top 25 beaches. We anchor up a few feet off shore, stroll through a few feet of water, and enjoy a delicious meal overlooking some of the most pristine water in the world.
Back on the boat, and the chop hasn’t died down. We muscle our way around one of the many motus, a reef islet you will find in the lagoon. Katie braves the choppy water above several coral reefs for what else, a photo opportunity. This doesn’t happen often, but this treacherous failed attempt was thwarted by local dogs creeping into the water to scare us off.
We swing our way into the corner of the lagoon to hide from the wind and choppy water, to get one more good drone session in before heading back to return our boat.
Waiting for our boat back to our resort, Scott walks down a few hundred yards to the local market. Hoping for some beer, he comes back with two bags of Doritos… for some reason they didn’t sell beer at the market at 4:30 pm on a Friday afternoon. Hmmmmm… that was disappointing!
We knew that if we timed our day right, we would have just enough time to take a quick shower, put some lotion on our sunburn, and head up to the beach front for a local Tahitian fire dance.
According to Polynesian culture, the oldest known practice of fire dancing is found in the Polynesian culture centuries ago during times of war.
We weren’t disappointed by this brief yet intense display.
One genius move we must compliment ourselves with is bringing our own wine. Not only is alcohol ridiculously expensive here, but this gave us an opportunity to enjoy some of our saved nicer bottles of wine. What better place to drink some great wine that has been saved for a special evening (Thanks Lisa & Danny!). Cheers!
Day 7 – A Bora Bora Paradise
Nothing to do, except enjoy the property. And simply put, it is impossible to not relax and enjoy. Four Seasons has created the perfect vacation spot, with the perfect vibe, and the perfect hospitality in one of the world’s most romantic places.
After another delicious breakfast, we captured what has to be the greatest resort lounge chairs of all time. Lounge chairs on an island in the middle of the lagoon overlooking the Bora Bora lagoon.
Other than Scott jumping in the water to help a boy screaming for help to swim across the lagoon (honestly we weren’t sure if he was going to make it), it was a relaxing session of soaking in the amazing scenery and a little paddleboarding around the property.
Afternoon was divided: a flower crown and a cigar & beer on the deck of the over water bungalow. You can guess who went which direction for that afternoon choice?!
Our last night at the Four Seasons gave us an opportunity to soak in this luxurious resort set in paradise. Dinner at Vaimiti, eclectic Asian cuisine, overlooking the lagoon ended our evening perfectly.
Day 8 – A Day Like No Other
Happy Easter!
To be honest, we woke up sad to be packing up to leave this resort, and to make matters more painful, it was pelting rain. We had a lot going on this morning: pack, visit the chapel for Easter, and eat breakfast, all before 8:30 when we were leaving for our half day tour to get out to some new spots snorkeling and diving around Bora Bora.
Rainy, windy, chilly, honestly put us in a ‘is this worth it mood?’. We jump on a wet boat and start a familiar loop around the main island. Except this time, it’s with a local, who loves his country and his people. Another quality experience with a local, sharing about his family and his country!
So after we pick up another group (don’t want to waste too much time on them), we head to a shallow water snorkeling spot. We are immediately greeted by several stingrays and a few sharks. Out Captain grabs a stingray to let all of us enjoy an upclose encounter.
Of course lots of tropical fish and an octopus sighting, and suddenly we don’t care about the weather any more.
On our way out to our next stop, Captain offers a chance to chase some manta rays. Yes, please! Scott jumps in and spends about 5 minutes tailing one. They are fast! Fearful to spook it, he hovers around the surface and stalks it from above. One of the coolest species to see glide across the ocean floor!
The experiences continue as we head out to about 40 feet of water, outside of the lagoon reef edge into the Pacific Ocean and jump in with over 20 blacktip reef sharks. For real!
Katie bravely jumped in first! The royal blue majestic water didn’t hurt the fascinating scene of sharks circling our immediate area. Truly amazing how comfortable one can get around sharks, even though these obviously had a mild temperament. The blacktip reef shark grows to about 5 feet in length. It is usually found in shallow, inshore sandy bottom areas and along coral reefs. Sounds intimidating, but they will swim right up to your face, and at the last second, turn away because it’s not interested.
An hour of snorkeling, diving to the bottom, and, of course, taking spectacular Gopro footage unfortunately couldn’t last forever.
One more stop on this half day excursion, the coral gardens of Bora Bora. Another amazing spot to see hundreds of species located at the southern end of Motu Pitiaau and Motu Piti Uuuta.
Hard to identify the variety of species of neon colored coral, and the list of species of fish we saw include: butterfly fish, parrot fish, puffer fish, Picasso trigger fish, snapper, tang, goat fish, grouper, trumpet fish, and zebra unicorn fish.
We didn’t see and moral eels in this location, but luckily we saw one walking back from dinner last night 🙄.
A treacherous, pelting rain led us back to the Four Seasons, sadly for our last couple of hours on this slab of paradise.
Two Wayfaring Wanderers 
The water looks inviting!!!