Happy Tuesday and happy 4th of July! We were fortunate enough to make it back from our trip just in time for the long holiday weekend so we had plenty of time to adjust from island life to real life ;0)
Here's a look at last week's pictures wrapping up our amazing stay in French Polynesia. Brace yourself--it's a long one:
First off, on this day back in the states, my parents took the boys to Muir Woods redwood park near San Francisco to explore and they all really enjoyed it. It's nice and cool there on the bay area coast. Now back to us. We are excited to be exploring our resort in Bora Bora today. We are at the Intercontinental on the far southern tip of the mainland near Pointe Matira and this is an amazing place as you will see--so peaceful and beautiful with a lot to offer. John is standing near the front door of our bungalow, and the best part is the glass viewing table inside. It looks down onto a small coral patch filled with our very own fish. Super cool! We viewed them from the inside and then viewed them by snorkeling in the waters below. It's so amazing to have this right at our deck steps and again just in waist deep waters with a pure white sand bottom. For dinner we walked to a local place right on the beach just down the road and caught the sunset.
This place is a maze of over-water huts which is pretty cool. It's much bigger than the place on Moorea but not really any more crowded. It's so relaxing and quiet on these islands which is refreshing. We did at least venture out and do some kayaking in our resort lagoon which was a perfect activity on this extra warm day, and then crazily enough we decided to walk quite a ways to a famous lunch spot. It really wasn't that far but in the heat it sure seemed like it. At least it was worth it. The food at Bloody Mary's was amazing and the drinks hit the spot ;0) Later we caught another amazing sunset this time at the public beach right across the street from our resort. I could seriously get used to this island life.
Day 178- Tuesday, 6/27/17
It's time to explore the land with a 4x4 taking us the 30 miles around the island and also up the hills to see the wonderful views. This really is the best way to see it all. We even learned about the US presence in WWII and saw the cannon they manned to keep the island safe from Japan. It's pointed at the only break in the coral reef where ships can get through. Pretty interesting stuff. Once we got back to the resort it was time to cool off and get back in the water. I tried to paddle board and did manage to stand a couple times but was most stable on my knees. It's harder than it looks for sure, but I still had fun trying. Dinner out was in the local town at a popular place called St. James which is an over-water restaurant. We had a good time there, but it was the only place we ate at on this island that was not in walking distance. I do prefer to walk and we were fortunate that we are located in a place that made that possible more often than not.
Day 179- Wednesday, 6/28/17
This morning was a slow and relaxing morning. This whole trip has been pretty low key and very relaxing which has been fantastic and much needed. It's the island life! After a good bit we ventured into the main town, Vaitape, to shop some and also hit up the local spots around our resort to restock supplies. The main town is not quiet and relaxing at all. There is lot's of traffic and people everywhere but still charming and beautiful. We got what we needed and then got out. LOL! Afterward we enjoyed a nice picnic type lunch at our bungalow and snorkeled a bit in the coral nursery. I had no idea you could grow coral but they do here to add to the resort and to help the island replenish any damaged coral beds. Pretty amazing and the fish love it! This will be our last dinner on the island and as a treat the resort gave us a special romantic dinner for two. It was on the beach but thankfully behind this glass wall because the wind was fierce tonight.
Day 180- Thursday, 6/29/17
This line of birds sit here in this same spot and only this spot every morning. We pass them on the way to breakfast and then don't see them again until the next morning. It's quite comical. We walked to a great beach-side place for lunch and the second picture shows our view. It was pretty amazing and they had good food too recommended by the locals. John even got some amazing sushi. The rest of the afternoon we just kicked it on the resort beach. We no longer have our bungalow since check out was at 11 am, but our taxi boat to the airport is not until after 4 pm. He slept and I took pictures ;0) When it's time to say good-bye we wave to the island as we cruise away in our boat. From Bora Bora we fly to Tahiti and then catch an overnight flight to LA before flying home to Sacramento. The journey will be long and we are sad to leave but also excited to see the family.
Day 181- Friday, 6/30/17
No that first picture was not taken today, but I forgot to add it somewhere and it's important because we were so fortunate to see these rays swimming by our bungalow and around the resort pretty much every morning and evening. I will miss them. Today we made it to LA just before lunch. Our passports have new stamps and we come back with just under $10 in funny money. Waiting on transportation has been the theme of all our travel days. It's pretty much a hurry up and wait game. We're in the LAX airport now and will soon board a plane to get us back to Sac. Let's do this!
Day 182- Saturday, 7/1/17
Happy July! We are grateful to be home and see these smiley faces. Brandon's birthday is the last day in July so he posed for my monthly marker and then the second shot was actually taken early Sunday morning but it fits better with this week so I'm placing it here. We are super thankful that my parents could come in from Texas to help watch the kids and spend time with them. They are now off on an Alaskan cruise, and I hope they have just as much fun on their trip as John and I did on ours.
That's it! John and I had an wonderful and relaxing time but are also happy to be back with the boys and pets who we missed dearly. This was a trip for us to help celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary which is coming up in August (a bad travel month because of school starting) and we couldn't have asked for a better way to celebrate. Now back to reality tomorrow--the return to work. At least it's a short week!
