Mount Otemanu at Sunrise.
A tropical paradise and the perfect destination for honeymooners! This trip took a lot of planning, my horde of air miles and credit card points as well as a pinch of patience, but was very rewarding. The St Regis Bora Bora was chosen not only because of my SPG loyalty but since it is a truly gorgeous property. Bora Bora is the birthplace of overwater huts and the St Regis has some of the biggest and most luxurious huts available. There are plenty of activities and local attractions if you become weary of lounging by the pool/beach or even on your own private deck. Do your research and you will see this is the dream vacation.
We arrived in Bora Bora after five weeks of traveling, covering nearly 30,000 miles. You would think just relaxing in our wonderful overwater bungalow or beach is all that is needed. Not us! We planned many excursions to make the most of our time in paradies. I'm hoping this is not a once in a lifetime trip but we wanted to make the most of our time there.
We left Los Angeles on a midnight flight via Air France, which is an eight-hour journey to Papeete, the capital of Tahiti and the main island of French Polynesia. From here we transferred to an inter island flight for a short 50 minute flight to Bora Bora.
Bora Bora covers 12 square miles and is a tiny island in the western part of the Society Islands of French Polynesia in the Pacific Ocean. Bora Bora is beautiful! It is surrounded by a lagoon that seems to contain all possible shades of blue and turquoise and the water is wonderfully warm and clear. The surrounding barrier reef is teaming with aquatic life that protects the lagoon. There is only one entrance through the barrier, which makes the surrounding waters calm, and an ideal pit stop for ocean life. The center of the island is dominated by an extinct volcano rising to two peaks Mount Otemanu and Mount Pahia. Even when not shrouded in mist and rain it offers a stunning backdrop to this ideal destination. Bora Bora is scattered with wonderful luxury hotel resorts and motus with tourism being the main industry.
The View from the artillery gun site
The USA helped modernize Bora Bora during WWII, Operation Bobcat helped to build a road around the circumference of the island of roughly 20 miles. We decided to bike around this one-day and suffered serious saddle soreness due to the less smooth parts of the road.
We had to do a pit stop at the world famous Bloody Mary's bar to recover. They have far more reasonable prices than the hotels! The drinks are tasty, the floor is covered in sand making it feel like a beach and the atmosphere is great. Be sure to check out the wall of fame; every celebrity you can think of has probably been in this bar!
Artillery Gun
The army built a military supply base, oil depot and airstrip for their forces in the South Pacific. The airstrip is Bora Bora's only airport and was the only airport in French Polynesia until the airport in Papeete was opened in 1960. The army also installed huge artillery guns for protection especially against the Japanese; however, Bora Bora never saw any action. The US GIs are loved for their time spent on Bora Bora and for all the good they did. Plus they themselves must have enjoyed their time in this paradise. And I can't blame them see my other posts to see what we got up to during our stay.
More Photos From Around The Island
