The Propellor Flight to Bora Bora
After two weeks of travelling around the US we headed to Los Angeles airport bound for our flight to Bora Bora.
After the 8.5 hour flight to Papeete followed by the 45 minute flight to Bora Bora we were finally there!
We got off the plane and were greeted by ground staff who handed us shell necklaces and flowers for our hair. The Four Seasons employee came over to us and explained that we were waiting on another guest and then we’d be on our way.
At this point we hadn’t got our luggage or have any idea where it would be, so we mentioned this to the lady from our hotel… she told us not to worry and that they would sort it out and to make the way to the boat.
We were a little apprehensive about leaving our luggage, but couldn’t do much about it so we left to walk down towards the boat that was waiting for us.
The Incredible Boat Ride to the Four Seasons Resort
The boat was beautiful decked out in dark wood with white leather seats, we jumped on board and sat down. A couple of minutes later the hotel lady came along and handed out iced cold water… an absolute delight when you’ve been up all day and travelling all night and it’s still only 12pm in Papeete!
Soon enough the boat pulls out of the airport and we’re on our way to the hotel.
The scenery on this boat trip is almost too beautiful to describe, the water is so blue and the contrast of the white and it froths from the speed of the boat is something I’ll keep in my memory forever. In the background the main island of Bora Bora sits like a scene from Jurassic Park… I have never seen anywhere so beautiful.
The boat ride took around 30 minutes and then we pulled into the hotel.
As you can imagine we were pretty tired by this point, the hotel staff were fantastic, they told everyone that had arrived to take a seat in reception.
A Relaxing Check-In Process
The reception was in a large hut with open sides and a large piece of coral hanging over head. Within about 5 minutes a number of hotel employees came out with mango juice and freshly chopped coconut on individual plates for everyone and then they each sat down with individual parties to take their details to check them in.
20 minutes later we were checked in and on the back of a little cart on our way to our room.
The nice man driving us was teaching us basic Tahitian words like hello, thank you and various others as well as giving us a quick run down of where everything was in the resort.
So far we hadn’t even got to our room and I’d had the most amazing 2 hours of my life.
The Overwater Bungalow. This is Paradise
The hotel guy opened our door and once again we faced paradise!
We had an over water bungalow, which sat on stilts which jetted out into the blue lagoon.
As we walked into the bungalow there was a lovely smell off coconut and flowers.
The bungalow itself had a kitchen area with a fridge, tea/coffee, sink and a safe, in front of that was the lounge area with a comfy sofa, large TV and a bowl of fruit which they would replace daily.
The lounge then led through to the bathroom area which a deep tub which over looked the lagoon (there are blinds there too) a twin sink area… believe me having two sinks was a god send especially when getting ready to go out for the evening. As well as the bath and sink area there is also a separate shower room and a toilet.
From the bath area you then walk through into the bed room with a large bed, each one with a lift up glass top bedside table where you can watch and feed the fish in the lagoon below.
There are a number of these glass areas around the bungalow in the bathroom, behind the sink.
The bungalow had sliding doors to close up each section (lounge, bath, bedroom) but we left it open so it was pretty much open plan.
The bedroom and Lounge had sliding doors which open out on to a large terrace with a dining table and a chest which was filled with diving gear. From the terrace there were further steps down onto a lower diving platform with a shower and steps which led straight into the lagoon.
The Indescribable Beauty of the Lagoon and Ocean
The resort has two sides the lagoon and the sea. The sea side is pretty untouched, it’s quite rocky but a gorgeous walk.
The lagoon side is again like paradise. The hotel has lovely double wicker sun beds which area laid with a round cream mattress… if it wasn’t for it being so hot I may have just relaxed on those all day :p!
The lagoon water was at max around waist height (I’m 5’2) but noticed no one really went over chest height, in the middle of the lagoon is a little island which you can wade through the water too, it’s just a small sand bank with a palm tree on but it is quite fun walking to it especially when no one else is there you can pretend it’s your own private island :p.
From the sand area there area steps up to the swimming pool area, before the swimming pool there is a restaurant which serves lunch, ice cream and drinks.
Taking a Dip in the Pool
Around the pool area are various pumps of sun tan lotion at various SPF factors.
The swimming pool itself has a sloping entry point one and and gradual steps the other, making the ‘aaah it’s cold’ moment a lot easier although I’m pretty sure from memory the water temp was always at a ‘jump straight in’ temperature.
Around the swimming pool were lots of single sun beds with tables in between and wicker parasols between each one. Behind the sun beds were around 10 cabanas, they were huge… I’d say big enough for 10 amazing for 2, they were large wicker cabanas with a cream mattress on the bottom.
Throughout the day the hotel staff would come by us on our sun beds and offer us freshly sliced mango, coconut and give us various fresh fruit smoothies.
Our room came with free breakfast, which was a large buffet of pretty much anything and everything you could ask for. There was a hot section for your beans and egg, a continental area with cereal and breads, yoghurts, a sweet section with cakes and pastries and a fruit section full to the brim with a huge selection of exotic fruit as well as your usual apples and pears.
Aside from laying in various sun beds we also took part in a few of the hotels activities. There are lots of lagoons to go snorkling in, we spent an hour checking out the fishes, the most amazing part was that the fish seemed pretty un aware of us… I guess they were used to it but to be able to swim up so close and see all their colours was amazing.
Enjoying Water Sports in the Lagoon
There’s a water sports area where you can hire pretty much any water sport device you can think of, we took out a pedalo to have a look around the areas that we couldn’t swim to (mum doesn’t like swimming out too deep).
As well as the water sports there is also a hut in another area of the resort for teenagers which has table tennis, badminton and tennis courts… so myself and mum had a few games of tennis although I prefer to call it fetch as that’s all either of us seem to do.
The resort and all it’s rooms, sports, restaurants etc are all walkable along paths which are lined with beautiful tree’s and flowers as well as the odd coconut kicking around.
The paths lead to bridges which take you over the lagoons and make for gorgeous photo’s, we walked over one of the bridges to the restaurants on one evening and were lucky enough to see an octopus swimming (do they swim ?) well moving along side the bridge.
Throughout the resort there are various buildings including a building for weddings, we didn’t go into it but it was like a pretty wooden building with glass entrance doors.
Delicious Dining and Buffet Options
In the evenings there are plenty of choices for food including a buffet restauran which offers different themes each night such as BBQ, a Polynesian & French restaurant and another which served sea food. There is also the option to have a private dining experience where they will travel out to your bungalow in a boat and serve you food on your terrace (we didn’t do this so can’t comment but the photo’s look fabulous).
The hotel offers various amounts of entertainment including day trips to the main island, the trip takes place on a beautiful catamaran which is on two floors and decked out in white leather, there are plenty of seats many of which have tables which makes the travel more comfy (not sure why but it does). The staff on the boat hand out ice cold water and again there are various bottles of sun tan lotions at various spf factors on the boat which can be used (smells like coconut).
The hotel also offered a themed Tahitian night at extra cost which consisted of authentic Tahitian dining with a show of traditional Tahitian dance and singing.
Aside from all of this the hotel also offers an abundance of spa services, we didn’t have anything, didn’t need it the hotel was relaxing on it’s own but we still went down to have a look… the main area of the spa had a fitness area and a room with fresh fruit and hot and cold drinks.
To cut a long story short this hotel has shown me paradise and I will forever be grateful for the memories I have.