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Day 4 – Bora Bora (St Regis Resort) |
Bora Bora, French Polynesia
Today we wake to pouring tropical rain and as we open the curtains, Mt Otemanu is covered in cloud.
After working our way through all the leavers and taps in the bathroom we finally manage to switch on the waterfall shower and get ready for breakfast. We call for a cart to take us to the restaurant and still pouring rain we get soaked as the rain blew into the vehicle.
On arriving at the restaurant were were given towels to dry off and both of us ordered poached eggs and helped ourselves to a very average breakfast from the buffet, the best being the eggs and beautiful fresh fruit.
After breakfast we headed back to our room and read our in room brochures as we waited for the rain to stop. We were looking at options for our anniversary, (decisions decisions), a cruise with a crayfish and champagne dinner on a deserted island for $1200, a romantic candle lit meal on our deck for $400 or a seven course tasting plate with paired wines for $700 in the Lagoon restaurant, reportedly the best on the Island. Deb chose the latter so she could sit in the cool.
Just after 1.00pm it cleared, so we decided to grab some snorkelling gear from the beach hut and hitched a ride to one of the pontoons on the shoreline of the resort lagoon. On jumping in the water was warm but still refreshing and we found it extremely buoyant. It didn’t take long to get used to the snorkelling gear as we swam among schools of fish and began diving down to visit the clown fish and clams. Suddenly a large maori wrasse measuring roughly two and a half feet appeared and swam along side of us for a few minutes before disappearing behind a rock. We did a complete lap of the island and hopped out back from where we started.
Heading back to our villa we hitched a ride on one of the passing carts and just as well as it would have been a long hot walk back. On entering our room we couldn’t, help notice how cool it was inside but we decided to put on our fins and go for a swim from our pontoon, just because we could. The villas are mostly surrounded by sand but there was a token coral bombe under our lounge area so Rocket dived down to get a glimpse of all the fish we saw through the glass viewing floor panel the night before. On climbing back up the ladder we washed the salt water off under the outside shower and poured ourselves an ice cold GT or two as we sat on the deck and watched the sun go down over the mountain.
I believe we are finally starting to relax?
At 6.00pm we rang the butler and asked him to book us a table at the Far Niente Ristorante. Honoring the traditions of Italian cuisine, it presented a flavorful selection of dishes comprising Italy’s distinctive produce, subtly complemented by the sommelier’s choice of regional wines. The meal was sort of delicious, Deb had raw lamb and had to send it back and I had a tasty pizza. We washed the meal down with a nice italian red and the whole lot only set us back AUD $240 and once again Rocket did not flinch.
At 7.00pm we decided to leave the restaurant and meander down for a cocktail at the Lagoon Restaurant Bar, where we met a young Frenchman who was on a working holiday for six months. He made us an amazing Cosmo which we both sipped on as we browsed the restaurant menu trying to decide if we should still have dinner here for our anniversary.
After our pleasant interlude at the bar we strolled hand-in-hand down the cobblestone path bathed in moonlight as we headed back to our villa.
No bike rides tonight!
Hint – a snorkel in the resort lagoon is well worth the effort.