A gun emplacement selfie!?! Why yes, we did some hiking to see these big 7 inch guns. A local organization keeps them well maintained, along with some placards explaining French Polynesia’s role in keeping the American and Australian lines of communication across the South Pacific open. You pay the equivalent of $5US per person to make the hike, with that money used to maintain the trails and the guns.
On Tuesday we took a water shuttle across the lagoon, rented a car on the main part of the island, and explored Bora Bora.
Except not really a car — it’s a glorified golf cart called a “Twizzy”. Max speed: 45 km/h. There’s only one road around the island so it’s hard to really get lost.
The rental agency gave us a map with points of interest and we stopped at several, including some American gun emplacements from WWII near Matira and the inspiration for the “Tree of Souls” in the movie Avatar in the town of Faanui. The hike to the guns was about a mile up a hill and we hadn’t sweat so much in years! Or maybe we have and it just evaporates so quickly in Colorado we don’t notice.
We also visited a roadside gift shop that offered complimentary bananas and coconut snacks to their guests. Dave bought a new shirt there (as you will see in the photos, he soaked the other one while hiking).
We then spent the rest of the time in Vaitape, the biggest town on the island, where the bigger ports and shopping centers are. We did a little souvenir shopping and then headed back across the water to the resort.
Dave and I enjoyed an amazing 5 course dinner with a Burgundy region wine pairing at the St. Regis’ flagship restaurant, called Lagoon.
We were kind of taken aback from the slope of the hill we needed to climb to get to the gun emplacements. After we paid the fee. My Birkenstocks performed like a champ though.
We had to navigate the volcanic rock trail…just don’t look away while walking and we were fine.
At the roadside gift shop there were these bunches of bananas we could help ourselves to. Mmmmm! These are NOTHING like the sterile Cavendish bananas you get in American grocery stores.Walking towards the “Avatar Tree”, which is dominating the background of this photo. Note the clothing change.It’s a huge banyan tree. There are some similarities to the Avatar story of the familial connections to the tree, including burying your babies’ umbilical cords.Lunch in Vaitape.Hinano Beer is brewed on Tahiti.After lunch we returned to the resort and went to the adults-only pool. Each of those cabanas, like the one behind us, has a private pool that snakes around to the main pool.Dinner at “Lagoon” restaurant. The restaurant features a glass floor and Michelin-star chef creations (Michelin doesn’t award stars in French Polynesia, but the head chef had earned them in France).I added in this selfie to show the glass floor behind us. They were scattered all over the restaurant. You could watch the fish while enjoying your dinner.
Enjoy this gallery of our dinner. I got photos of the Starter, Fish Course, Meat Course, and Dessert.
