Three Kids and a Dog: Bora Bora 2023 (Part 2)

It was a glorious 8 days in Bora Bora, and it was hot. Now below the equator, we went through 4 bottles of sunscreen and still got a lot of sun. Usually, we build in a break day if we're on a beach vacation that long but there was no breaks from the sun since all of our excursions were hot too!

Our view!

One day, we went on a full day trip to the Lagoonarium. We met the shuttle boat at the dock at 8am to take us to Bora Bora, Once there we were loaded into another shuttle to take us to another boat where we were taken out to sea to snorkel. We had three sets of snorkel gear that we brought so Austen and Peyton got the full experience while Tom and I switched off monitoring Hailey. Lots of coral reefs and fish to explore. Once back in the boat, we took a scenic boat ride around the island seeing all the different hotels until we reached a spot where black tipped sharks and stingrays were swimming. We all got out of the boat and swam with them too. Imagine being circled by sharks. Hailey loved it and got to pet the stingray. Then it was time for lunch so we boated over to another private island where we enjoyed a delicious Polynesian lunch (barbecue chicken and pork) with many authentic dishes. We learned how to open a coconut and tie a pareo (a scarf to make a dress or skirt/shorts). We explored the island a bit too. Swam with lemon sharks off the beach there and then when we were tired and spent, traveled back to our hotel. It was a long, hot day but what an experience. It was amazing.

Two days later, we went ATVing. We had our own private guide who gave us a tour around the island then we went off roading through the jungle to some of Bora Bora's highest points where we could see the gorgeous views. It was stunning. The ATVs were a lot of fun but a bit scary too since they were true 4x4s and some of these points were really steep and rocky. Peyton rode with me while Tom had Hailey and Austen was pretty pumped to have his own to drive. We did well and came out unscathed. It was boiling hot when we stopped but our guide had icy water for us, pineapple juice and a snack of unsweetened coconut mixed with sweet bananas. Delicious!

It was a great trip marked by some funny and rather frustrating moments like when Peyton decided to lock the safe in their room but entered the wrong code and we had to call maintenance to get it back open and get their stuff out. Or how Austen realized how messy his sisters really were as he had to share a bungalow with them and mentioned to us more than once how they just left their stuff all over the room (welcome to my world, Austen).

On our last day in Bora Bora, we had a later flight so we used the pools and the beach after check out and each took turns using their day room to change and get ready for our flight. Hailey went last as she refused to get out of the pool. She said, "I'm not leaving!" And, then she swam to the middle of the pool so we couldn't grab her and take her out. I guess she had a good trip!

Going home isn't too awful though when you have First Class to look forward to, and thank God we did! We had a 3-4 hour layover in Tahiti on the way home and it was hot and a small open air airport. Which means no AC - except for those flying First Class. We had to wait an hour to check in but once we did, we got to relax in the Lounge with AC and snacks. It would have been brutal otherwise! We flew back to San Fran then on a comfortable red eye. The 8 hour trip is certainly too short on a Dreamliner then again on to Chicago for another 4 hours. It was an easy trip despite all the travel.

This is one destination that I'd definitely go back to. I'd stay at a different resort even though I loved ours but just to get that different experience. However, I'm on to planning our next vacations and considering everyone ranked this one in their top 2 vacations we've ever taken, I'm not sure I can top this! It was magnifique!