(Click on each picture for a larger view)

Arriving in Papeete, capital of Tahiti, nicknamed Island of Love we was greeted by a tahitian band and a beautiful polynesian girl who gave us a "Tiare Tahiti", which is a heavily scented gardenia. While waiting in line to go through Customs I was given a chance to really wake up and take a look at my surroundings. Although we were inside a building as such, there was such an open air feel to the airport with lush vegetation everywhere, tropical palms, greenery and flowers of all kinds. The three-piece Tahitian Band followed along with the rest of us, keeping us in constant hearing of their beautiful music. Once through customs, we was greeted by a beautiful tahitian girl holding a sign with Hedges written on it, placing a lei around our necks and then escorted us to the part of the airport where a taxi awaited us.

We had to do nothing, the girl who greeted us and our driver had our itinerary and completely took care of seeing that we and our luggage arrived safely at the Tahiti Beachcomber Parkroyal Resort.

Although very tired from our journey, going directly to bed was completely out of the question without first taking in more of the beauty around us. Still being in the early morning hours, it was too dark to see much but we sat out on our own private patio taking in the soothing sounds of the waters from the lagoon and the airfilled odor of fresh tropical flowers. Knowing that we would have to catch another flight to Bora Bora later in the day, we managed to grab a few hours sleep. Our checkout time was at two pm and our flight to Bora Bora wasn't due to leave till four pm which gave us the opportunity to tour our surroundings, this time in broad daylight. The pool with it's poolside bar was connected to and overlooking the lagoon

was just too inviting to resist spending the rest of our time just being lazy in the water and on the beach checking out the people and the beauty of our surroundings.
At approxiamtely four pm we prepared for our second leg of the journey, going on to Bora Bora which will be our final destination. Our hotel arranged to have us picked up and taken to the airport where we boarded Air Tahiti for a thirty minute flight to Bora Bora. Upon arrival we were greeted by another tahitian girl holding a sign with our name on it, placing another lei around our neck who escorted us to a catamaran.
The Catamaran would take us to our final destination which would be the Bora Bora Pearl Beach Resort.

Bora Bora is situated on motu Te Vairoe, approximatly 20 minutes by water from the airport and five minutes by boat taxi to the main town which is Viatape, a very small poor village where the people so good natured, always smiling and happy. The favorite saying of the island is "Aita Pea Pea" which means "no worries". Here I could not resist the temptation to dress in the customary attire of the island, a Pareu and ankle and neck jewerly made from the shells of the island.The one unusual feature of Bora Bora is that there is no place on the island that is long and flat enough to put a runway for an airport. When the United States built their base in 1942, a runway was constructed on a motu (moh-too), which is a small island located on the reef around the main island. The motu they selected is called Motu Mute (moh-too moo-tay). Finally we arrived at the Bora Bora Pearl Beach Resort where we would spend the next eight days. Checking into the Resort was a breeze as was the case throughout the whole trip because of the way our travel agent of Landmark Travels Inc. expertly planned out our itinerary down to the most minute details. We were almost immediately taken to bungalow 38 which was situated over the crystal clear waters.

It was quite a long walk too because our bungalow was one of 50 which sat out over the lagoon surrounded by multicolored crystal clear waters ranging from deepest blue to the lightest turquoise.

Beautifully decorated, flowers brought in fresh daily was placed everywhere, on the floors, on the super wide sofa, the king size bed and around in the bath.

Our bungalow was also furnished with a coffee table and bedside tables all with sliding glass tops. At night, we would save part of our bread from dinner in order to lure the tropical fish beneath the table. We even managed to lure in a huge stingray which was lots of fun to watch...as long as we watched from the safety of our bungalow of course. Special tanning oils of the island and loungers were provided by the Resort for sunbathing on our private terrace from which we could step directly off into the lagoon to cool down..mode of dress optional on the island.

The terrace also had a private and sheltered breakfast table area to enjoy the benefits of room service which was sometimes brought over by outrigger canoe as well as a lower sun deck (with shower. You haven't lived until you've had breakfast on your own private deck in a tropical paradise overlooking miles and miles of the most beautiful waters in the world.The bathroom was large with a full size bathtub as well as a separate full size shower also with glass top vanities overlooking the lagoon, surrounding windows with beautifully designed wood trim with legands of the islands carved into the wood. The Bora Bora Pearl Beach Resort features the largest swimming pool

on the island of Bora Bora. Located next to the beach surrounded by decked and tiled areas as well as a waterfall

and an outdoor jacuzzi, secluded by tropical plants and flowers from the pool area, it is serviced throughout the day by a pool bar and restaurant. Exotic drinks of all kinds was available from one of our favorite islanders. We nicknamed him Sweetie.

Countless hours were spent exploring romantic secluded coves of the beach and sunbathing or just playing and snorkling in the crystal clear waters.
There were lots of other activities such as scuba diving, kayaking, shark feeding, helicopter rides we could have done but opted to take a very romantic champagne sunset cruise on a large sailboat, just Bob and me and the captain of the ship.

We also happen to find a pool table one day while taking a walk after dinner.

Guess who won?