Bora Bora
What can I say about Bora Bora that hasn’t been said? Its beauty is breath taking. It’s truly a paradise. It was totally worth the long flights and costs. For many people, going to Bora Bora is a dream, and we’re lucky enough to have that dream come true. We found that all the pictures combined cannot truly capture the beauty of Bora Bora lagoon.
Tahiti
We left LAX at 4:30 pm and arrived in Tahiti, the capital island of French Polynesia, at 9:30 pm. We stayed 1 night in Tahiti because there was no flight to Bora Bora at night. When we first arrived in Tahiti FAAA airport, we were somewhat surprised by how small the main international airport was. And there was no AC! We had the first glimpse of Tahiti during the drive from the airport to our hotel. The whole scene was so much like Saigon 20 years ago…Our hotel was onTahiti’s famous black sand beach. The sand was amazing, very black, so fine and sparkling (due to different minerals in the sand). The hotel itself was nice, but nothing spectacular. For $300/night, we expected more…Later we learned that we were lucky enough, at least the Radisson was clean. InterContinental, supposedly a 5-star hotel, “was a shit hole” to quote a couple staying there. It was so dirty that the wife refused to take a shower there. There’s not much to do in Tahiti. A day there would be enough. Now that we know what it’s like, we won’t come back there. We will definitely take the red-eye flight from LAX to Tahiti, so that we can take the earliest flight from Tahiti to Bora Bora (about 50 mins duration).
Our first sticker shock came during breakfast in our hotel. It cost almost $50/person for the breakfast buffet, and the food selection was very basic. A bottle of water cost $10. We were warned about the prices, but it didn’t hit us until we experienced it ourselves. Before our departure to Bora Bora, not wanting to risk stomachaches, we decided to eat at McDonald’s for lunch, thinking McDonald’s is McDonald’s, every where you go. But boy, were we wrong. First we learned that McDonald’s in Tahiti do not sell hamburgers nor chicken sandwiches, nor any thing that most McDonald’s worldwide offer. Tahiti has to import meats from New Zealand, the closest country to Tahiti, hence meats are very expensive. And for this reason, McDonald’s in Tahiti doesn’t sell hamburgers. You have the choices of ham and cheese, or chicken and cheese sandwiches. $30+ bought us 2 sandwiches, a bottle of water, and a coke, with no ice! Thuan thought they forgot his ice, but they said no, they only had enough ice for the frappuccino. For the first time in our lives, a $30+ meal from McDonald’s wasn’t enough to fill us up, we had to go back and bought 2 more sandwiches.
Bora Bora
We were told where to sit when we boarded the plane to Bora Bora, so that our weight was distributed evenly to keep the plane balanced. That made me very nervous. Pre-occupied with the view of the islands from our airplane, I completely forgot about it until right when the plane turned to land in Bora Bora. My heart fell out of my chest, and I sat very still, not daring to lean toward the window to look any more. I know it’s silly, but to my defense, I had to keep the weight balance!
Bora Bora airport is tiny, with only 1 small run way. It was built by the U.S. military after we entered the World War II the end of 1941. It served as French Polynesia’s only international airport until Faa’a International Airport was opened in Papeete, Tahiti in 1962. As soon as we arrived, we were greeted by Four Seasons staff, and each was given a lovely flower lei. They swiftly handled our bags, took us to their brand-new-with-white-leather-seats yatch, and gave us cold bottled water and cold towels. We looked around and realized Four Seasons and St. Regis had the best boats of all the resorts. The ride from the airport to our hotel was about 20 mins. As soon as we checked into our over-water bungalow, we knew we made the right choice by going to Bora Bora and staying at Four Seasons for our honeymoon.
Four Seasons Bora Bora and Its Amenities
Our first glimpse of the scenery from our Four Seasons’ thatch-roofed over-water bungalow – an unobstructed sweeping view of the pristine lagoon and Mount Otemanu – is nothing short of stunning. It was breath-taking. No word can accurately describe the beauty of Bora Bora lagoon. The water has many shades of blue and green. The water is so clear and still as if it was a giant pool, only better, much better. In fact, the water is so clear that you can see the white sandy bottom even at 15 – 18ft. deep. The water temperature is at the perfect 82 Fahrenheit degree every day. Our bodies started to relax; all the stress and worries disappeared. We were indeed at a paradise. Over the course of our stay, we realized that no matter how many pictures you took, we couldn’t really capture the beauty of Bora Bora. It was absolutely beautiful, even when it was cloudy and rainy. The colors changed throughout the day, and according to the amount of sun we got. The impossibly blue lagoon was just simply mesmerizing.
Upon our check-in, the resort manager left us a hand-written note with flowers and fresh fruits in our bungalow. On the first night at Four Seasons, we found desserts, flowers, chilled champagne and a hand-written note from the room service manager waited for us when we got back to our bungalow after dinner. Then a traditional Tahitian bridal flower lei was delivered to our room with a note explaining its importance. We were smitten. As we lay out on the chaises looking up to the star-filled sky, we realized how lucky we were to be able to go to Bora Bora for our honeymoon. The light breeze, the peaceful atmosphere, the sparkling stars, the moonlit lagoon, all combined provided a perfect romantic setting. And to top it all, the place was so secluded that we felt we had it all to ourselves. With the exception of meal times, we rarely saw other hotel guests. It was so surreal to be in such a magical place.
Four Seasons Bora Bora, which was opened last September, is situated on 2 private motus. One side is the lagoon, and the other side facing the Pacific Ocean. It has 100 over-water bungalows and 7 beach front villas. All guest accommodations have Brazilian cherry hard wood floor, complete with traditional teak wood furnishings, high ceilings and thatched roofs made from pandanus leaves. With more than 1,100 sq. ft. of living space, Four Seasons’ over-water bungalows are one of the most spacious bungalows in Bora Bora. All rooms in the over-water bungalows can be opened up to a large private deck, furnished with a dining table and chairs, 2 chaises lounges, and a private platform complete with shower and stairs for direct access to the lagoon. Snorkeling gear and life vests are kept in a wooden trunk out on the deck. The bathroom has double vanities, separate shower and a huge bathtub with sliding doors open completely to the panoramic view of the lagoon. We really loved our bungalow.
The amenities at Four Seasons Bora Bora are top-notch. Bottled water is refreshed twice daily in the room and readily available at the Spa, Fitness Center and Tennis Court. Each room has at least 2 flat screen TVs and clock radio with MP3 adapter. Equipments for non-motorized water sports – kayaks, windsurfing equipment, paddle boards, snorkeling gear and outrigger canoes are complimentary as well. All guests have free access to spa facilities, including outdoor vitality pool with shaded deck and relaxation area, changing rooms, aroma steam rooms and relaxation lounges. The spa staffs were excellent. The spa at Four Seasons completely blew St. Regis’ out of the water. We went to visit St. Regis and got a VIP tour of their resort, including the over-water bungalows, and we have to say, Four Seasons is in a class of its own. St. Regis has a bigger beach and bigger over-water bungalows, but Four Seasons’ bungalows are newer. Also, Four Seasons has much better decorations and amenities. We’re glad we didn’t choose St. Regis.
Oliver, the onsite marine biologist, deserves a paragraph of his own. We found him while we were exploring the resort on our own. He was very friendly and knowledgeable. He was available for snorkeling with guests 5 days a week and provided informative insight about the lagoon. We went fish feeding with him one day, and we loved him. So we came back the next day to go snorkeling with him, and it was amazing. We saw many kinds of marine lives, including octopuses, fish, snails, clams, corals and sea eels. He demonstrated how smart the octopuses were. They figured out how to open a tightly closed jar to get to the food (shrimps) inside within minutes. They even have personalities. A tidy octopus would arrange the remains of shells neatly outside of its den. A messy octopus would throw the shells all over the place. And amazingly, they even have a sense of humor. One particular octopus insisted on keeping the lid (but he returned the jar to Oliver) when he was done with the shrimps inside.
Food and Prices
The breakfast buffet was very good. It was more than enough to keep us full until dinner. They had sweet papaya and delicious mangosteens every morning. Most guests didn’t know how to eat mangosteens, so I had them all to myself. Every day, I ate at least 10 mangosteens! The omelet station was good. Scrambled egg whites with wild mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, spinach, ham and chives were oh so yummy. And I loved fresh papaya mixed with water melon juice. Oh, and let’s not forget handmade chocolate chip pancakes. The breakfast buffet would cost $50+ per person, but we it was included in our package. Dinners on the average cost $200 per night. Being in a $40 hamburger land, $200 a night was not bad at all. We had the best lamb chop ever at Four Seasons. I liked the slow-roast version. The hubby liked the grilled one. They were both very tender and juicy. We found out those were free-ranged New Zealand lambs. The local raw red tuna in coconut milk dish was surprisingly good. And we love the grilled chicken BLT sandwich at the pool bar. We followed our travel agent’s advice of not to buy the dinner plan (which doesn’t include drinks). She was right, it’s not worth it. You would end up paying the same, if not less, for dinners. And you have the flexibility to dine offsite if you want. Water is more expensive than beers and liquors. A bottle of water in the restaurant cost about $10, whereas a beer, or a shot of hard liquor cost less than $5. Yes, every thing is expensive. However, when you take into account of how things are transported to Bora Bora, it becomes understandable. Besides small airplanes, there’s only 1 gateway by sea into Bora Bora.
The only downsides at Four Seasons Bora Bora are their limited food choice for dinner and spotty customer service. We wish they had more food selection, but that alone wasn’t that big of a deal to us. However, the bad service was a major issue.
Being out on a private motu, we didn’t have any where else to eat besides at the resort. A trip to the main island of Bora Bora (Vaitape) would cost $30/person, and there’s not much to see on the main island anyways. We were told the food wasn’t that great either. The famous Bloody Mary’s was over-rated, it’s more like an all-you-can-eat seafood TGIF with sand under your feet. If you want to go to another resort, you’ll have to arrange for private transfer, and it’s $150 per roundtrip. We didn’t really want to move around too much, so we decided to have all our dinners onsite. We started to wonder what we should eat by the 5th night. Only 1 restaurant was opened for dinner. This may due to the low occupancy rate at the resort. There were maybe 15 - 20 couples or so at the resort while we were there. We were told the current economic downturn really affected them.
Service
However, they have no excuse for the spotty service. At $1,200+/night just for the room, the service should be impeccable. Unfortunately, we found people working at the lobby were not very helpful at all. They didn’t provide good information about the resort; for example, they did not tell the guests about Oliver, the onsite marine biologist, a valuable asset they have that other resorts don’t! Nor did they inform the guests about the complementary spa facilities. They were confused about their own meal plans. They failed to apologize when they inaccurately billed us, twice! The waitresses at Tere Nui restaurant during breakfast always failed to notice when our juice/water/tea needed refills. Usually it was the manager that first noticed we needed something. One particular waitress at Sunset Bar (the only Caucasian waitress there) was down right rude. We ordered a medium hamburger (I had that a few nights before and it was delicious), and we got a very dry, well done one instead. She completely forgot to bring lettuce and tomatoes for it. When we politely told her, she just simply looked at us and said ok. No apologies, no offer to bring out another hamburger, no offer to bring the lettuce, no nothing! We were shocked. I was so angry that I wanted to go talk to the resort manager. But my husband stopped me, told me that it wasn’t worth it to ruin our honeymoon.
We understand that being a practically brand new resort, Four Seasons staff may not be as experienced as others’, but regardless, given the brand and the price, one has the right to expect much better service.
On a more positive note, we found all the managers at the restaurants were very nice. Now, they were totally unsure about the meal plans as well, but at least they were nice and friendly. They worked the hardest, and they tried their best to help with whatever you would need. The room-service maids were very good, they worked hard to accommodate your needs. And most other staffs were great, especially the pool/beach boys. As soon as we arrived at the beach, one of them would come out to offer ice-cold water. The service at the pool bar was amazing. We ate there on our departure day. Our food took longer than usual to arrive. They apologized, explained that the waiter had tripped over and dropped the food on his way out, so they had to re-make it. They offered 2 drinks on the house as a way to say they were sorry for the long wait. We declined, it wasn’t necessary, but they insisted. Little things like that went a long way with us. It’s such a shame, because our stay there would’ve been perfect had it not been for the bad service from some staff members.
Shark & Ray Feeding, and Snorkeling at Coral Garden
This was the one excursion that I really wanted to do in Bora Bora. The rides to and back from the site were beautiful. We saw many shades of turquoise, beautiful motus, mountains and resorts. Because it had rained 3 nights in a row, the waves were bigger than usual, but nothing compared to the Atlantic Ocean.
As soon as we got to the site, the tour guide got to work. He dropped fish down to the water, many rays and black tip sharks came. Some seagulls piggybacked as well. And there were much faster than the sharks! Then the guide got into water, tied a rope to an anchor. For people wanting to get into the water during the shark feeding, he instructed us not to put on the dark fins (the sharks may get us confused with seals – their favorite meal!), stay on one side of the rope, not to flap our arms around too much, and most importantly, not to try to touch the sharks. Despite the shallow water (we were near the coral reef), I still put on a life vest. As I was getting out of the boat, I wonder how the rope would save us from the sharks if they decided to attack us. But listen the marine biologist’s advice, I braved myself and got in the water. Holding on the rope tightly, not daring to move even a little, I watched on as the tour guide threw food to the sharks. I was scared, but excited at the same time. We were told those were baby sharks, but they were at least 6-8 ft. long. My adrenaline ran high. We were inches away from the sharks, but amazingly, they didn’t even pay any attention to us. As soon as they finished eating, they were gone. The guide then removed the rope, and somehow that signaled the rays to come. The rays swam around during shark feeding, but they didn’t come near us or up to the surface. Now, they were every where, they came up from the water, brushed up against us. They were very friendly, not scared of human at all. We hand-fed them, touched them, and even kissed them! Sometimes so many of them came at once, surrounded me and moved out of the water up to my face, looking for food, I got a bit nervous, but gosh, it was so exhilarating. That, I have to say, was the most amazing excursion I’ve ever been on.
Then the tour guide took us to the coral garden for some snorkeling. We didn’t enjoy it at all. We had a much better snorkeling experience with Four Seasons marine biologist in the lagoon. The main reason was because water kept getting into my goggle, so I had to take my head out of the water a lot, I didn’t see much. One time, during one of those incidents, couldn’t really see how shallow the water was, I cut myself swimming passed a coral piece. I yelled out, Thuan took his head out of the water to look for me, and got cut by the coral as well. We didn’t realize how badly the cuts were until we got back to the boat. Blood was running down Thuan’s leg from the wounds, enough to stain a large beach towel, we freaked out. The tour guide, not sure whether he was joking around or not, said we were lucky that the sharks were already full !! Remember, this was open sea, and those sharks that we fed were completely wild. I was so scared that I didn’t even dare to talk about it. We all changed the subject after that.
We stopped at the guide’s family’s private motu on the way back. That motu belongs to his family for many generations now. It was beautiful. We were treated to home grown coconuts, sweet pineapples and grapefruits. His uncle showed us how to eat coconut meat with no spoon. A simple picnic on the beach, nothing fancy, but somehow, we felt so…privileged.
Let us know if you’d like to see some pictures. We took tons of them. And feel free to drop us a line if you have any question. We’re more than happy to help. Also share with us your own experience of Bora Bora. We love to know what you think.