And just like that, our days here were up. Too fast, bear bud!
We decided tonight to just relax on the main beach — that was until I saw the giant floating bikes. Nicholas! Rent me one! (Btw, all the dudes here are ripped!!)
We biked around for about 30 minutes before returning back to the beach.
It’s pretty relaxing here. With only 77 huts spread over all the acres, we really never saw the other tourists much.
My bud and I claimed a hammock, and just let it all soak in.
Eventually we decided to take regular bikes back to our hut.
Pretty nice, this resort. I’d come back.
Except hopefully without the bunny next time. I kept finding him in, like, the weirdest places.
Yay, no more tours. Now it’s just gaming on our deck and exploring the resort facilities.
Here’s a map of the resort, all 44 acres.
Map courtesy of St Regis Bora Bora
View from one of the bridges
We played tennis, I drove golf carts, we saw brief thunderstorms and then rainbows, we biked around (Pokin crashed into another tourist only once), we chased fish, we played games on the deck and my bud did backflips off the deck. All in all, great. stuff.
Tonight we left our resort for the first time to try one of the top restaurants in Bora Bora, Villa Mahana. Villa Mahana is a restaurant owned by Chef Damien Rinaldi-Dovio, a Corsican chef that was trained in Paris, became executive chef at L’Orangerie in LA before moving to Bora Bora something like 12 years ago. Villa Mahana serves mostly French food with Polynesian influences, or as Pokin’s hairstylist explained, more like “French food with Polynesian sized portions.”
St Regis Bora Bora is located on its own little island, so getting anywhere else requires transport by boat.
Our reservations were at 7pm, which required meeting at the dock at 6pm for boat ride over to the main island. We got there and waited at the dock, along with all the other tourists that were ready to get off the resort.
At 6pm we got on a boat to take the 10 minute crossing over to the main island. Cost? $50 USD. From there, we got into a mini bus to take the 40 minute ride around the island. One group of four and another couple from our resort were going together. Cost of the mini bus ride? Another $50 USD.
Villa Mahana is supposed to be expensive. And it wasn’t cheap. The multi course meal was €150 plus wine paring. But everything in Bora Bora is expensive. Our pizza was $50 and dinners averaged $150 anyway, so this didn’t feel much different. Plus the quality was comparable to the same price dinners we’d pay back home. This is not to say I approve. I’d rather this money be invested in my gaming rig. But just to say it wasn’t really that pricey comparatively.
Pokin got the Menu Epicurien and Nicholas got the Menu Exotique with wine pairing.
First course, the salads. Nicholas doesn’t even like seafood but he really liked his Tuna.
Pokin’s was a shrimp salad topped with caviar and tossed in truffle oil. Needless to say she enjoyed hers.
They served french bread that had the crispiest crust. That got Pokin really really excited. She even tried to take the bread home with her, before she realized it was too humid for that bread to stay fresh. Instead, she tried her best to eat through that whole loaf.
Next course, a mahi mahi for Nicholas, a foie gras for Pokin.
And then the mains. By now Nicholas was already past full. And then they gave him this much beef, followed by a whole little pot full of creamy gnocchi. He was on his own on that one. Not. My. Thing.
Pokin got it too. PLUS a lobster risotto.
Pokin tried. She didn’t finish.
Then the mango sorbet palette cleanser.
Then dessert.
Definitely the best course.
I had to go and give my compliments to the chef. And also check out the kitchen.
Great meal. I recommend it for sure! Thanks Chef Damien!
Villa Mahana has very limited seating : 7 tables on the ground floor, a few more tables on the terrace and a private table. It was packed when we were there, so make sure to make your reservations early!
Day after the wedding and first day of my weddingbearmoon and you’d think we’d get to sleep in.
Nope, apparently we have a shark and ray lagoon snorkelling tour for 9am in the morning.
Well, I did want to see more sharks so into the boat we went. The tour comprised 4 stops. First one to see the sharks. We went to a spot known for black tip reef sharks and lemon sharks. We saw lots of black tip sharks, but not any lemon sharks this time.
My bud was brave, he actually got into the water with them!
One of the guides was a bad ass swimmer the way I’m a hard core gamer. He free dived to the bottom and started making water rings.
The next stop was to see the manta rays.
Here in Bora Bora they actually remove the barbs from the manta rays so it’s pretty safe to swim around them.
3rd stop was a coral reef. There were soo many fish! The guides gave us some bread and my bud figured out how to get them to eat right from his hands.
Last stop – a super shallow sand bar.
The whole tour took about 4 hours. I’m glad I went, but to be honest, most of the time I just stayed in the bag and got really really wet, thanks to all the other tourists that kept climbing in and out of the boat and flinging water my way. Bunch of jerks. I guess the sharks were worth it though.
By the time I woke up, Pokin was gone. She left at about 10:30am for hair and makeup, apparently picked up in a golf cart. So it was just my bud and I.
Oh yeah bear bud bonding time!
First we played some video games.
Then we played more video games. The bride and entourage weren’t supposed to be back until 1-1:30pm so we had plenty of time.
Eventually we decided we’d better start getting ready.
My bud laid out all his things.
Then I made him lay out mine.
We still had time to kill so I think we tried to play more games.
And we waited. Eventually we got a call. They’re coming!
They had some moments.
And a few more.
Then we all got into the golf cart wedding limo and started scooting around the resort for photos. We went to the oasis pool.
The ocean side.
Crossed a bunch of bridges.
Posed with a giant banner that the friends and family made for us.
And then it was time for the ceremony! My bud and Pokin were getting married at the Miri Miri spa beach, on the recommendation of their wedding planner, Adélaïde. After checking out the site, I approve. It’s private and nice looking. We all got into position.
I was a V.I.B. (Very Important Bear) I was, after all, the ring-BEARer.
And it was time!
I got some pretty front row seats.
Or should I say, front row seat. I was the only guest who got a chair.
Actually, I was the only guest, period.
And then the ceremony was done. Short and sweet. I dig it.
They had cake.
I had some too.
They danced on the deck.
I didn’t do that.
Then those crazy people decided to get into the water.
I definitely didn’t do that.
Followed by taking a plunge off their deck right into the water.
I went back inside the bungalow. I’m going to wait for them to return back to sanity. And to shower all that salt water off.
That night, after they had showered and gotten changed, we went out for a tiki light dinner on the beach. Pokin chose all seafood, Nicholas, anything, but.
My bud dressed casual. I decided to stay classy.
It was supposed to be a 3 course dinner, but between the amuse bouche and the 2nd dessert they had 5 courses.
Obviously I preferred the courses at the end.
When we got back, they had brought the leftover cake to the room (which unfortunately had melted a bit), and set out a heart shaped flower bed. That’s sweet.
By then I could barely stay awake. Good day. Congrats bud! I think I played my role pretty well!
Right after we got settled in, it was time to speak to the wedding coordinator, Adélaïde, about the day.
Wedding planning can be stressful. I’ve seen it with my bud’s friends and family. So they went with a package deal. St Regis has this a la carte brochure where you can pick and choose the details.
They went with (exchange rate of approximately 100 XPF to 1 USD):
Miri Miri Spa location (normally 75 000 XPF, free because it was a valentine offer)
4 hour photoshoot with Kim Akrich 200 000 XPF
Videography with Sadry Ghacir 63 000 XPF
Total : 619 500 XPF (around $6.2K USD) Given that the average wedding costs $26,720 USD, they made out alright!
Anyway, they picked all that stuff but they still didn’t know what was actually happening during the ceremony – hence the briefing.
Right by the lobby is the bridal boutique, and that’s where you go. Turns out a lot of people come to the resort and spontaneously decide to do a Tahitian vow renewal, so they are all set up for that!
Once in the boutique, Adélaïde ran through the schedule for the next day. Sounded pretty simple. Pokin : be ready at 10:30am. Nicholas : 1-1:30pm. Anything that needs to be pressed or steamed, pass it to Adélaïde now. Everything else will be handled.
Sweet! Sounds simple enough! Time to explore this place!
But it’s only 5pm and we have to wait till midnight.
Thank goodness we get to loiter in an airline lounge (thanks, Chase Reserve for the Priority Lounge access!) My bud and I settle into our seats.
From our seats we have a vantage point to our departure gate. It’s sort of fun, sitting up here and spying on other guests.
My bud and I kill time by people watching. Pokin decides to kill time by helping herself to pieces of sushi and celery sticks, one piece at a time. How inefficient, I think. “I’m killing time,” Pokin reminds us.
Eventually midnight rolls around and finally we get to board!
How do I know we’re going to a french destination?
Red wine? Cheese? Mini baguette? Dead. Giveway. Anyway, it’s a red-eye, so time for some sleep.
At 5am in the morning we roll into the Pape’ete, Tahiti. Flight 1, Flight 2 done. We collect our luggage and are greeted with leis. They didn’t count right and forgot my bud’s. I think my bud’s too sleepy to notice. Time to loiter again in an airport. I’m like a pro now at this.
The Pape’ete airport was unexpected. For how many tourists come through and how expensive Bora Bora is, I was expecting the airport to be nicer. But it feels a little older, a little worn down. Only later did I learn that French Polynesia is still a pretty poor country.
Around 7:30am, it’s time to board Flight 3 to Bora Bora! We did not realize it was open seating so it’s first on, first pick of where you sit. Lucky for us, we sat on the side of the plane where we got a first view of the island. I had to climb over Nicholas so I could get a good view, but a view I got! Looks like the video games I play!
The Bora Bora airport, built in 1943, was actually the first airport in French Polynesia. It was built by the US Army during World War II and all international flights used to route through this airport first. It wasn’t until 1960 that the Fa’a’ā International Airport opened in Pape’ete.
The Bora Bora airport is located on the fringes on its own island, and so from here, you have to get on a boat. Inside the airport were different booths set up by the hotels. At the same time we saw where we had to be, a fellow approached us (creepy a little ?)
“Mr. Scheri?” he says. “La ora na. Please show us your luggage and we’ll be glad to help you onto your boat.”
So we find our luggage and head out to the docks. I expected some sort of big boat. Our host points to the tiniest boat in the dock.
“Please, this way into the boat.” Turns out we were the only guests they were picking up at that time. Nice!! Our own private boat ride!
“I hope you don’t mind we chose this boat.” Our guide says as we start our journey. “It’s small, but it’s fast.” Off we go!
Our journey takes us from one corner of the lagoon eastwards. It takes about 15 minutes.
And then we are here! And were greeted by a whole entourage and some fresh mango juice.
Lucky for us, our room was available right away. But first, a tour. Every room at St Regis comes with your own personal butler, and it was time for our butler to give us a tour of the facilities. By golf cart! I hope to use our butler a lot. I want to order plenty of hot cocoa!
St Regis Bora Bora is a 44-acre property so it’s quite spread out! To get around the resort you can either call for a golf cart ride, or else you can take any of the bikes that are scattered across the property and cycle on the bike paths. The resort features two pools, several beaches, a tennis court, gym, spa, multiple restaurants, a couple baby sharks and a lagoonarium stocked full of fish that you can snorkel with. There are also paddle boards, kayaks and other equipment that’s free to use.
Photo courtesy of St Regis Bora Bora
But I want to see our room! And so, after our tour our little golf cart pulls up to our room. We were given room 118. Nicholas told me we had gotten a Deluxe Overwater Bungalow, but it looks like they upgraded us to one with a Mt Otemanu view. Sweet!
And here we are! Our bungalow is 1,550 square feet. Way bigger than the places we lived in SF, Chile, and HK! I could definitely get used to this.
It’s travel time – I see bags being packed. My bud tells me it’s getting married time! A big trip, I see, as the big suitcases are coming out. I saw suits, I saw dresses, I saw a lot of sunscreen…I got a little nervous when I saw how much stuff was going into suitcases but I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the gaming laptop being added to the pile.
I sleuthed a little and saw pics of where we are headed– we’ll be staying on some cool over water huts. I’m already imagining it now – my bud and I, gaming on the deck. It’s going to be epic.
Everything was packed when Pokin came in :
“Hmm, our LAS to LAX flight is getting delayed. Right about how, it’s scheduled to arrive after our connecting flight to Tahiti”
Well I’m not ok with that! I was getting really psyched about our epic overwater gaming vacation!
“Even though our flight’s at 7 we better get to the airport early to see if we can get an earlier flight. We don’t want to risk it.”
So just like that, our day went from leisurely to frantic. We throw our stuff in the car and drive on down to the airport.
At the airport, my bud tried to get on an earlier flight.
“I’m sorry sir,” said the gate agent. You are booked on a fare class that doesn’t permit changes.
“But if we don’t get on an earlier flight, we will miss our wedding,” said Pokin.
“I’ll see what I can do, since it was a delay on our side”. The gate agent types away on his computer. “I’m afraid all the flights are full. The best I can do is put you on standby.”
And so it was 1pm and instead of gaming at home we are sitting at the airport hoping to get on a flight. Meanwhile, we are getting text message alerts constantly from Delta that our flights are being pushed further and further back. We see numerous flights leave for LAX but we don’t get to get on. BOO.
Our standby flight comes. There are 7 people on standby in front of us. One by one, they clear the standby guests to board until they stop right before us.
“You gotta be kidding me” I thought. Everyone boards. We wait and I glare at the passengers. Then, luckily they call us. We get to get on. They let in a few people after us, and that’s it. LA here we come!
