Wonderful and Whimsical: Bora Bora

When Sven and I first met, we really did the whole 100 questions thing to get to know each other. I am talking asking anything that pops into our heads to really understand the person. One question was 'where is your dream vacation?' I answered Bora Bora and he did too! We laughed and said jokingly that when we get married we would have our honeymoon there -so we did exactly that!

The day after our wedding in Vancouver, we had brunch with our families to bring an end to our wedding month (yes, it was nearly a month long!) Right after brunch we headed to the airport to catch our first of 4 flights to get to Bora Bora.

We flew from Vancouver to Seattle, Seattle to Los Angeles, Los Angeles to Papeete, Papeete to Bora Bora, then from Bora Bora we we're picked up by a boat from our hotel which brought us to our hotel. In total it took us 28 hours to get there, but we we're able to sleep the entire 9 hours from Los Angeles to Papeete. I am talking, sleeping, not eating or waking up at all! It was so great!

Once we got to our hotel (Le Meridien) we were brought to our bungalow over the water and the first 2 days were more or less us sleeping the whole time. We did have a nice dinner at the restaurant overlooking the lagoon the first night but we didn't do anything for the first few days other than sleep and enjoy our time alone (which we hadn't had in a month!)

Bora Bora could not have been any better. It was truly paradise and made for the most spectacular honeymoon! It was so romantic. We did quite a few activities, but overall just enjoyed our 2 weeks at the resort.

We went to the main island Vaitape, one day. There we had lunch at a nice restaurant overlooking the harbor, went on a tour of the island, which means we drove completely around the island and up some of the hills to get a better view of the many islands and beautiful ocean. The main island was nice, but after one day we didn't need to go back. If we were there on a humanitarian trip it would have been nice to get to know the locals better, however, for a honeymoon setting, the main island wasn't what we were going for.

We also went swimming with sharks and stingrays then had lunch on a private island. It was such a great experience, to be honest, I was more afraid of the stingrays than the sharks. The stingrays were so sneaky and would all of a sudden be under your feet, at least you could see the sharks coming and you knew you were toast. Lunch on the island was great! We got to relax and enjoy some Tahitian food -most of which was vegetarian, major plus!

We had planned to go on a sunset cruise one evening, however, there was a swell in the lagoon which meant it wasn't too safe so they cancelled our trip.

We did the usual kayaking to a private island one day and went paddle boarding -both of which were activities provided by the hotel. We had hoped to do them a few more times, however, with the swell in the lagoon, they encouraged us not too as it could be dangerous.

We also took a traditional Tahitian boat ride with a guide. It was really nice and it gave us the chance to talk to him and get to know what life on the islands was like.

Our hotel also had a turtle rehabilitation center where they help and put new turtles into the ocean. So one day we went and checked out the turtles and saw a turtle feeding. The hotel also had a traditional Tahitian dance show one evening. Of course they pulled Sven and I up to dance with them, which was really funny and a memory we will have forever!

Lastly, we got tattoos to remember our honeymoon. It was a really neat experience where the tattoo artist came to our room and did it on the very last day. But mostly, we just hung out at the hotel, swam in the ocean, relaxed and just enjoyed our first few weeks as husband and wife.

We really recommend Bora Bora and especially Le Meridien to anyone who is interested in going. They have great service and everyone is really friendly (well, everyone in Bora Bora is friendly).

Here are some pictures of our time, stay tuned for a video of our trip!