Return to Home Page           Bora Bora in August, ’03 with April and Naoma:

 

April met me in LA where I almost missed the flight because of airport delays in Phoenix as well as a thunderstorm that held my commuter flight on the ground for an hour.  The line for x-raying luggage was mammoth but it was expedited for me by a Club Med rep who got my luggage through quickly  and I got  the last seat on the Air France plane (literally the last seat in the plane and April sat up front).  My seatmate was a French woman who lived in Papeete and was a teacher of English and French.

 

We spent 7 days at Club Med Bora Bora in an ocean front room with the beach outside the porch.  Cable called us but we missed  his call.  We got in touch with Roger who told us of the power failure that knocked out power to 55 million people in  9 seconds.  We had a TV but no news for a week.  It showed Club Med videos. 

 

April signed up for 10 2-tank dives.  Two of the deep sea creatures April saw in her diving in Bora Bora were a very large moray eel  and a very small Nudibranch .  April did her diving with the dive master, Jean Pascal, a Frenchman who lived in Bora Bora.  (April is a dive master). .  I also had word that April and the divemaster entertained the divers with  ballroom dancing underwater.There were also sharks and other creatures below the depths.

 

Each morning April would go on a long run and then do her dives until afternoon. She also tried wind surfing the first day.

  

I spent my days on the beach, and read four novels and magazines I brought with me.  Breakfast had one-bite mini bananas and flaky croissants and yogurt for me.

 

 

In the evening April did yoga at sunset with Mark, a stock analyst from San Francisco who had studied Yoga for two years and was an expert sailor. 

 

April brought her bathing suit collection that had to be seen to be believed (sorry, no pictures).  She had La Perla and Gottex suits of all kinds and colors:  velvet bikinis, a tankini, turtle neck suit covered with sparkling “fish scale” sequins, several other velvet suits,  and on and on.  No, she did not buy the one she saw at the mall that cannot even be described except to say it seemed like suspenders on a gold chain with a bikini bottom. 

 

We met Hans, a German dentist who spoke French, German and English.  He was on an around-the-world trip and did everything the club had to offer in the way of tours.

 

We met Andrew, government forestry executive and his wife, Carey, a midwife from Australia and we had many interesting conversations with them.  One evening we all discussed where we lived and our homes.

 

 

April and I went on a boat to the nearby Motu (small private island) for several hours.  

 

Our best evening meal was the World Buffet that consisted of lobsters, shrimp, crab legs, three types of salmon, sushi, fresh strawberries, mousse, and all kinds of  fishes of the islands.  Many days April had her favorite vegetables:  Brussels sprouts.

 

April and I played Scrabble some afternoons after her diving ended. 

 

We met a wonderful family of 4.  The father was a pediatric cardiologist, his beautiful wife and teen-age son and daughter, Erika, who was an attorney.  She and  April went to Bloody Mary’s for dinner  the last night at the Club.  Because Dr. Swanson went to Harvard April asked if he remembered Tom Lehrer and he did, so April entertained with a Leher song “Oedipus Rex”at dinner.

 

One evening I came back to the room and did not turn on the lights, but opened the closet to hang up my clothes.  I felt a “tickling” sensation on my feet and legs and although I thought nothing of it I took my time getting to the lights.  When I did I saw ANT FESTATION!   (my word for this episode)   Covering over half the entrance hall were hundreds of black scurrying ants, even climbing the wall.  They were on my legs and tended to bite.  I grabbed a bath mat and began slapping it on the floor.  It was a losing battle so I left our room and went to the desk where I asked for someone to come and help me.  Shortly thereafter, a man came with a spray can and eventually they were exterminated.  When April came in after being out watching the evening show, she was surprised to see me huddled in bed in fear that a “live one” would get me. 

 

 

Mark, the experienced sailor pointed  out Mars  in the night sky as well as the Southern Cross.

 

One evening  I accidentally had dinner with a very prejudiced older American couple, but was rescued by the son and daughter of the above-mentioned doctor who thought I looked “bored.”  I was more uncomfortable with this couple that I could ever imagine.    The Chef of the Village said “hello” to everyone at least once a day and even remember an Oriental outfit I’d worn the night before.

 

We left the Club after 7 days at 5:15 AM and after difficult connections, much searching of baggage, and special seating requests with Air France (second seat in front behind first class because of close connections.) April missed her flight but caught a different one to New York.  The customs man helped me get to the front of the custom line because I had all carry-on luggage and I made it on my two flights.

 

Bora Bora is beautiful and peaceful.

 

I have previously sent pictures of a moray eel and nudibranch – things April saw in the deep.

 

It was a very long trip, extremely relaxing and even now I can close my eyes and be “back there.”

 

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