Our Honeymoon Twelve days in French Polynesia spread over three islands

~ day 7: Manihi ~
click here to view all photos from day 7

Before leaving Manihi for Bora Bora, we visited a pearl farm in the morning and learned about the Tahitian Black pearl and how they’re cultivated. On the way back from the pearl farm, we saw Nico and Thierry preparing for their day. We really had a blast with them over the last couple days.

inside the pearl farm house

a pearl is born!

nico / thierry - morning stretch routine

taken from the boat on the way back from pearl farming
(our bunaglow is the 2nd one from the left)

We flew out at about 11:30am, had a 20 minute stop in Tikehau, then continued to Bora Bora.

aerial shot of Manihi

aerial shot of Tikehau

When we landed and boarded our boat transfer, it was obvious that the beauty of Bora Bora is in its lagoon – three feet deep of crystal clear blue water that goes for miles that you could even walk. We arrived at the Pearl Beach Bora Bora Resort and found it to be charming like its sister hotel in Manihi. However we did notice the surge of honeymooners here as oppose to Manihi and there were a lot more bungalows to accomdate (about three or four times as many). The overwater bungalows all sprawl out onto the lagoon and are connected by a maze walkways.

just arrived and lei'd again - Bora Bora

Bora Bora

We were led to our “Premium Overwater Bungalow” and it was definitely premium! We had Bungalow #44 and it was the furthest away with the most privacy. Yay! Our bungalow had a beautiful view of the lagoon and the mountain peaks of the Bora Bora mainland (since the Pearl Beach Resort is located on a motu). The bungalow also had air conditioning. Like the Manihi Pearl Beach Resort, we also had the open coffee table (but this one did not come off completely like Manihi’s). The bathroom here is also much larger. As for the lagoon and underneath our bungalow, it’s mainly sand so it’s good for swimming, but it’s not so good for fish watching/feeding.

Our bungalow - #44!

view from our balcony...

...we could really get used to this

After we settled in, we ate lunch at the Miki Miki restaurant at the hotel. Not only did we eat, but we were also eaten – there were tons of mosquitoes! Yuck! We found that lunch meant a lot of work…one hand had to shoo the flies hovering over your food and the other hand was to swat pesky mosquitoes. It was quite frustrating actually. On a positive note, the food here was yummy. We then went to the dive shop on site, Blue Nui (same company as Manihi's) and made arrangements to dive the following morning.

heading to dinner

sunset shot

That night, we spent waaay too much money to have but another Polynesian buffet and show, in which we were seated probably the worst possible seats. We were defiintely spoiled by our experience in Moorea and Manihi. To our enjoyment, we ran into Benjamin and Joanna (whom we met in Moorea on the jeep tour) at dinner.

Polynesian dinner buffet

Joanna, getting down with the natives

Nighttime in Bora Bora was not quite the same as Manihi. It was still beautiful but not AS beautiful. There were less stars visible and it just wasn’t as quiet.

onto day 8...