Bora Bora

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I can’t believe that it’s September already!

Today we got up early (for us) at 7am because we wanted to go to the shop for some croissants and baguettes before we went to the spa - plus if you get there any later than 8am they’ve mostly sold out of everything. We went outside our bungalow and heard a meow and the little ginger cat who we’d stroked a few times appeared, looking really pleased to see us.

We stroked him for a bit before Matt realised that he had something in his mouth. It was a big fish hook and one end was sticking right out past his whiskers, meaning the other end was somewhere stuck in the roof of his mouth. Matt tried to hold him so that we could get a better look at the damage but he wouldn’t stay still. We managed to hold him for long enough for me to feel that it was well and truly embedded.

We weren’t sure what to do as we didn’t think we’d be able to get it out ourselves, so we went to reception and told the lady there. She didn’t seem bothered but I kept saying that the cat must be in pain and she went off towards our room to have a look. We carried on to the shop hoping that she would do something about it while we were gone but all the way there we were worried about him.

For the first time since we’d arrived in Tahiti we got to a shop early enough to get some fresh pain au chocolates and they looked delicious. We also got our pick of the baguettes.

We headed back to our bungalow, and as we walked past the other accommodation we saw a French family discussing the cat with the lady from reception - although they were talking in another language we could see they were talking about a hook in the mouth by their hand movements. We were pleased that other people had told her as we thought if it was upsetting the guests then maybe they’d do something about it.

Matt saw the cat sitting with another family who were having breakfast but he couldn‘t see if anyone had taken the hook out yet.

We ate our pastries with a quick coffee and headed over to the Intercontinental resort next door to catch the boat over to the spa on the motu.

The journey only took about ten minutes but I was worried that Matt might get seasick again as the water had become very choppy since the swell, luckily he was fine.

The Intercontinental resort on the motu was newly built and it was big. It was strange being over there where all of the staff wished you ‘Ia Orana’ as they walked past smiling (you got the impression that if they didn‘t say hello they‘d be sacked). It all felt quite fake and touristy.

We had a walk around their large infinity pool and down to the beach which was beautiful. There were plenty of loungers but they were never too close together. All of them had fluffy towels on ready and waiting.

All of a sudden Matt shouted. A big hornet had attached itself to his t-shirt and wasn’t showing signs of moving despite the fact that he’d dropped his sunglasses and was running around waving his arms (Matt is terrified of wasps and bees, and hornets are twice the size!) It had stung him on his arm probably out of self defence as it was stuck on his top. I had to knock it off with a book before it finally moved. At least he has now been stung, as I think part of his fear about them was not knowing how much it would hurt. Luckily I had some antiseptic cream with me and he said a few minutes later that it had calmed down

We found the spa entrance and signed in. It wasn’t as expensive as I’d thought - Matt had to pay for a half day entrance (£30) and I was having a massage (I won’t say how much that cost!!!) so I got the half day entry for free. We were given a spa bag containing a pair of flip flops and a parao (serong) and a map and then shown the changing rooms. They were plush with plenty of big fluffy towels everywhere and big private shower rooms.

We got ready and met each other on the other side to explore. It seemed that we were the only ones there apart from the staff who we kept seeing walk around.

First we walked through some tropical rain showers and then got into a large oval outdoor jacuzzi type pool. At one end was jacuzzi jets for you to sit against, in the middle was a big squiry jet, and at the other end were jets pointing forwards into the water which created a current for you to swim against. Next was a walkway with water that came up to your waist. It was cool water with jets at different heights and as you walked through the corridor of water your legs were massaged by the water.

At the end of the spa area were a few outdoor jacuzzis that were all in private little decks. We chose the one that overlooked the lagoon and mountains and lay in there for a while.

Next was a steam room, which was really hot and had a tropical rain button. After a few minutes we would get out and walked to the deep cold plunge pool and jump in right in. It was absolutely freezing and you felt proper bone chill as you submerged under the water. Then it was back to the steam room to warm back up. The next time we did it we tried to take photos of our faces as we were in the freezing cold water. I got out and Matt said the photo he’d taken of me wasn’t good so stupidly I went back in again. The first time was cold, the second time was almost unbearable and as I walked up the steps to get out I almost felt as though my legs were going to give up. He thought it was hilarious.

Whilst I had my traditional Tahitian monoi massage with frangipani oil, Matt spent the hour laying in the jacuzzi (with the best view) with his book. It turns out he loved it at the spa and wasn't bored at all!

My massage was done in an overwater bungalow with big windows looking out over the lagoon. It was fantastic and I didn’t want it to end. The best thing about laying with my face in the hole of the massage table was that the floor was glass and I could watch the fish while enjoying my massage. There were four coral heads directly under the bungalow and there must have been more than 100 fish in my view (I tried counting but gave up as they moved to quickly).

All too soon it was over and it was time for me to join Matt in the jacuzzi again. We spent the next hour moving around the showers, pools and steam rooms before finishing off in the tea lounge where there were lots of different types of tea for you to brew. Matt embarrassingly decided to pocket one of each of the tea bags so that he could try them all later. In hindsight it was a good idea as we are supposed to be backpacking after all.

By this time we’d been there longer than our half day allowed, so felt we had to go to have a shower and leave. The changing room cubicles were really big and each had their own shower, with one completely see through glass wall (although this only led to the back of another building so nobody could see in). As well as a normal shower head they also had a waterfall shower head fixed high up that poured a heavy stream of water on your head. After the shower I enjoyed trying out all of the different types of body lotion and face creams they had on the dressing table. When I finally came out I realised that Matt had been sitting waiting for me for ages.

We checked out and had a walk around the resort. While we walked Matt confessed that he’d gone to have a cup of water from the water fountains that were lined up outside the spa, and as he’d filled a cup to the top he took a big gulp expecting it to be lovely cool water but instead it was salt water! He spat it out into the fountain and hoped nobody had seen him. It was very weird as there were cups and bins next to the fountains and they looked like taps of drinking water. I couldn’t stop laughing at him this time.

All we could realistically afford was a hamburger from the restaurant there so we decided to go back and eat out in the evening on the mainland instead where it was a bit cheaper.

We caught the shuttle back to the other Intercontinental resort which was just along the beach from our accommodation - the water had grown really choppy since the morning so it wasn’t a smooth journey. Rather than walk the road way back to Temanuata we decided to walk along the beach as this was literally only a minutes walk, but as we started, the waves came right in and soaked us. The swell that had happened overnight had raised the lagoon level and the choppy water was lapping right up the beach, meaning there was nowhere left that was dry to walk. We decided it was safer to walk along the road after all.

As we arrived back at our bungalow we looked around for the cat as we’d been worrying about him all day. We were scared that they might have decided to kill him to stop the guests from getting upset as he was only a stray. We couldn’t see him anywhere so hoped that instead someone had taken the hook out and he was recovering.

We were exhausted from our spa day and didn’t want to face packing, but we needed to make a start as we were going out that evening and would be leaving early the next day.

We had a knock at our door much earlier than we’d expected to say that our restaurant pick up was ready and as we went outside the cat came running up to us. He still had the hook in his mouth but it was too late to do anything about it as our taxi was waiting. He didn’t look in any pain and kept pushing his head against the table leg on our patio as though trying to push the hook out. We felt terrible leaving him there - if we’d had more time we wanted to try to get a better look at it and maybe even try to pull it out, but as it was our taxi was waiting and we felt we had to leave him. The whole night we both kept thinking about him though and talking about what we could do - either pull it out ourselves or pay for a vet to look after him (by the end of the night we’d decided that we’d have to try to pull it out the following morning).

St James was a little restaurant on the wharf in the main town and we’d heard it was really good food. We weren’t disappointed. Matt had lamb and I had chicken in a mushroom sauce. It came with freshly baked bread cakes (rolls for the non-northerners amongst you!). It was all delicious - the best meal we’d had for a long time. We still couldn’t afford wine so settled on a main meal each and a bottle of water. This time it only came to £40 which was a bargain compared to what we had paid previous nights, especially given that the quality of the food was so much better there.

We headed back to our room early hoping to see the cat but he was gone, probably hanging around one of the restaurants nearby hoping for some food. Hopefully by the time he comes tomorrow morning the hook will have been taken out by somebody else, but I doubt it.

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Photos

Matt jumping right into the cold plunge pool
The sea water comes from a bore hole 3000 feet down and it was COLD!

Matt with a self portrait
Taking this kept him busy while I had my massage