It was not easy to climb aboard the small boat which transported us to the airport (on its own island) as we said “Au Revoir” to one of the most beautiful places on Earth – Bora Bora! Yet the saving grace was within 30 minutes we would land in Mo’orea – another French Polynesian island with its own charm.

We stayed in a bungalow at the Hotel Hibiscus, rustic and quaint, yet certainly not an overwater villa. Apparently we got spoiled quickly during our 3 nights on Bora Bora. Our new abode had a full kitchen though which made life so much easier. Although the kitchen sinks also served as the bathroom sinks.  It came equipped with an extreme wake-up system too as roosters and some native birds with loud, raucous squalors did not let up, beginning at dawn.

There were no cooking tools in our bungalow so Jim went to the front desk to borrow some for the omelette he planned to make for breakfast. The Front Desk Agent replied, “We are the French. We do not use spatulas. Use the spoons and things from your room (meaning utensils which is all we had). If you need something else go ask the restaurant if you can borrow them.”

We enjoyed snorkeling right from our room though as low tide began, it became quite shallow. Suzan actually felt as if she was in a “water labyrinth” and could not find her way out. No matter which way she went she seemed to run into a “coral wall.” Fortunately Jim came back into the water to help her find a path in. The wind had picked up and it had begun to pour so it had become even more challenging. Finally, after an extra hour, she found a way in and collapsed once in the bungalow (after taking a nice hot shower)!

Suzan wanted to take an art class so she went into many galleries to inquire. No one offered them. Then she went into a place called, Natural Mystic, which had beautiful, glimmering wall coverings hanging all around. This store was owned by four artists who made everything they sold and had quite diverse offerings. I asked them and one woman named Julie said in her heavy French accent, “I will phone Natalie, the Artist.” Next thing I knew Natalie was willing to teach me a French Polynesian art form called Pareo with Gutta for only $50.00 (and this included whatever I would create to take home). They didn’t offer classes yet I created one from scratch. This seemed just as much a part of the creative process!

While Jim went on a 2-tank dive with the Fun Dive Company (he could walk over to where the boat left), I walked 5 minutes to my 1-1 class. This turned out to be one of the biggest highlights of the entire trip for me. Natalie only spoke French so Julie would intervene to translate whenever our sign and body language did not suffice. What I appreciated most was how she stood back and allowed me to learn on my own. She jumped in whenever absolutely necessary to show me a better technique or to avoid making mistakes, or in some cases to cleverly cover up a mistake I made (I’m sure you artists can also appreciate this). She wore an amused look on her face, most of the time, as my perfectionist definitely joined me. She said I had to draw everything and I thought it would be drawn for me. I don’t know how long I stood there with the pencil in my hand. Yet in the end, I so enjoyed every moment of this gratifying painting experience. And now we have something I made to hang on our wall or place on our bed (we’re still deciding)!

As a side note, during the class there were breaks to give the artwork time to dry in the sun. While hanging out in the store, I discovered that Julie also made jewelry and had many black pearl necklace and earring designs. I soon chose a pair of earrings and a necklace for her to put aside for me. Jim later offered to pay half of the costs as a combination Birthday and Anniversary gift (and the other half is my gift to myself).  Jim’s biggest concern is that I never wore jewelry very much (except for earrings) and now I seemed drawn to necklaces and bracelets (which match the earrings). He’s not sure this is such a good thing as we approach retirement!

We rented bicycles on two separate days to see different parts of the island. The landscape is volcanic rock carved into verdant mountain peaks which sweep down to the lagoons and the ocean beyond the reef. We found it to be a dramatic background and would like to have had more time to do some hiking.

Our biking adventures took us past many local’s homes yet we noticed the majority of people playing games outdoors like soccer. Not so different from here except there were sometimes about 20-30 people hanging out on an average afternoon (not a holiday gathering). We loved stopping at fruit stands (can’t get enough of this fresh, sweet, and juicy tropical stuff)! Especially Bread Fruit (a luscious dessert or one can have it as fries, so versatile and yummy).

A boat pulled up in the channel next to our hotel to take us on a snorkel trip. We swam with hordes of black tip reef sharks, and also large stingrays which they feed raw fish. The problem with this is when one goes to pet them, which everyone does, sometimes they mistakenly think someone has fish for them. In my case, my right thumb became the culprit. Fortunately I was not stung by the stingray, yet the bite left two fanglike marks which pierced the surface. I’ve lived to tell the tale so all is well (glad Jim lugged the First Aid Kit all around - we finally needed it).

We snorkeled in several areas including one with a school of dolphins with a baby. Not long after we jumped in, the dolphins disappeared. The guide had us all get back into the boat and then shared that she had just seen a shark “dangerous for humans and likely dolphins too.”

We stopped at a pristine cove with a green sherbet color, along with the turquoise blue shades. There were more stingrays here and as usual, Jim became their paparazzi.  He was always chasing some critter in the water with his camera, including sharks I must add! We then found out that this cove was just around the corner from our bungalow so we could have rented a kayak and come over on our own. Since this was our last full day, we’ll need to save this excursion for another trip. With it only being an 8 hour flight from LAX (Hawaii is 6 so what’s 2 extra hours), it just may happen!