Tahiti...

To celebrate the life of Todd's parents, we decided to splurge on a once in a lifetime trip to Tahiti in February.  The trip included charter flights from Los Angeles to Tahiti (Papeete) where we boarded the Oceana Marina cruise ship for 8 days of cruising that included stops at 7 islands in French Polynesia.  French Polynesia is an overseas collectivity of the French Republic and the only overseas country of France.  It is composed of 118 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over an expanse of more than 1,200 miles in the South Pacific Ocean (roughly half way between the US and Australia).

 

Our itinerary focused on the Society Islands which are one of the 5 groups of islands that make up French Polynesia.

 

 

After dropping off Chip with Todd's cousin's wife Susan in Denver and parking STEV at the airport, we headed to Los Angeles, California for an overnight stay before taking our charter flights to Tahiti the following evening.  While in Los Angeles, we were able to catch up with Todd's cousin Matt and his girlfriend Gina for dinner.

Having most of a day in Los Angeles before our flight to Tahiti, we decided take in one of the newer (2015) museums in Los Angeles.  The Broad is a contemporary art museum on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles. The museum is named for philanthropist Eli Broad, who financed the $140 million building which houses the Broad art collections. And the best part is that the museum offers free general admission to its permanent collection galleries

While researching excursion options prior to the cruise, we came across a transparent kayak excursion and thought they'd be a fun way to get a little exercise while exploring the underwater life off the island of Moorea.

Our kayaking excursion in Moorea included a stop for snorkeling where we were able to swim with these black tip sharks and stingrays (below).

One of the many stingrays we got to swim with during our kayak excursion in Moorea.



Fakarava is know for being one of the best scuba diving locations in all of French Polynesia.  Todd spent the day diving the "south channel" where a wall of sharks meets the current coming out from the lagoon.

This little island near Fakarava looked so much like one of the built in Microsoft screen savers, that Todd just couldn't resist getting a picture with it in the background.

Todd, Mario and Shonah at the Disco T-Dance, one of various theme parties during our cruise.  Mario was our seatmate on the flight from Los Angeles to Tahiti and became a fun companion on many of our excursions.

John, Todd, Shonah and Randy at the Disco T-Dance.  This cruise ship had about 1,200 guests which made it easier to meet people and make friends than on some of the larger ships we've been on.

 

Shonah & Todd posing for a photo on the beach at the blue lagoon near the island of Rangiroa.

 

Todd standing in the shallow waters of the blue lagoon with the many black tipped sharks circling.  The sharks seemed to be trained to wait around near the excursion groups for the lunch scraps that were eventually thrown into the water for them to devour.



Shonah is not known for being the biggest fan of open water and especially not in the water where sea life is in sight...especially sharks & stingrays.  But, he gradually became more comfortable as the week went on and soon jumped in the water to swim with the sharks without hesitation.

Shonah, Todd, and Mario during our excursion to the blue lagoon near the island of Rangiroa.



The final part of our excursion to the blue lagoon near the island of Rangiroa including an amazing meal prepared on-site by the guides, including a very yummy coconut cake for dessert.

Our new friends Randy and John stayed in Bora Bora for a few days after the cruise ended back in Papeete.  This aerial shot of Bora Bora is from their flight over from Tahiti.

Randy and John stayed in the classic over water huts at the Black Pearl Resort in Bora Bora.



One of the many incredible views of the harbor in Bora Bora from our ship.  With most of the islands being quite small in size, we had to use the ships smaller tenders to transfer to the islands.



Shonah posing in a little electric car that we actually rented through Avis to drive around the island of Bora Bora.  He's always wanted an electric car AND one with gull wing doors!!

Shonah loves turtles, so on our second day in Bora Bora we arranged an excursion to the Ecological Center at the Le Meridient Hotel where they have one of only two turtle sanctuaries in all of French Polynesia.  Our private tour where we became junior biologists for the day, taught us about the sanctuary's mission to rehabilitate injured turtles while offering us the ability to help feed, clean and care for these amazing turtles.  We even had an opportunity to swim in a private lagoon with two of the turtles that were close to fully rehabilitated and soon to be released.

 

Todd and Shonah snorkeling in the rehabilitation lagoon with turtles that are almost ready to be released back into the ocean.  It is amazing to watch these turtles glide through the water up close and personal.
 

Snorkeling in the rehabilitation lagoon was like being in an aquarium with all sort of beautiful fish.  One of Shonah's favorites was the largest puffer fish we've ever seen.  He was about two and a half feet long!
 

We rented a jet ski in Huahine where we circled the island with a guide and did some snorkeling.  We even got to see quite a few spotted eagle rays swimming in the crystal clear shallow waters.



 

Just a you would expect, Tahiti and the other islands we visited were picture perfect destinations straight out of a magazine and made for an awesome, once in a lifetime experience.