French Polynesia - July and August, 2003

Ever since I started hearing amazing tales about Bora Bora and Tahiti, I've wanted to visit the fabled islands of French Polynesia to see if the tales of this magical area were true.  Remarkably enough, the real thing was probably even greater than I had imagined - paradise on earth they call it, and with good reason.  What better place to spend your honeymoon?  Read here for a word-formatted or html-formatted journal of our visit.  I also hope to put up some videos we have from our snorkeling excursion in Moorea in the near future.  Pictures from our honeymoon can be found below....

  Click on the images for larger pictures.

  This is us immediately upon landing in Tahiti, after our 8-hour flight from Lost Angeles.  (For those who can't recall where these islands are... Tahiti is just south of the equator, halfway between Australia and South America in the middle of the Pacific ocean - south of Hawaii.)  Don't feel bad, I couldn't remember at first either.  ;-)

  Here's the little mini-plane we hopped onto on our first night there, which took us to Moorea.

  Aerial view of Moorea.  Amazing colors, no?  Who would of imagined water can look like that!

  Here's a series of underwater snorkeling photos.  I usually try to keep all my photos in order, but it was a bit harder to do with this set, so I'll just place some of my favorites here first.

  Check out this cute lil' guy, who's checking us out himself...  is it just me, or does he have a guilty look on his face?

  Me hovering over a coral forest, and a massive pack of sea-urchins...  some of these things had spines almost a foot long!!!

  Here's Nicci, almost completely surrounded by fish.  The little buggers were fearless!

  Sunrise outside our beach luxe bungalow at Sofitel Ia Ora on Moorea.

  That's our bungalow - fantastic place!

  Nicci sitting near the pool at the Sofitel Ia Ora.  Note the over-water bungalows in the background.

  Nicci again, chillin' in the oceanside pool...  hard to tell where the pool ends and the ocean begins!

  Here's me in the same pool, under the little waterfountain.  Ahhh, luxury.

  A photo of the large uber-hut where we had all our meals... this one was taken around breakfast-time.  Beautiful place.

  Obligatory shot for my Toilets Around the World collection.  Notice the leaf-woven walls... most every place had the same sort of surface.

  A local working at the pineapple factory in Moorea.  Most delicious pineapples in the world... really!!!

  These trees were used in the past as a method of communication, you pick up that big rock right there and beat on the tree itself which produces a hollow noise which travels for miles.

  View from a place high up in the center of Moorea... which is actually the crater of an ancient volcano.

  Nicci posing by a lovely pineapple plantation in Moorea.. you can see one of the dinky little things growing there in the foreground.

  A nice picture of the Sofitel Ia Ora, beautifully situated by an amazing lagoon.

  Here's the black kitty that came to visit us in our bungalow.  A lot of critters, particularly dogs, are treated like community friends/pets by the locals of Moorea.  They're all pretty friendly.

  Nicci snorkeling in a Nirvana-like pose.

  The impressively roofed oceanfront bar of the Sofitel Ia Ora.

  Money sunset-shot in Moorea.

  Polynesian dance show during dinner at our hotel.  Pretty cool.

  I was pulled up on stage myself by one of the dancers, here's me making a fool of myself.

  A gecko inside our bungalow... highly prized by the locals for their bug-eating ways, these little dudes were everywhere on the islands.

  Night-shot of the hotel common-grounds.

  Another aerial photo of Moorea.  Notice the rugged topography.

  A photo of the sparkling clear lagoon of Moorea.

  Giant clam - there were lots of these to be found (this is actually a boring one, many of the ones we saw had very brilliant blue or green mouths).

  A diver feeding a shark during our shark-feeding excursion.  Exciting stuff!

  More sharks feeding, with lots of other fish milling about grabbing at scraps.  You can read more about the shark-feeding excursions in my journal.

  One of the bajillions of honeymooners from our trip, playing with a stingray in the water.

  Here's me playing with my own stingray...  very friendly (and cheeky) buggers, at least when you have some fish around to feed them.

  Nicci with yet another stingray.  The feel of these guys' underbelly is amazing.

  Picture of the critters growing in the coral-colony.  There were some very bright and intricately feathered creatures growing on them.

  Coconut trees and clear turquoise waters... mmmmm.

  My obligatory half-head over-the-shoulder shot of the beautiful lagoon.

  Siki (our tour guide) recruits an assistant to help him prepare some raw tuna with coconut milk.  Deeelicious.

  Here's me trying to get the husk off a coconut using a sharp stick.  It's harder than it looks.

  Me and Nicci on a speedboat.

  A traditional Tahitian firepit in Tikki Village.  They roast pig, roots, bananas, and all sorts of other goodies in there.

  Action photo of Polynesian dancers from Tikki Village.

  Here's the beginning of the fire-show when the women came out bearing lit torches.

  Here's the men's part of the fire-show, very dramatic firebreathing and such.

  Fiery acrobatics during the show, tres cool.

  Heh, just when we were about to go try to see some whales and dolphins on Moorea, our speedboat broke down.  Here's our guide peering over the engine trying to figure out what went wrong.  Doh!

  Here's Nicci with a couple of the local denizens....  friendly community pets.

  Huahine's beautiful lagoon-side pool.  What a dump, eh?

  Here's the view right out our front door in Huahine.  Nothing but a stretch of white-sand beach and a most amazing snorkeling lagoon.

  A series of photos Nicci took when we were trying to bust open a coconut using our mad coconut-opening skillz (learned from local guides.)  It took a looooong time, but we finally did it, using only the back of a slightly bent lawn-chair and a lot of physical effort.  Eureka!  Delicious!

  I got Nicci to put her hand near this beast of a moth, which violated my insects-shouldn't-be-a-lot-bigger-than-two-inches rule.

  A guide playing with some of the sacred blue-eyed eels in Huahine.  These things were immense!

  Blue-eyed eels...  frisky little buggers reach right out of the water to grab fish out of your hands.  They feel pretty neat too!

  Nicci playing with one of the many, many hermit crabs which could be found scuttling about the beach.

  A local boy fishing in the lagoon with a bamboo pole.

  Here we were kayaking in the lagoon right by our beach bungalow.

  Nicci in the distance, "kayaking in a postcard".

  A lady at the Huahine Pearl Farm explains to us how Tahitian Black Pearls are grown.

  Some fabulous snorkeling in the area right by the Pearl Farm.

  Here's a picture of a fellow drilling mounting holes in one of the pearls we bought.

  Two nephews of our guide came along during the trip, nice kids.  Swam like fish.

  Another snorkeling shot near the Pearl Farm.

  Close up of one of the hermit crabs...  it was pretty funny seeing these shells crawling all over the place.

  Sunset shot from our bungalow in Huahine.

  Sunrise photo from the same place.  Purdy.

  Aerial picture of one of the islands on the way to Bora Bora.

  Another aerial photo... I think this one was actually Bora Bora.  Note the amazing colors of the lagoon.  Those coral barrier reefs were stunning.

  The white sand dockyard right by Bora Bora's airport (which is built right on a motu forming the outer ring around the island.)

  Not my photo, but this picture gives you a good idea of how Bora Bora is situated, a small island completely surrounded by a ring of coral reef, with an amazing lagoon in between.

  Nicci and I hanging out on the deck of our over-water bungalow (Sofitel Marara of Bora Bora).

  Here's me entering the water from our bungalow.  Too bad the snorkeling here wasn't as good as Huahine.

  Night-photo of our over-water bungalows.... there were cool floodlights mounted under our balconies.

  Fish gathered around the floodlights at night, looking for food.

  A little bird with a black mohawk perched on the outrigger of our canoe.

  Sharks and needlefish during our shark-feeding stop, amazing underwater views here.

  These next few shots are all taken in a marvelous location in Bora Bora - a huge expanse of white sand under about a foot of water.  Great for wading about or just sitting in the clear warm water.

  Our guide hacks open fresh coconuts for us as a light snack or for a nice drink of the juice within.  Notice where the sandy ledge drops off suddenly in the background, turning into a deep blue.

  Here's me with nature's own coconut drink.... mmm, mm.

  Nicci kickin' it in the water.

  Our guide posing with Nicci and a friendly stingray.

  Karl's Mr. Lucky traveling the world.

  These colorful sea-cucumbers were everywhere...  feel kinda grody though.

  Sea-turtles from the Lagoonarium.

  A rather large puffer fish.

  Site of a sad tale...  Hyatt was supposed to open a grand hotel resort here, and ran out of money before completion.  They let it rot for years afterward and are only now finally beginning to clean up the remains.

  Nicci and I on a speedboat.

  Underwater coral structure with colorful fish around it.  The coral colonies have to be seen to be believed.

  An island rising out of the deep blue South Pacific seas.

  Papeete's bustling market.

  A photo from the second floor of the busy market.  Some very colorful fish for sale here.

  Our ride back in a rickety bus in Papeete.

  Over-and-underwater photo I took from the lagoon.

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