Dancing the Night Away

Day 5-May 4

Bora Bora-Today we decided to take a boat ride into Viatape, the only real town in Bora Bora. It’s a small town that looked like it really depended on the cruise industry for its livelihood. We took the short 15 minute boat ride from the Four Seasons boat dock to Viatape after paying the resort $36 for each of us. Jimmy and Pam planned to go with us, which made the trip a lot of fun. The first place we visited was one of the black pearl stores, a nice store that had real quality merchandise. The girls spent a lot of time trying on jewelry, pricing things out and generally getting an understanding of the black pearl market. We then went to the local burger joint and had a drink, the three others a soft drink and me a 50 cl of the local Tahitian beer, Hanano. It’s really good stuff. The highlight of the trip to town was the Chin Lee grocery store. As mentioned, it’s Jimmy’s jam, so that’s where we went. It’s actually a lot of fun grocery store browsing with Jimmy. He’s like a kid in a candy store, it’s really fun to see. We went to a couple more shops, including a souvenir shop where I got a Bora Bora t-shirt and Jimmy a hat. The guy running the store told us about a black pearl salesman who sold out of his house just down the road. We wondered toward the alley, walking cautiously toward an unknown end. Just as we got to the local house of pearl sales, I looked back and Pam, while not quite running, was on her way back to the main road, wanting nothing to do with the house of pearls. We wondered back to the dock and waited for our boat ride. The town of Viatape wasn’t really much to see, but now we know. So now, when we come back to Bora Bora on Windstar’s Sea Breeze, we’ll just head straight to island nearby, bypassing Viatape altogether.

Once we arrived back at the Four Seasons resort, we went to our room and shortly thereafter we had a ring at the door. Kim, from Cruisedreams.com sent us an invitation to a luau where cocktails, then dinner and a show was the order of the evening. Wow, that was not only unexpected, but a great experience. We arrived during the cocktail hour with Jimmy and Pam. We were immediately handed a coconut-encased rum drink, with flowers on top. At the same time, the men got lei’d and the women got a hoku lei. From there, we began to be introduced to the group. These nice people were all part of the group Kim at Cruisedreams.com had brought together for this TRIP OF A LIFETIME. Jimmy and Pam, Dianne and I had chosen to come a couple of days earlier than the rest, so the rest of group had to be tired from the multi-day trip to get here. I don’t remember everyone’s name yet, but since we have many more days and much more time together, so I am confident the names will come. When we sat down for dinner on the beach, we ended up at a different table than Jimmy and Pam, but it was probably good as we got to meet other fellow travelers. We sat at the table with a couple of doctors and two nurses (one being Dianne). There were six at each table and three tables, so there were eighteen of us for one amazing evening. I sat next to Cory, a retired doctor and flight surgeon. He and his wife Patty were here from Knoxville, TN. Also at the table were Summer and her husband Steve. Summer was a doctor in Scottsdale, AZ and her husband Steve was a nurse in Phoenix. After dinner, which was great, we were entertained by Hula dancers. At one point, it became a participation event, so Dianne and some of other ladies were up on stage shaking their bootie. Not me though, since I had document the event to use a evidence later. After the hula show, fire-burning, baton twirling dancers came out and put on quite a show. The whole event was just over the top amazing. Man, Kim knows how to create the wow factor, because all I can say is “Wow!”

Click the image to buy on Etsy

But the evening wasn’t quite over just yet. We were invited to Steve and Summer’s, henceforth SS, bungalow for a nightcap and in my case, a good cigar. The bourbon was really an expensive bottle of Jack Daniels, but it went pretty well with the cigar. Summer and I sat on the deck watching the stars go by, talking politics. Inside, there was quite a conversation including pictures of Summer’s boobs right after reconstructive surgery. Oh my! We walked all the way from bungalow 228 back to our bungalow 416. Let me tell you, that was a very long walk. We said good night to Jimmy and Pam and went straight to bed. We were both exhausted, and maybe had a bit too much to drink.

Click the image to buy on Etsy