Shayna and Mike's Motu

Heading Back

2008-10-24T19:20:00.000-07:00

Tahiti Airport - Flying back to LA and then Santa Barbara
Waiting for our flight

Bye Bye Paradise

On the boat dock saying goodbye

Goofy Girl

Our final day. Our 10 days went by so quick. A few photos here. We definitely love the group shot. The people in Bora Bora and Huahine were amazing and so friendly. And we made a lot of friends along the way - Ali, Nati, Francesco (I love HerbalLife!), Monica, Viktor, Vahine, Salumi, Vaia and so many more. It made for an incredible trip.

Well, that's it. Sorry for the delay on photos. We have a ton more photos from our trip (April 2008), which we may post from time to time. But I think, the blog will start to be current. We left Santa Barbara in August 2008 after 6 wonderful years. Hopefully we'll post some photos following our lives now in Maryland. All the best.

Lunch and Dinner

2008-10-24T19:08:00.000-07:00

Group Shot

Tahitian Dancing Dinner Show

Lunch is ready!

Dining in the water - I think a first for both of us.

Our private picnic

After the sharks and rays, Alfonso dropped us off on a private motu for our own little picnic lunch. The food was delicious - still to this day - Shayna and I talk about going back just to have this lunch again. Afterwards, we went snorkeling some more with Alfonso and did some more activities. Unfortunately my camera battery died and my underwater camera ran out of film (aarrggghhh). I wish I had a photo when Alfonso pet a gigantic moray eel like it was a dog.

The dinner show was during our last night in Bora Bora. We should all sing and dance more.

Two more stingray photos

2008-10-24T18:56:00.000-07:00

This guy is right on my chest when I took this photo.
An underwater perspective

Stingrays - Lots of Them

2008-10-24T18:42:00.000-07:00

Tag! You're it.

Alfonso, Shayna, and underwater friend

Alfonso telling us what to do with the stingrays.

Slapping them on the back or pulling their tails wasn't part of it.

Here they come...

After the sharks, we pet some stingrays. Stingrays are really really friendly. Or maybe they like free food (they are probably distant relatives of grad students). Anyways, I fed a few stingrays. The first time went well. Held out fish, stingray sucked fish (they have no teeth), and I cheered. Although the second or third time I did this, another stingray from the side surprised me with his dexterity and grabbed the fish I was holding. He sucked three of my fingers in his mouth too! Now, they may not have teeth but they probably have some cartilage cause Damn I felt a crunch. That freaked me out a little and I pulled my hand out like it was in a hot oven. After that I started to chicken out feeding the stingrays and dropped some fish when they got near me. It was a strange feeling having 3 or 4 stingrays up on your body too!

Sharks!!!!

2008-10-21T18:38:00.000-07:00

Alfonso took this shot for me. He swam down pretty far - the bottom is around 25 feet.

This lemon shark is actually freakin' huge!

Snorkeling with black tipped sharks
Alfonso swimming with the fishes
Blue Trevally (I think) - They are quite big.
Taken about 3 feet away!!!

Some underwater shots. We didn't hestitate to snorkel with some sharks and dove right in. It was one of the most amazing experiences in our life. The little black fish - I think - we had for lunch later that day! There were a ton of black tipped sharks and one mighty big lemon shark circling below us. After this, it was onward to the stingrays.

more photos

2008-10-21T18:33:00.000-07:00

I definitely need some more sun
Some surfers way off the coast
The Yellow Submarine

(for next time)

Some more photos.

Water excursion - start

2008-10-21T18:14:00.001-07:00

Alfonso!
Heading out
There was a canoe race that day
A relaxing moment

We took an excusion to go feed the sharks and pet some stingrays. Our guide was Alfonso - another super cool guy. He would sing, play the ukulele, and steer the boat. We got to check out a canoe race. They were working hard while we could sit back and relax.

Rainy day

2008-10-21T18:01:00.000-07:00

View from the beach
Scenic Vista
During the storm
Shayna and her rainbow

It was a little rainy our second day. I was disappointed that the little dune buggies were unavailable to drive around the island. Although this was probably a blessing since the rain eventually started to come down hard and the people who had one got drenched. And the cars here had automatic transmission! Just a few photos from many.

Viktor on the Ukulele

2008-10-20T18:27:00.000-07:00

Viktor is totally awesome. When we got back to the US, I picked up a ukulele too.

Bora Bora

2008-10-20T18:18:00.000-07:00

The lagoon is an amazing blue
Our Overwater Bungalows
Bed
Bath
A New Friend (right off our bungalow)

We took a small plane from Huahine to Bora Bora. The lagoon is simply breathtaking. The water is sooo blue and clear. We stayed in an overwater bungalow at the intercontinental le moana resort. Right after we arrived, a huge stingray swam by while we were hanging out on the deck. He would swim by every day too.

A few photos from our island bike ride

2008-10-20T17:59:00.001-07:00

Smile
Standing in front of some Marae

Making flower head dresses with Vahine

We met some kids near the archaeological sites. I tried to speak Tahitian with them. What was funny is that they replied in English to me. We continued on biking around the island, stopping in Fare, and back around. We did get picked up the final few kilometers by Eric (Thank God) and his truck. Otherwise it would have been pitch black trying to get back to Pension Mauarii. Our final group activity was making flower head dresses. Now to Bora Bora!

After a brief intermission...(like months)...some more photos

2008-10-20T17:42:00.000-07:00

Sacred eels of Faie - They have blue eyes just like Shayna!
Biking around
Souvenirs
Getting to the Pearl Farm
Pottery at the Pearl Farm as well

Some more photos taken on Huahine. We actually biked the entire island! It is about 70 kilometers. We left about 9 am and didn't get back until 6:30 pm. Right before we reached Faie, there is a 1 km incline from hell. I had to carry my bike, Shayna's bike, and a heavy backpack while trekking up. We made Faie just in time as we ran out of water. We had a nice break at the Pearl Farm. There was some amazing pottery as well.

Fun with coconuts

2008-05-22T21:29:00.001-07:00

Plucked right off the tree.

Filled right to the top with coconut water.

Enjoying our tropical beverage.

Sooo Good.

My quarterback princess. Go long!

It's always been a dream of mine (Mike) to grab a fresh coconut from a tree, open it up with a machete, and drink that sweet sweet water. That came true here. I tried asking if there were any coconut stands around, and the cook at Pension Mauarii grabbed a coconut from a tree 5 feet away from us! Later we learned to open a coconut the traditional way and make poisson cru. Shayna found her football on the beach and struck a pose. More photos to follow.

Pension Mauarii

2008-05-22T21:10:00.000-07:00

Huahine! Taken in front of Pension Mauarii

Our beach bungalow - Fare Moana (House of the Ocean)

The bed with mosquito net. The bungalow was huge.

View from our porch. The water was so clear! There were all these little fish right on the edge of the water. My vanilla fish sandwich with Hinano beer for lunch. Yum!

We stayed at Pension Mauarii in Huahine. We had the beach bungalow with an amazing view. We had a great time. The people and guests at Pension Mauarii were so friendly and helpful. They didn't speak much English and we didn't speak much French, but we managed. We also learned some Tahitian too! The first day was just relaxation and food. This was also our first time snorkeling. The first time I was breathing soooo heavy. But after the second and third time we got the hang of it. More to follow. SB and MC.

The beginning of our journey!

2008-05-22T20:45:00.000-07:00

Arrival at Tahiti!

Waiting in the airport.

View from our plane

So blue!
Raiatea airport (oops we weren't suppose to get off here!)

We flew from LAX to Papeete via Air Tahiti Nui. It was a great flight. Two meals and a nap and we were there. The first thing we noticed was the humidity. After living in Santa Barbara so long we almost forgot what that was like. We were greeted with music and flower leis before going thru customs. While we were waiting to transfer to Huahine, we got some mango drinks and walked around the open airport for a while. We got on a small plane for Huahine. We were so excited when we landed we didn't realize we were actually on Raiatea (another island). Luckily someone from the airport found us and got us back on the plane! More to follow.

SB and MC

Our first post!

2008-04-15T21:50:00.001-07:00

Our first post! Our first blog for that matter. If everything looks good, we will start posting more photos from our honeymoon in Huahine and Bora Bora. Check back soon.