Saturday, December 24, 2011

Day 8- Bora Bora

Most of the morning when we'd wake up, we'd magically be in a new place anchored just off shore. Hallelujah would be my daily feeling as I could again get up and ready and keep my breakfast down before heading off to explore.
For Bora Bora though, I think they wanted to make a dramatic entrance, and although I woke up silently cursing that we hadn't stopped yet, as soon as I opened up our balcony I had to agree that a dramatic entrance was pretty impressive. Bora Bora is EVERYTHING you see in the postcards. It is GORGEOUS!!! They say there are 18 colors of blue in the ocean surrounding the island and I have to agree. I have never seen water so amazing before- even anywhere else in Tahiti.
Seriously don't know what causes all the variety of color, but it is beautiful.

I've run out of adjectives before pictures I just couldn't NOT include.
For our first day on Bora Bora (because 1 just wouldn't be enough would it?) we did a driving tour with the entire family reunion group. I say driving but really it was off-roading. It took 3 full jeeps to fit us all and we ended up with the all kids Jeep. At first I was a little annoyed that we were "babysitting" everyone else's kids, but then I quickly was converted. Having no old folks in the jeep meant our guide could go crazy... and he did. It didn't help that Isaac and Ethan laughed their heads off the whole time and egged him on. And in truth, Taylor's cousins who are 12, 15, and 16 were more of babysitters for our kids than any work for us.
So apparently Bora Bora was the main Tahitian island for WWII defenses. American GI's came in and built the entire infrastructure that is still used today by the islanders. And there are all these dirt trails literally going STRAIGHT up the sides of the mountain to where they set up cannons and lookouts and other defenses.
A leftover WWII bunker.
And here's some of the cannons that were left behind.
Seriously not a bad job if you're in the Navy. Certainly can't complain about the weather or the view!
We basically got to circle the island in our jeeps and then "drive" up 3 of the mountain peaks.

Miles is always willing to say "cheese".

Here's the whole Woodbury clan.
Can I just say again that one of the best parts of these trips is being with family. It's so nice to have my kids get played with and spoiled by their aunts and uncles. They eat it up!
See the jeep? Everytime we got out, the guide would come around to the back and help each and everyone of us out. It was THAT high up. And we'd laugh every time because Miles would wave the guide off and say "no I got tit!" Yeah right! So I'd have to scoop him up and insist on helping him. This boy is seriously 2 going on 7. He's convinced he's just as big as Ethan.
But he's still a big cuddle bug so we are taking advantage of that. Plus there was no way a little lap belt was going to hold him in place with all the crazy potholes we were driving through so he had to sit with Taylor.
Seriously fascinated by the water.


Okay and the island is pretty interesting to look at too!
Halfway along the tour, we stopped at a beach to cool off. I unfortunately did not come prepared with a swimming suit so I just waded in.
My boys though were much more lucky. When we decided to come along on the trip I decided that there were a few "necessities". Taylor wanted (NEEDED) an underwater camera so he got one. And I didn't want to be doing laundry all the time so each of the boys "Needed" 3 sets of swimming clothes (shirts included because their pasty white skin was SO going to get burned with out a shirt). So that's what they wore most days- just swim trunks and shirts. And then it was super easy for them to do whatever and never need to change. Miles waded out into the water and luckily Sam was out there too because he literally DID NOT STOP.
And of course Isaac couldn't let himself be beat by the younger brother so he joined him and Esther came to the rescue.
Here's some of the panoramic shots Taylor took. Because these peaks were used as lookout spots, they quite literally have almost 360 degree views.


After 4 hours of driving (being in a roller coaster jeep), we went back for lunch and then PASSED OUT. This is actually what happened most everyday and this is just the first time I actually was awake enough to grab my camera. It worked out great because then we could get showered and cleaned up and rested before our late dinner.
And of course when you're done and ready for dinner early and you're kind of chasing each other around and making took much noise you might get handed an ipod.

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