Here To There

Dates: 12/31/05 through 1/9/06
Travel Agent: Value Vacation
Hotels:

• Ocean View Room at the Radisson on Tahiti 1 night
• Premium Beach Bungalow at the Maitai Deam on Fakarava 4 nights all-inclusive
• Over Water Bunglaow at the Maitai Polynesia on Bora Bora 3 nights

Highlights:

• New Years Eve in Tahiti
• FAKARAVA! Tiny, remote island. Maitai Dream is the only resort and there is only one village. The atoll is max 10 feet high and only takes a few minutes to walk across. Beach Bungalow facing the beautiful lagoon, felt like our own private beach. Spent the time recovering from 2005, sitting in the sun, playing Skipbo in the afternoons, and drinking rums and pineapple juice. Went scuba diving twice—first dive saw a few sharks and a manta ray; second dive saw tons of sharks.
• Bora Bora was less beautiful (although it was more tropical looking), and less remote. Our overwater bungalow was at the beginning of the pier and looked out over the tiny hotel beach with the road running right behind it. We could feed the fish through the glass coffee table. Kayaked across the lagoon to Motu Pitu Aau—dumb idea, the waves are much bigger than they look. Motu Pitu Aau was a beautiful, pristine, remote feeling beach with a view of the island mountain. Crazy dogs on Motu Pitu Aau—one loved to jump straight up and down in the ocean chasing fish. Shark and ray feeding excursion with day long tour around the island and BBQ on Motu Pitu Aau. Luau on the last night. Tasty meals at roadside shack-type restaurants.

We had the most amazing trip in the British Virgin Islands. Sam, Michael, Shannon, Thad, Sara, Chris O’Rosco, Bridget and I chartered the Braveheart for a week. The Braveheart is a 54” catamaran with 4 queen size state rooms, a covered deck and lots of uncovered deck on the trampolines in front and more deck on top of the galley. The trip was all inclusive of gourmet meals, drinks and diving. Captain Jerry runs the Braveheart and took us on a customized trip around the BVI’s. He is also a dive master, so he went with us on our dives to point out all of the sights. The onboard chef, Gerda, was amazing—she made us some of the best food I’ve ever had.

We spent the first night on land at the Beef Island Guest House and stopped by the De Loose Mongoose, a local bar/restaurant on an island in the bay. The next morning we boarded the Braveheart and set sail for Norman Island where we snorkeled at the Caves and spent the evening at Willie T’s, a bar on an anchored ship in the bay. Over the course of the next couple days we dove at several sites around Peter Island including Painted Walls and the Indians and saw all kinds of ocean life: turtles, eels, barracudas, etc. We also anchored in Deadman’s Bay, which is a picturesque beach, and went hiking. We then headed toward Salt Island and did the Wreck of the Rhone dive, which is a deep water dive. It was beautiful—there were barracudas everywhere. We got to go into the wreck and swim around a bit. Very cool. We may have also done some other dives in the area; possibly Devil’s Kitchen, Cistern Point and Blond Rock. We stopped for an afternoon at the Cooper Island Beach Club and played Bocce Ball and lounged in the sun. Michael and Shannon took a canoe out around the point to a secluded beach, and when they came back they were engaged!! Luckily, Gerda had champagne on board, so we all celebrated in style. That night we kept sailing east to Virgin Gorda and went on land for a few hikes. We hiked the Baths, which are a series of pools on the beach surrounded by huge granite rocks, and also hiked to the highest point on Virgin Gorda, and in all of the BVIs. The views of the islands were spectacular. We also did the Coral Gardens plane wreck dive. That night we moored on the far side of Virgin Gordon we were the only boat in sight, which was surprisingly unusual for the trip. From there we dove the Invisibles and the Chithuen Wreck. The next day we stopped at Sandy Spit, which is the quintessential tiny tropical island with just one palm tree. The snorkeling here was great! That afternoon we anchored at Marina Cay. While we were snorkeling we saw a shark! It was a 5 foot reef shark that had been hanging out in the area for a few weeks. After sun-down we jumped back in the ocean for our night dive. Not much going on underwater after dark, except when you come back to the boat and find all of the huge fish that have collected at the light from the boat. On the last day we went to the rum distillery at Cane Garden Bay and then went to Foxy’s to finish our trip.

All in all, it was an amazing trip. We kept saying that it was the best trip possible. Hopefully we’ll be lucky enough to top it with another trip some day, but chances are slim.

Sam and I went to La Paz, Mexico with his dad, Cheryl, Emily, Annie and some family friends for a “camping” trip in the Baja Sea. The touring company, Baja Expeditions, picked us up in La Paz and ferried us to Espiritu Santo, a remote island in the Baja Sea. When we arrived, we saw that they had several beach front tents set up, each with cots and a sandy floor. There was also a dining tent and kitchen tent. There were several cooks working away when we arrived and we soon had drinks and appetizers in hand. This was definitely high end camping. The tents were very comfortable and the cooks made great meals. The two guides took us various places over the week. One day, we snorkeled with sea lions—the little ones were really playful and loved doing twirls with the snorkelers. The nasty adolescents were all banished to a separate island. They weren’t quite as playful, in fact, one of the big ones buzzed us and seemed very intent on us knowing he was the boss. We also did some whale watching and saw a Blue Whale up close with her baby and also saw some humpbacks in the distance doing the Prudential flop. The sea was full of giant manta rays that continuously feel compelled to launch themselves out of the water. Other days we kayaked around our island or had a picnic lunch on another island.