Bora Bora
We stayed at Le Meridien in overwater bungalows and rode on the back of a shark!
July 10:Around the World in 42 Days-Bora Bora, French Polynesia
So today I woke up super early to finish my blog, for last night I fell asleep while writing it.I accidentally sneezed really loud, waking Lida up, oops.At about 7:30 we got a text from my dad saying they were headed off to breakfast, so we to got ready and went to breakfast.I got pancakes drenched in peanut butter and Nutella, YUM! Then I found the same sour fruit we got last year in South Africa, I was happy I loved that fruit.Then Lida and I were off to go paddle boarding, I got a pink board, Lida a blue board.We headed out, stopping by for sunscreen back at the cabana, while Lida was going to get and put on sunscreen, I was intrusted in the responsibility of watching the paddleboards and keeping them from floating away.Therefore, I sat laid on the intersecting part of the paddleboards, I laid them somewhat on top grabbing both boards, swimming of each other and held onto the ladder of the deck, then when Lida was coming I let go for one second, who knows why,and I started drifting away.The current took me far away before I could even react it was too late, plus guess who had put the paddles on the deck, this girl, so I ended up jumping in the water and swimming back to the stairs after failing to lean off the front and paddle back with only my arms.Then when I finally had hold of the stairs again, I managed to get off almost losing the boards again, but Lida caught them with one the paddles,Lida to the rescue.So I put on sunscreen, then Lida and I headed back to the beach, where I switched to a kayak while Lida grabbed her bag and phone.So we headed towards this island we had seen that we wanted to explore, stopping back at our cabana to close the door I accidentally left open, oops.Then we headed towards the island, waving hi to my dad, Kelli and Ans who were going off to do some paddleboarding, in a more peaceful less adventurous kind of ride, unlike Lida and I.So we got pretty close to the island, and I had gotten stuck in a shallow, coral reef, yikes!It took some effort, but I managed to paddle away from all the rocks that had been surrounding me.Then we beached our kayaks/paddleboards, and ran onto the island to explore.At first we found a few shells Lida wanted to keep, then we were looking around what we believed to be an isolated island.Palm trees fulfilled most the particular part the island we landed, and these weird holes were everywhere most likely crab holes.We were just waiting for a wild dog to come out of nowhere, there were coconuts scattering the coral covered floor.We got so annoyed with stepping on hard pieces of coral or rocks,for we were wearing nothing more than bathing suits,therefore we took matters into our own hands, and made shoes.We ripped off these soft, green leaves to the size of our feet then double layered it per each shoe, next used parts of old palm tree leaves as shoelaces, wrapping about 5 of these shoelaces vertical and horizontal,this way we made sure the shoe stayed on.During this, Lida was blogging her very first entry for a youtube channel Ans convinced her to create.I then tried to twist and turn and pull off one the palm tree leaves, to make a skirt, yet Lida had to come to my rescue and break it off the small, 3-foot tree for me.Then after I tried my skirt on nice and tight, Lida thought it looked awesome, so she ripped off a leaf for her, too, to make a skirt.I then picked up a wooden ax looking stick, and carried that around with me as protection and just cause it looked cool.Though the only thing we truly had to escape was the bugs, who were trying to eat us alive.We stumbled along a path, a man-made path that leads to the actual oceanfront, not the lagoon, but the ocean on the exterior of Bora Bora, which the coastline happened to have a helicopter landing spot on this isolated island, so we thought.Then we noticed there was a whole path from our hotel here,it was connected by a bridge, to our hotel property.It was apparently property of our hotel, and there is a channel of water running in between the island and our hotel.Isn’t isolated after all, haha, we just went off path a bit, way off path.Well we accomplished our goal, and saw the ocean side. Therefore, we took a few photos in our native outfits we made, then walked across the bridge over the channel of water, back to the mainland, where we then remembered our kayak/paddleboard’s.Our game plan was we walked along the path, back up near the cabanas, then we walked in the shallow, 2-foot water about 200 meters to the island, yes it was that shallow for that long, avoiding the dangerous sea anemonies.When we finally got back to the shore of our island, I grabbed my kayak and pushed it off into the water, then I kayaked back to our hotel beach, where we returned the kayak/paddleboard, and played in the water and relaxed for a good hour or so.I worked on my blog in this time and spent time splish-splashing in the water.Then after discovering my dad and them all got room service, Lida and I ordered food on the beach, I ordered spaghetti tomato sauce and a cookies and cream ice cream.While we waited for our food I had run back to our room to get my phone(that's how I was able to work on my blog), then I stopped by and said hi to the rest the crew, well Kelli and my dad, my sister was watching YouTube and ignored me. I told them about the island and Lida and my adventures, then asked them about what they did today. After our food came, we reapplied sunscreen, then after it soaked in for a bit I begged Lida to go snorkeling in the private lagoon with me.Practically the whole time snorkeling we followed the lagoons two stingrays, for we usually have trouble finding them, they were so cool, it was like they were flying across the water, it was cool.They went all over the lagoon, it was so cool.Then after about 45 minutes or so of playing with the stingrays, following them everywhere and pretending to be one of them,we headed back to the cabana to get ready for parasailing.Basically we had some problems booking the parasailing expedition, and ended up booking 2 flights, 2 people per flight, my dad wasn't gonna go, but then we found if he wasn't gonna go he couldn't be on the boat.Therefore, Ans,Kelli(who had a flight to catch directly after) my dad, and I would go today, then Lida and I would go tomorrow, so basically I get to go twice, YAY!!!So I got ready for our 3 PM reservation,where we had a private boat that would take us out there.While we waited for the boat at 3 my dad took photos of me climbing on other boats parked along the dock, and I had like my own little photo shoot.Then we had a small little boat pick us up, and it was a fun and bumpy ride out there.We went over tons of waves, and it was so cool. Anyway, we were dropped off on this slightly larger boat with a parachute thing attached to it.My dad and I were to go together, while Kelli and Ans were to go together.We were weighed, then told the rules and about safety and that kinda stuff, then they harnessed Kelli and Ans to go first.We got a 15 minute flight like 250 meters up.They were attached to the parachute, then reeled out off into the sky, I took photos on both Kelli and Ansley’s phone, while my dad took photos on the nice camera. So then after they were reeled back in, it was my dad and my turn to go.We were slipped into harnesses and put on life vests, then were attached to the parachute thing, and while they were attaching us, I asked for them to dip our feet in the water near the end our flight.Then we took flight and it was incredible!We spotted hundreds of eagle rays, I only know their name cause the boat driver told us we would see them, they were black smaller, more manta ray looking forms of a stingray.It was awesome from up above, I could see everything, the different colors of the water, purples, dark blues, turquoise, light blue, baby blue,etc.Plus we could see the escarpment/mountain thing occupying most the space of the mainland of Bora Bora.I felt as if I were flying, it was like a dream, my dad and I both were looking around at the marvelous view, it was epic.I Was legit on top of the world.I was so sad when our 15 minutes were up, though I did find the whole thing where we dipped our feet in the water incredible.Though we went in a lot more than on our feet, I went up to My thighs and my dad who was heavier, ended up with his pants wet.It was funny, then they just blasted us put the water, and reeled us in.That was so much fun!!!We landed sitting, then we were detached, and our boat had come to pick us up, so we said “thank you” then headed back to our hotel.The whole boat ride back I thought how lucky and fortunate I am, and how I truly am living a fairytale life.I’m so grateful for how good I have it:) Back at the hotel, we told Lida about our flight, then I went outside to explore, I walked all the way to our island, where I walked around exploring.Then I headed back, to make it back to say bye to Kelli, before she left.I crossed paths with Lida, who just finished looking at the gift shop, so together we walked back.Then Ans and Lida decided this was the perfect time for Lida’s photoshoot for her YouTube channel.So we went to my dad's room to say” bye for now” to Kelli, then we headed off for Lida’s photoshoot. Consequently, we decided to have the photo shoot at our once believed, to be isolated island. I just can't stay away from there apparently.For the record, I tried to help with the photo shoot, but Ansley was getting mad at me the whole time and getting mad at how wrong I apparently was.So I decided to leave them and go explore.I went all over the island, I even found this awning, on the right side the island.I then went back to where the photoshoot was occurring, and they finished up and went to a new spot, telling me they had seen a black tip shark right off the rocks, and Lida had been in the water for the shoot, and just as she had come out she saw a shark cruising by and she almost had a heart attack.I spent 20 minutes waiting for the shark to come back, it never did, I saw it's fin pop out quite often, but it never came close. I then followed a path I had seen the girls take, and called Ans to ask which way they headed, they were by where Lida and I landed when we first discovered the island.When I found them, they were trying to break open a coconut, after nearly 15 minutes of being eaten alive by bugs, we headed back to the coast.Where we walked along, and Lida found a dead crab, and startled me.Thanks Lida!Next we went to the concierge's desk, and made reservations at this nice restaurant at the resort.We then headed back, got ready then headed to dinner.I got vegetarian risotto, and for dessert a chocolate brownie with peanut butter ice cream on top.It was delicious.Back at our room, Lida spent 30 minutes trying to open the coconut, and finally got it open, so in celebration we ate pieces of coconut and drank coconut milk/water.It was way better than the products you buy at a store, quite obviously.Then I just wrote my blog, and then Lida and I relocated our beds out onto the deck. We basically slept outside, under the stars, it was a beautiful night to sleep outside.Gotta say I'm living the dream:)
July 9:Around the World in 42 Days-Bora Bora, French Polynesia
So today was amazing! I woke up early to realize I had fell asleep writing my blog, therefore I spent the first 30 minutes early in the morning finishing my blog.When I finished it, I fell straight back asleep, then I woke up 30 minutes later to Lida’s alarm.We were going shark diving today! Lida and I threw on our bathing suits, covers, and shoes, then headed down to breakfast. We got there when there was practically no one, for it was super early. I got Nutella crepes, and fruit, as well as a hot chocolate. Next we returned to our cabana, where we finished getting ready, and then at 8:45 met the rest the crew on the shark tour boat. The tour was incredible, they broke into song to lighten the mood, as well as they were very factual about the island, and offered a lot of interesting facts and information. Our first stop was a shark snorkeling with sharks, lemon sharks and blacktip coral sharks, both making it onto the top 10 most dangerous sharks in the world. They had fitted us for flippers earlier into the boat ride, so, therefore, the second I got my mask, I jumped into the water. While we had been pulling up, we saw sharks everywhere, and that view was even more noticeable in the water. Sharks were everywhere!I was swimming at some points, with sharks below me and on all sides of me, they ignored me, I mean they would notice if I interfered with their routine, yet they had no care in the world for me. I was asking one of our three shark expedition instructors if I could hold onto the fin of a shark, and let it pull me, and he looked at me like I was crazy, but he was also the one who kept joking and using sarcasm, so I could never take him seriously. Anyway, he grabbed onto the fin of a lemon shark, grabbed my hand, and I grabbed onto the fin, and he let go and the shark kept swimming to the bottom with me holding onto its fin.So I rode it until I was out of breath and my ears couldn't handle the pain no longer.That was incredible!I managed to do it 4 times, same procedure every time, the lemon shark had to care in the world about me, I just held my breath and let it pull me. The shark felt more rough than I had expected, I thought it would be more smooth.At first I was nervous and a bit on the don’t come close to me side, yet near the end I realized how unaggressive these sharks were towards us, and how they had no care in the world for us. The instructor gave our family complete special attention, probably because we didn’t let our fears take over us like most the other people on our tour did.At one point I had wandered away from the general area it was way to crowded and I saw over 50 sharks, so I swam back grabbed Lida’s arm, pointed towards all the sharks and pulled her over, thinking it was probably smarter to have another person with me when swimming with one the most deadly sharks in the world.Don’t ask about my reasoning there, no clue how Lida would save me from a bunch of sharks, but the point is we were surrounded. We eventually ended up in the middle of all the sharks, having sharks under and on all sides of us. There was a shark under us legit if I wanted I could put my hand down and touch, it was like 2 inches below us.Like there had to have been at least 50, probably more. We finally left our group of sharks to rejoin the our tour.Finally after seeing probably 100 sharks, we left for our next location. We ended up stopping on our way to the next stop to observe a manta ray. We stopped the boat, and got on our equipment them jumped in. We weren’t allowed to dive down because the manta rays are a protected species in Bora Bora, therefore, humans are required to keep their space. Manta Rays are huge!They were probably 4 times the size of one stingray.They were so majestic, swimming so elegantly. They took on a different appearance than stingrays, not only size, yet they also had these cephalic lobes, and a different body shape than the stingrays.We observed the manta ray for a while, then next went to look at the stingrays.We went to a location where they were everywhere!There were probably 25 stingrays all around us.Plus there were black-tip reef sharks all around us.We jumped out the boat, and the stingrays just swam up to us, some would even sneak up behind you, and you would all of a sudden feel something on your leg, and then the force of which it was moving at,it will trip you, you will fall and start paddling trying not to land on the stingray.Yes this happened to me numerous times.There was this one stingray that the instructor loved, and the stingray loved him, so we went around with this stingray, and let everyone hold the stingray and kiss it, and the stingray loved it.Lida on the other hand, found a loyal friend, she had a stingray stay with her the whole time, in her arms.The stingrays were so soft under them and on their wing-like fins(pectoral fin), everywhere else felt kinda like a less dramatic form of sandpaper.So I swam around touching and holding the stingrays, they would come right up and stick their head out of the water, and I would put my hands on them, on their fin-wing things, and would hold them. Then occasionally I would go off to swim with the sharks in groups of like five of them, then return after they swam to far out.So after the stingrays, wait no I forgot to tell you, one the instructors passed around this stingray barb, showing everyone what it looked like, it was cool looking.If you ran your hands forward it was fine, but when you ran your hands backwards, it felt like a knife. I thought its design was cool and clever.Our next stop was the coral garden, which we all agreed was even better than the Great Barrier Reef when we had gone in Cairns, it was epic the second we jumped out the boat we were in swarms of fish, surrounding us then we swam through an underwater land, coral was everywhere, not like at the Reef where it showed up in patches, and you had to look for more coral after you swam through one patch.There was coral everywhere, fish swimming all around you, there were countless fish everywhere I looked, and like such a great variety of different types of fish.At one point, one the instructors hollered” I found an eel”, and I quickly swam over to where he had called from, and never the less there was a huge eel, sticking its head out, being bribed by our instructor with food, then he grabbed ahold of the eel, pulled it out of its tunnel, then let it go and as it was swimming back Lida and I would grab onto it and touch and feel the eel. It felt so weird, but I liked the feeling of it, it felt kinda flimsy and slimy.The two instructors would work together to lure the eel out of it's tunnel, using bait.It had bright green patterns and a darker green body. With this cute little face. I thought it was adorable.Anyway Lida and I kept exploring the gardens while my dad, Ansley, and Kelli all went back to the boat.Lida found this really cool beautiful shell, yet soon discovered a snail lived in it, so she used that to contribute to the I Love Bora made out of coral, on the ocean floor.Then we finally headed back to the boat.They sang to us the whole way back, and when we arrived, none of us wanted to leave.We walked over to a lunch place,the one with pink chairs and a sand floor.At the lunch place we heard a band, so Lida went to check it out, yet while she was over there one the instructions found her, brought her back to the boat and gave her a shark tooth.She was pumped about that, for her biggest fear is sharks, and now she can have a little something to remind her of facing it.At the lunch place I got spaghetti tomato sauce.After lunch, Lida and I went to an enclosed lagoon, to see Hope,I was lucky, for she and this other turtle were the only ones out there. After visiting hope, Lida and I went to the beach where we got one paddle board and one kikak, where I pulled Lida around on her paddleboard, while she tanned, we had to flip the kikak around so this would work, the back of the kikak acting as the front. I pulled Lida all around, accidentally knocking her into pulls, bringing her head into waves, and bringing her under docks, therefore, she was out of the sun. Sorry Lida! Then I went really slow, trying to make it enjoyable for Lida, yet as we passed our cabana, we went under it and waved at Ansley and Kelli, they then came out to swim, and while I was jumping in from the deck, Ans went around and pushed Lida in off the paddle board.Poor Lida’s face hurt, and she told her not to do that, but she still did, so Lida is seeking revenge. So we were paddling back because we saw the shark tour boat come back with the full day excursion people, and Lida had left her shoes in the boat, and as we were paddling back, Lida agreed to pull me back, so I hung off the front of my kikak, holding onto the back her paddle board, but this resulted in me flipping the kikak, falling in. When the kikak flipped, the goggles Lida had taken from Ans, when she had flipped us fell out and were balanced on my foot, when Lida told me this of course I turned around saying”what?” Knocking the mask off my feet.They were within a foot of me, yet because of my lifejacket tied around me like a diaper, I tried to swim to get it, yet obviously failed, it drifted down, slowly being taken by the current.The game plan was I went back to the shark dive boat, so that I could get Lida’s shoes, while Lida used my glass bottom kikak to located the goggles and would swim down to get them.I got Lida’s shoes, yet after seeing she was still out there, I went back out to where Lida was, who sent me to grab the goggles of this nice couple, who were lending us their goggles.As soon as I got the goggles, within 5 minutes Lida was swimming down deep to get them, really deep!!!After we got them, she paddle boarded the husband of the nice couple, who had come to help us, back to his cabana, while I paddled towards shore. When I got ashore the guy said to me”where is your mom?Mom has been out for a while” so holding in giggles because the same guy who was on our team playing soccer yesterday thought Lida,20 year old Lida,was my mom.”Yeah, she’ll be right in”Then we back to our cabana, grabbing a few shells and a hermit crab on the way back.Next, we set our stuff down and went to my dad's cabana, where we knocked on the door, Ans when she peeked through the window and saw it was us, wouldn't open the door, for she knew Lida was in seek of payback after she pushed her over on the paddle board.So after trying and failing, we went back and threw the hermit crab in the water,for we didn't need him anymore.My dad asked me to bring something over, I forget what, but I took a shell with me and when Kelli opened the door for me, before I went to my dad I found Ans, who was hiding in the bathroom, opened the door and she even saw it was only a shell, for she asked “why do you have a shell with you”. It was another kind of shell, not the kind hermit crabs live in, I gave up hope she would believe me, yet I still tried”hey Ans, wanna say hi to my friend Mr. Hermit Crab” she kicked me so hard and started smacking me screaming and locked herself in the bathroom.Laughing, for she was freaking out about an imaginary hermit crab, I went to my dad to fulfill a task I forgot, oh right he was airdropping me photos, and I had to be closer for it to work, that’s what it was. Then I went back to my cabana, told Aleisha, then chilled for a bit, eventually we all went to dinner, at the pink chair place, and it was a BBQ grill out night, so I got corn, rice, potatoes and some vegetables.I basically asked for everything vegetarian they had.Then we went back to our cabana, Lida and I went night snorkeling with my dad, Ans, and Kelli's cabana, while they watched us, though we saw legit nothing, which is weird cause the other night we weren't going snorkeling we saw so many fish under our cabana through the glass bottom floor, so after 15 minutes of no luck, we went back to our cabana, showered, then went straight to bed.I mean I wrote this entry and all, but you get my point.Gotta say I'm living the dream:)
July 8:Around the World in 42 Days- Bora Bora, French Polynesia
So today I woke up early, rolled out of bed, threw my swimsuit on and started to swim next door, then was stopped by Lida who didn’t want to my dad, Ans, and Kelli up, so I came back inside and got ready to go to breakfast. Suddenly we heard a thundering knock on the door, it was Ans trying to see if we were up. We told her we were going to breakfast, and she went to her room to get ready, I followed her going to say hi to my dad and Kelli. Sadly, my dad said to Ans I loved your Instagram post it was great, and so this gave away my phone hacking of the prior night.I posted a bunch of embarrassing photos of Ans. Aleisha and I headed to breakfast, the rest the crew a few minutes behind us. At breakfast I got crepes with chocolate, peanut butter, and powdered sugar. The lady at the restaurant gave Ans and I fish food, to feed the fish, obviously. It was so cool, the fish would fight over the food and there would be like dozens of fish swarming us.That was cool, my favorite being the parrot fish, whom I call rainbow fish. Lida and I after breakfast, went over to observe the stingrays, then claimed a spot on the on the beach. Lida planned to tan while I paddle boarded.we went back to our room to lather up in sunscreen only to find the sunscreen was in the room of the 3 people still at breakfast, so I decided to swim over to their back door, re-climbing the ladder multiple times for Lida’s snapchat videos and .The door ended up the be locked and Padlocked, so I obviously had no way in.Consequently, just as I was struggling with the lock my dad, Kelli and And all returned, and my dad showed me the sunscreen was on the deck the whole time, right by my foot, great job Riley.So I swam back with the sunscreen, Lida and I applied a bunch the sunscreen then we headed for the beach.Lida agreed to go paddle boarding with me, for she concluded she could work on her tan while paddleboarding.We paddle boarded for 3 hours! Going all over, falling in a bunch!Half way through we had returned Lidas board and we were both on my board, so we then went under people's cabanas in attempts to freak them out because of the glass floor, Sadly we saw no one.We eventually paddled over to our huts, and said hi to Kelli,my dad and sis, who were all jumping off the dock.Lida in the meantime was creating a remix to Despacito, it was great. Then we had gotten our snorkeling gear, gear so the plan was I swam around, dragging Lida on the paddleboard around as she tried to tan, yet in the end she ended up snorkeling with me.Omg guys!You'll never believe this, but I promise it's true !I saw a shark, a black tipped coral shark.I was young, skinny and no more than 3 feet long, at the top its fin was black, yet the rest it's body was grey.It was swimming along the sea floor, decently close to me.I was swimming in the water at the time pulling the board along with me when I saw the cute little shark, who obviously had no care in the world about my presence.I rocketed out the water, smashed my hand against her leg, screaming through my snorkel”shark!shark” Lida thought I said stingray, yet in the chaos she had lost her 2 dollar Indian fancy sunglasses, So well I was flinging my head under water trying to catch every last glance of the shark while Lida was freaking out about her sunglasses, I tried to pull the paddle board as fast as I could, but with Lida not letting it move without her finding her sunglasses, and the sharks quick pace, the shark soon had vanished.Then I surfaced and told Lida, who hates sharks, about the one I saw while she had been busy freaking out about her sunglasses and didn't understand what I said when I had screamed shark.Aleisha swam down to rescue her sunglasses, then we paddled back to tell Ansley, my dad and Kelli what we just saw, well what I just saw .That was crazy!Then we went in the direction the shark had been speeding towards, and snorkeled a bit more off the paddle board before we had gotten out the water, returned the paddle boards, and went back to our beach chairs.There I reapplied sunscreen, and relaxed while I waited for it to sink in, ordering a lemon, strawberry snowcone.Finally after I had finished my snow cone and my sunscreen had settled, I headed to the private lagoon, where I snorkeled for a bit before being called for lunch by my dad, Ans and Kelli.I called out to Lida, trying to tell her about lunch, she was in the main building, picking up a crab, big crab.She picked it up and it pinched her a few times, before at one point she trying to let it go, but it clung onto her, so she flung it about 5 feet.After playing with the crab, we ran to meet my dad at the lunch place .Apparently my dad had met and was talking to the guy that this morning dropped by floats at our hut, anonymously.He was a very kind guy.At lunch I got spaghetti and tomato sauce, at first they brought me meat sauce, yet they later fixed my order and brought me only tomato sauce. After lunch, I returned to the private lagoon to snorkel, Lida later joining me, we saw so many different kinds of fish, there was way more variety compared to to the experience right outside our huts.We looked all around, and took tons of photos and videos with the underwater camera.We swam all around the lagoon and at one point, a just married couple, left this building and were paddled across the lagoon on this really cute, decorated boat thing.It was really sweet, and the bride looked lovely.We even found this spot where fish were everywhere, but it was behind the rope, where we weren't allowed to pass, sad face.After we snorkeled for a while, we returned back to the huts, where I jumped off the deck a bunch, and I was shown the new railing jump I did 3 times, it was probably 15 feet I would bet.I played in the water for a while, then my dad had me go down and then I worked on my blog, and responded to some messages I hadn't caught up on yet.Then I went down to the concierge desk, and collected information on parasailing and the logistics, which I came back to the room and consulted with my dad about.Next I came back and was faked out by Ans and Kelli both, claiming they were going to jump in, yet I ended up being the only one to jump.Next I showered my body, then got ready to go down to play soccer with Lida, yet Ans’s phone was in my room, in order to get her back for faking me out, we were gonna make her have to swim over to get it, refusing to open the door for her.This plan was ruined as soon as I discovered my phone was in the other room and Ans was hacking it.Then we ended up meeting and surrendering giving each other their phone back. Lida and I tried to go play soccer, yet it turned out after a certain time they put away the soccer ball, so yeah, bye bye idea of playing soccer.Instead we drew our names in the sand, and visited the stingrays, then made reservations for dinner which later never was acknowledged, then finally,rushed back and changed within 6 minutes into nice clothes.We got Mediterranean for dinner , I got a vegetarian pizza.Our reservations never went through, but luckily there was still a table for 5.After dinner, on the way back Lida and I were going to walk along the beach, yet were hollered upon by my dad to come near the walkway.There was a huge crab, and my dad asked Lida to pick it up.She tried, yet that one got away, this started a whole crab finding expedition, out of every 10 crabs we saw, Lida could catch one.Ans was great at spotting the crabs, while Lida was good at catching them.I held a medium sized crab, it was quite epic.It at one point squirted this liquid stuff out of its eyes, it was weird!After Ans, my dad, and Kelli left, Lida continued catching the crabs, mainly babies, for me to hold them.We walked all along this rocky coastline, and there were crabs everywhere, Lida caught at least 10 crabs.After that we lost our key, so we went to the concierge's desk to get another one, yet I got it for my dad's room rather than ours, so we had to go back to get a key for our room.When we finally got into our room, Lida came up with the idea of sleeping outside, on the deck tonight, so we moved the mattresses out onto the deck, and to our surprise as we lied down a fireworks show began, so we watched bursts of color explode, lighting up the sky, what an amazing view!Then we admired the moon and space in general, then I finished my blog and fell right asleep.Gotta say I'm living the dream:)
July 7: Around the World in 42 Days-Bora Bora, French Polynesia
So today we headed to Paradise(ps we're going to Bora Bora, we stayed overnight in a hotel in Tahiti).So we woke up at 7, yet Aleisha told us to go back to bed, so we obeyed.We later woke at 8:00, where we got ready and headed down to the lobby.We met my dad and Kelli in the lobby(Kelli came down to spend some time with us, so this whole away most the summer thing was a bit more bearable in terms of their relationship, hard to explain, but point is she is in Tahiti with us).So we headed to the airport, and got breakfast there, I got a water and a muffin, then we went through security.It was a baby airport, so security basically took 5 minutes. Love , Love,Love!So on the plane I attempted to read, but it was a 40 year minute flight over tropical islands, so I couldn't resist looking out the window the whole, and talking to Lida and Kelli.Anyway, the view was epic! When we stepped off the plane, and looked around this is a recap of what I experienced: the sight of crystal clear water, the crisp scent of flowers and fruit, the sound of waves crashing and wind fighting against the palm trees.We got our luggage, then went out on the docks to the boat which would take us back to our hotel. We were given these flower necklace things, and they were so beautiful. The ride over was a dream, Bora Bora is lovely! The water is so pure and the whole place looks like something out of a movie. The mainland consisted of this mountain-like appearance covered in trees. Bora Bora as a whole is completely lush with vegetation. The island our resort was on its own little island. The second we arrived, we walked on boardwalks to the lobby, passing over a pond full of lily pads and flowers. There we were given fruit juice and moist towelettes, and while we checked in and filled out paperwork. Next we were given a tour of the resort, shown around, meanwhile our room was being cleaned, for we were supposed to check in at , but we came a bit early.Luckily, one of our rooms was done really early, it was ready as soon as we had completed the tour. We were escorted to our room on a golf court, across the boardwalk to our hut. It was an awesome room! The room had a glass bottom, so you could see all the marine life below your feet, plus the setup of the room made it feel like home sweet home. We went to lunch after we completed getting settled, at a lunch place at our resort, I got some vegetarian noodles of some sort. After eating food, Lida, Ans, and I all went to get us snorkel gear. While Ans and Lida were grabbing our gear, I was playing with a volleyball as a soccer ball, yet I was not expecting it to be so light and fly through the air so easily, so I ran and hit it as I would a normal soccer ball at the small little net, and it smashed into a guy tanning on the beach. I was submerging giggles, yet also feeling awful, and Ans and Lida looked half embarrassed to death. The guy was super cool about it though, he told me it was totally fine and he kinda expected it when I ran up to kick a volleyball with so much power. Ooopps!As we were walking back, we saw 2 grey stingrays, they were cool, they came right up close to us. So anywho, back at the hut, I was the first to have throw on my swimsuit, goggles, and snorkel. I jumped in insistently and was off snorkeling. The rest the gang was on and off, I’d see my dad or Lida or Ans or Kelli and we’d swim for like 5 minutes, then I would look over and it's as if they vanished into thin air. They most the time, when I looked up they would all be on the deck, or in general out of the water. I saw a bunch of needlefish, a few smaller fish, then my favorite, I saw a stingray, yet I followed it for a good 5 minutes before hollering at my dad about my sighting, then I lost it, no clue where it went, all I know is I couldn't find it.Well Lida had swam out to me, she jumped in after hearing I saw a stingray, yet didn’t here I lost sight of it. The two of us snorkeled for a bit, we also took some photos of one another diving down, as far as my photography skills, I pretty much failed to take that picture for Lida, it was a great fail. After a bit of snorkeling, we decided to head back, yet that was a huge fail! The current was awful! We applied so much effort, and we would look up and still be at the rope where we started. It was so exhausting! Plus my snorkel wasn’t really working, it kept filling with water every second, but the point is with goggles blocking your nose, and your body trying to swim underwater to reduce the currents affect, breaths were scarce. That was awful, we spent 30 minutes trying to come back to our dock 50 meters away from our starting location. At one point we were both kicking on our backs, as best as we possibly could for like 5 minutes, then we noticed we moved nowhere!That was rough!We were both out of breath by the time we reached the docks, huffing and puffing. It was bad. Then after, catching our breath, Ans showed us, what her, Kelli, and my dad had been doing the whole time we were fighting for our lives out at sea.Ans jumped in from off our raised deck, into the water, it's about 10 feet (Ps. There's a staircase leading up and down from the water.) So for the next hour, this had started a trend and we started doing every jump you can imagine: ninja poses, star jumps, twirls, cannon balls, you name it. My dad, Ans, Kelli and Lida, even all attempted flips from off the deck , me I don’t even know how to dive so a flip forget about it.So I’ll paint the scene, right outside this hut, there is a deck, all on a platform 10 feet above water, we went around the side of the fence netting, that otherwise would in close us, and we jumped off from the deck on the other small narrow side of the netted fence thing, then we swam up to the stairs and jumped again. We got plenty of great photos, and all were jumping off together, it was great!Then after everyone had gotten out the water, I went down to the beach, where on my way I saw 2 stingrays, one leopard print and the other grey. It was pretty epic!At the beach I asked for a paddleboard, and both the guys remembered me from separate encounters, one called me the kicker after the whole playing soccer gone wrong, and the other had seen Aleisha and I and yelled there’s a shark behind you trying to scare us, yet neither of us flinched.Anyway, I paddle boarded for about an hour, going all over, my dad at one point came out and had started taking photos of me. After I had enjoyed paddle boarded all over the resort boundaries, I paddled back to return the board, one the guys who was pushing this raft thing out to sea, almost hit me with the raft, yet I shrieked and he saw me and stopped.Other than that, I walked around, exploring the resort, played in the 2 infinity pools, and played with the sand on the beach, creating different games and stuff like that. Then I finally returned back to our hut, 2 hours or so later, our other room was ready, so I continued to jump in, and swam from room to room a lot. We saw another stingray, right off the stairs of our hut, I noticed it as I was walking up. Kelli and my dad also saw it after I called them over, yet by the time I grabbed my snorkel gear it was gone. I eventually convinced Kelli and Ans to jump in with me some more. We did things like high fives and holding hands, then we played a game where as you jumped in the water you had to say a sentence the other 2 came up with, before you go underwater.Ans and I also played categories, the loser having to jump in, I lost almost every time. We did categories like singers, colors, countries, soda, candy, food, etc.After that and I had jumped off my last few times, I went and showered and got ready for dinner, which turned out to be a complete waste of effort because we ended up ordering room service after discovering our options to be a 90 dollar per person buffet or a BBQ or room service, so it’s obvious what we picked. I got nachos, which I enjoyed in my dad and Kelli's room where we all ate. After dinner, Ans started doing these dance performances, then I joined in, then we all started jamming to the music. It was funny, we all were creating random dances and it was epic. Then, we started playing different songs, and it was a competition who could name the artist who sang each song. My dad for the most part was picking the songs and announcing the winner, pretty much the game show host, Ans switched off with him a bit, but not much. The rest of us were contestants, and yikes Lida knew like every song and artist, she was the clear winner!This whole time we were looking through the glass water bottom at all the fish, we had our light on for under the hut, that lit up the water and all the fish, actually attracting a lot of fish. More than what I saw snorkeling. It was so awesome, staring down at all the fish and we even saw one stingray. Then Lida, Ans, and I all went back to our hut, and we all got ready, yet Ans ended up staying in my dad room after running an errand, and deciding she felt safer in that room than with Lida and I. However, it was her loss, she left her phone and Lida and I figured out her password, and I hacked her phone and added my fingerprint.HaHaHa! Don’t worry, she never reads my blogs;)Then I wrote this blog and went to bed. Gotta say I'm living the dream:)
July 6: Around the World in 42 Days-Tahiti, French Polynesia
So today we woke up at 5AM to catch a 7:00 AM flight:(So I rolled out of bed, brushed my teeth, did a final look around, then went to the lobby and ran out in the cold to the car.The roads were abandoned,obviously. My dad dropped Ans,Lida, and myself off at the airport, while he went to drop off the rental car, and he had to walk back to the airport because it's 5:30AM and there's no shuttles.Ans, Lida and I had to wait about 20 minutes before check in opened.It was a small airport, so it wasn't that efficient. So in the meantime, we laided on the airport floor, what we had 20 minutes, what were we supposed to do.Finally, after 20 minutes of doing legit nothing, we got to check in.We tried to check in with the machines, yet it wasn't working, so we had to go up to the counter, and work it out. After we finally checked our bags, and got our plane tickets, we went to eat at a cafe.I got what I call “Lida and my Post-Run Breakfast”we got it that day we ran 7 miles, and it has been our usual breakfast ever since, for the most part.Next, we went through security, I accidentally ran through the metal detector things, so I had to walk back through and slowly walk through them.Next we went to our gate, and within 15 minutes, we were boarding our plane.We had to walk outside, in the freezing cold, to board, and we boarded at the back of the plane, so we had to walk to a separate, further staircase leading to the inside of the plane. For pretty much the whole plane ride, I slept on the floor, taking my usual precautions,tray tables out, bags on me and blocking me, as well as the lay as close to under the seat as possible.Eventually, after we got off the plane, my dad sent his emails, I explored the gift shop, and yeah.Then we heard, Robert Brent Jaye boom over the speakers.My dad left the passports in the seat pocket of the plane, those are important:) So anyway, after another 2 minutes of my dad sending important emails, we attempted to find the way to the international flights, yet a kind pilot, showed us outside and to the bus we needed to take.We waited there, almost getting onto the wrong bus, but someone told us otherwise, so after finally taking the bus, we arrived at the international flights part of the airport. When we arrived, we had 7 hours to spend in that small little area, longest layover ever!I spent that time first, going to this smoothie place with Lida, where she got this gross half drink and I got a delicious berry, tropical drink. Then I went and got vegetable noodle soup, from a noodle place.I ate that FaceTimed my mom, talked to my old nanny, Raita. Then I went around the area to like every store, playing with different stuff animals, they even had these scented stuffed animals(banana, cotton candy, PB &J, Tutti Frutti). Then at one point a high school Kiwi rugby team started doing the Haka, it's kinda like a war dance, I mistook them for the “All Blacks” the New Zealand national rugby team, my bad, sorry for getting your hopes up daddy. Anyway, I then came back worked on updating my website, then when my 45 minutes of free wifi were up, Lida,Ans and I set off to look at the shops I've already been in a thousand times.Then around lunch time, we went to the same noodle place I had breakfast at, yet this time I got Pad Thai.So yeah, now I'm updating my blog and crazy bored.I think I'm going to try and read some more of my summer read.Yay! So yeah I still have like 2 hours left, Ugh!So I read my summer read for what felt like forever, and for a brief second I got a break when I ran over to play heads up with Aleisha and Ans, yet this lasted one round before Lida had better things to do, and Ans didn't want to play if Lida wasn't.Then I continued to read, finally, the time came where we headed to security, bye bye summer read!We passed through security, everything smooth other than I had to get my bag checked going through security.I accidentally bought a big thing of toothpaste in my bag, oops! Anyway, we stopped in the shops on the way to our gate, my dad got a few things, then we headed to our gate, passing by someone dressed in a Statue of Liberty costume and 6 men all in pink striped shirts, Interesting.To be fair, at the ski mountain, we saw someone dressed as Pikachu, that's probably the craziest costume/outfit yet.Anyway we boarded our flight, and were given flowers on the way in and found the whole plane had a tropical appearance.At our seats, we pound blue socks, eye mask, and headphones, as well as a colorful pillow( mine pink) and a turquoise blanket, plus the seat itself was bright blue.On some the walls, their was like wallpapering of beautiful beaches, and it was cool.Anyway, on the flight, I first attempted to do origami, yet after accidentally ripping a fortune teller, mastering a koala, but then failing at a lion, I gave up.So I resorted the rest my time to watching Penguins of Madagascar, it was really lighthearted and funny, and then I watched an episode of Austin and Ally, next I tried to fall asleep on the floor, but couldn't so ended up reading the rest the flight.Then when we arrived, it was paradise, the aroma of fruit and the nice crisp ocean air, people playing ukuleles and a dancer dancing, it was night yet I could still make out the faint outlines of nearby palm trees, it was wonderful.In the airport, wait in long line to clear customs and then we went to pick up our luggage, and we were confronted by our driver waiting to bring us back to our hotel.He got us all flower necklaces, and when he only brought 3 and there were 4 of us, we somehow found another flower necklace, so we all had one.The hotel was so nice!We were given fruit juice right as we checked in, and the hotel had that open air tropical feel to it.Well right as we got to our hotel room, we pretty much went to bed, arguing over who got the big bed with Lida, but basically we just went to bed.Gotta say I'm living the dream:)