10th Anniversary Trip Day 2: Arriving in Bora Bora, James Bond-style

7/6/2026
10th Anniversary Trip Day 2: Arriving in Bora Bora, James Bond-style

One of the (many!) great things of traveling to Hawaii from California/West Coast USA or Canada is the 3 hours-back time difference. You can stay on the same PST time zone, and just shift your day to 'early to bed, early to rise' -- it's ideal for the sunrise/sunset times, and for the general island vibe, and then you also have no jetlag. Realizing that Tahiti is also on this time zone was pretty epic.

We woke up then bright and early at 7:00am or something (being 10:00am PST, so you've 'slept in' already), and started to make a plan for the day. Unfortunately/fortunately it was raining pretty hard outside, which was going to kill the humidity we'd sweated through the night before (yay!) but was complicating our plan to go straight into the downtown to get to the famed Marché Papeete ("Papeete Market"). Of course, nothing was open yet and I was getting ahead of myself, despite this being a relaxing and no-stress holiday.

Rain!!!

Michal had the great idea to ask for the details on the local bus, and we chatted with one of the concierge/trip planner people in the hotel to get a general lay of the land. We had only the morning to explore, and then needed to check out of our 1-night stay and head back to the airport for a 1:30pm flight from the Tahitian mainland (Papeete) for 50 min to the glorious island of Bora Bora. So we wanted to make the most of our short time in Tahiti itself. We grabbed an umbrella and got some change for the local bus and then planned to just wing it -- but then realized we'd waited long enough to wait out the rain and opted for a direct hotel shuttle/taxi instead to start off the day.

I was very jazzed for the market and keen to get started, having read somewhere that someone spent 3 hours there when they visited, checking out all the intricate wood carvings and local crafts. We arrived it was QUITE a bit smaller and less tables than I had anticipated from that review, so there really was no need at all to rush. Our taxi dropoff lady also said in a very hilarious French way that I should basically chill the heck out, slow down. enjoy, and stop rushing. "You're on Island time now, ehh!". So with that wise encouragement to leave my go-go-go California energy back home where it belongs, we stepped out to the market and it was great. There was a lot of rain in the morning but it basically stopped just as we got to the market, and effectively didn't return until the end of our trip.

Leaving the Intercon armed with my cool Totoro daypack we got in China!

Some delicious looking "Thon" (Tuna!)

Lots of gorgeous local flowers

Pretty epic stuff

An advertisement for the Heiva, the famous Tahitian culture event we were coming back for later in the week

It reminded me a lot of the Peruvian market in Arequipa that Frank and Jess and I went to, and how we were only a little bit utterly terrified of getting a smoothie with local unfiltered water and possibly ruining our gut biome for the rest of the trip. So Michal and I decided to forego the local smoothies and rather focus on some other local delicacies. Most of the stalls seemed pretty quiet, except one; the "Casse-croûte" stand, which had a steady steam of 10+ locals in it at any moment. We figured that was the spot. We got there and I remembered the callout to this hilariously Carb-forward snack mentioned in the Lonely Planet guidebook -- a "French Fry Sandwich" and, for extra Carb-y goodness, a "Chow Mein Sandwich". Amazing. This seemed to be obviously the place everyone was buying lunch, so we hopped into line with the relative sea of locals. Michal ordered the "Noodles and Fries Baguette". The server asked us what sauces we wanted and we asked what she recommended: "Mayo and Barbecue Sauce est très bon". Ok! Sounded weird and good so we went for whatever she recommended and it was glorious and $4. Heck yeah. Surprisingly good!

Next up was the main event and reason for coming to the market from my point-of-view, loading up on some locally-grown tropical fruit, ideally directly from the people who picked it from their own gardens. I grabbed a bag of various types of Passionfruits -- again, reminiscent of the giant bag of 12 Maracuyás I bought at the Farmers Market in Peru and then ate entirely in the same day as we were leaving that afternoon and I didn't know if I could import them into Brazil on the plane, and didn't want to waste them -- and so I ate all 12 in one sitting. Additionally, picked up some papaya, mango, and mini bananas. I was also looking for the sun-dried "Bananes séchées" I'd read about, but no luck yet.

We had checked the box on my needs to buy local produce and spent much less time at the market than I had expected, so off we went to wander the small downtown of Papeete and to do yet another time-honoured Mike Jutan tradition, look at a bunch of surf shops. Those couple of years living in Australia cast a long shadow:)

We went to the Hinano Life store, which is a local beer that also makes surf clothing, as well as a small Billabong shop and a Quiksilver shop. As always I am just trying to find something cool that says the name of the local place on it, and was very psyched to score a Billabong Tahiti shirt as well as a Billabong Tahiti hat with the world-famous Teahupo'o surfing break. 

Grabbed a Rotui Ananas (Pineapple) juice to beat the humidity, and some long croissants that were tasty. Also did yet another time-honoured tradition of wandering into the local McDonald's and not specifically buying anything, but taking stock of what was particularly odd or local (I'm looking at you, Australia's McOz burger, and the "Indian Curry Puffs" I saw at a "Mackers" in the middle of the Australian Outback for some reason).

Leonidas, the absurdly delicious pralines from Belgium, had an extremely air-conditioned shop and a glorious truffle waiting for the two of us!

Chocolate croissant and banana croissant

Yeah, that's PRETTY weird

Didn't buy it so I can't report on the taste, but I found it very funny that there was a standard "Chicken McNuggets", "Chicken Wings" and "McChicken" but for some reason there was another sandwich called "Clubhouse Poulet" ('poulet' is French for 'chicken'). And of course the legendary "Royale with Cheese" conversation from the movie Pulp Fiction is still alive and well at a French (or in this case, French Polynesian) McDonalds.

We continued our humid walk, attempting to make it all the way to another French institution the Carrefour grocery store. No busses yet, so we kept walking and eventually arrived at a Champion, which seemed like a lower-grade Carrefour, but would still do the trick for our needs pre-flight to Bora Bora, so we stopped to shop for a bit and get into some more AC.

A beautiful little tea garden we would have stopped in if we had more time

A cute kids store

"Staffire" is here!! Ari has this blue dinosaur (named Sapphire, but called "Staffire" by Ari)

At the Champion we grabbed some more local fruit, which was helpfully labeled with locale or importé. Got a nice looking small pineapple and an even better looking Tahitian "Pamplemoose" which I was very keen for but hadn't seen at the Market earlier. Upon advice from the travel research we'd done in advance, we bought some snacks for the room in Bora Bora, and some local Tahitian rum and a few other things to have in the room as Bora Bora is remote and you don't want to call room service every time you want an afternoon trail mix snack. I thankfully also found some more of the unusual Rotui fruit juice flavours so I could try them, including an odd Watermelon/Passion Fruit combo. Odd and... kinda good?! But fun to try and very necessary with all the humidity for sure.

We then found a lone bus stop sign outside the Champion and decided it was time to head back to the hotel. And then we waited. 11:30... 11:45... the guy at the hotel said that the busses kindof come and go on their own schedule, so you shouldn't do this if you're in a rush. No worries... it's not like we need to get back to the hotel, pack up our room, check out and then take our 12:30 taxi back to the airport in time for a 1:30 flight we can't miss! But, nevertheless, I embraced my chill "Island Time" vibes and trusted in the process. Soon enough the bus arrived and it was great. We had the $2 each (200 XPF, the CFP Franc) in coins as recommended by the hotel, and it was awesome as expected. We got on the bus and lots of locals were smiling at us and nodding. People are so friendly, and I guess it's relatively less common for tourists to take the bus because it's on a random schedule, the stops aren't obvious, etc. But like in Bermuda or Seychelles, or really anywhere, it gives you such an instant look into the local vibe. I got a good laugh at the terminology on the bus, as it seemed whenever anyone got off the bus, the driver said a long slow "Nayyyyyy". I thought this might be the short-form version of "Na na", Tahitian for "Goodbye", but I wasn't sure. It was funny though. "Nehhhhh!" I wasn't sure if it would be appropriate or rude to say as we left the bus so I stuck with the newly learned "Marururu!" -- thank you in Tahitian:)

The rain has stopped!

And of course, all the worrying was for nothing as we got back just fine, in time to pack up, check out and get to the airport on time.

We got back to PPT airport in good time. The only mishap was as the taxi driver went to open his door, another driver in the airport ran straight into his open door!! Crunch!! Oh no! Poor fellow, and we wished him good luck sorting it out and he safely got us to the curb.

"Do you have any liquids?" the lady at the checkin desk asked. "Um.. yes an entire carry-on worth..." Whoops. We didn't get the memo that there were no liquids in the carry ons and our entire juice and soda-haul from Champion was in a carry on ready for the short plane right. They were oddly sticklery at the airport for such a chill country so we had to stuff the drinks into the front of the checked baggage and just hope for the best.

The airport was slow and hooooot as we has been told, so Michal expert-traveler-style had packed us a portable fan which was brilliant as we waited... and waited... and waited. 1:30 passed, 1:45... where's our plane? Are we in the right line?! Turns out there was some issue on the previous flight with a passenger so the plane was late. Anyhow, we got onto the plane fine and off we went to Bora Bora! Folks had recommended the left side of the plane for better views and... wow.

They also served my weird Watermelon-Passion juice on the plane!! So I was less sad about having to pour it out at the airport.

The colour of the water is INSANE!!!!!!!!!

I think this is our hotel here, see the fanning-out shapes of the overwater bungalows! 

We're here!!!!

We arrived to the Bora Bora airport which is not on the main Bora Bora island but rather on its own Motu ("islet") like our hotel! It was very James Bond/White Lotus-y on arrival as you get a beautiful-smelling lei necklace, and then get whisked off like a damn celebrity in a leather-seated boat. A Speed Boat!! It was fast! The views were immediately STUNNING. "Are we in a James Bond movie??!?!?" I asked Michal. She seemed to fit into the classiness of the situation quite smoothly, I might say, given these photos!

I haven't seen the TV show The White Lotus yet but this seemed pretty White Lotus-y... a grand foreign island hotel, utterly picturesque. Another Bora Bora related movie is Couples Retreat with Jon Favreau, where he says in the trailer "This place looks like a screensaver!!!" Postcard-perfect, that's for sure.

What an arrival! We got to the dock and there were people playing music and drums and it was just perfection. "You're lucky -- it's been raining all day until just now, you brought the sun with you!" As it turned out, we did, as it ended up being effectively perfect weather for the entire remainder of the trip. Just magnificent. What a place!!

The fellow who welcomed us then took us on a tour of the resort on a golf cart, ultimately dropping us at our overwater bungalow. It was OUT OF THIS WORLD. I knew what to expect to some extent due to all the research of the various hotels and room details but it was significantly more amazing in-person. It was kindof hard to imagine how something could look so much like how it looked in the postcard-perfect photos of the place, but it looked truly exactly as you would have expected. Like a painting you'd want to frame and put on your wall. Just insane.

I immediately did a quick video tour of the room before we unpacked.

And the next step was to immediately launch myself off the end of the room deck. I had imagined doing this for years and could not wait. 2 kids on the nearby bungalow were doing the same thing, jumping repeatedly into the water. I dove in head first and then quickly realized... OH RIGHT it's SALT WATER!!!! In my imagination/dreams about this place, and since they call the water the "Lagoon" I had somewhat presumed it was fresh water, but of course it's the South Pacific, so it is very much salt water!! So that was a funny surprise, and I guess a good way to know I was actually there and not just dreaming this magnificent, utterly gorgeous paradise. The kids jumping next door had come up with a trick to manage the constant salt water from repeated jumping -- to rinse your face in the fresh water outdoor shower after each jump. That was a good trick and I took their good advice.

The staff had graciously left us an amenity of some coconuts and coconut sponge cake ("why is the only dessert in Tahiti a coconut sponge cake?!?!?"). We unpacked and I attempted to make us cocktails with the stuff we bought at Champion but I did a terrible job of mixing the drinks, haha. Oh well. So we just relaxed and enjoyed the views, and then got dressed and headed to the sushi restaurant Vaimete for dinner.

We had booked dinner for 5:30 to enjoy the sunset. The food was delicious, with Michal calling the sushi "melt in your mouth"-good. The views of the bungalows were just ridiculously epic. It was kindof hard to imagine we were actually here, and that it actually looked how it looked. Wild. We also got some really tasty fried rice and sweet and sour Mahi Mahi. It was beautiful and then became quite windy -- the hotel staff didn't skip a beat and offered Michal a blanket!

After a tasty and sensible dinner we wandered the resort a little and found some hilarious Mens-and-Womens paired BORA and BORA hats, haha. We'll see if we sucker ourselves into buying those by the end of the trip. Hilariously we also saw that the other restaurant was called "Arii Moana" and had to look up why everything is called "Arii"-something here, figuring Ari would be keen to know about that. Turns out that "Arii" in Tahitian means something similar to "Ari" in Hebrew -- it means "King" (and in Hebrew, means "Lion"!) Very cool!

Back we walked to our astonishingly epic overwater bungalow, turning on the evening "fish light" to light up the water under the bungalow to attract fish -- which of course then you can look for through the GLASS-BOTTOM FLOOR PANELS in the bungalow. Just utterly ridiculous levels of awesomeness here. Didn't see any fish yet, but we'll keep a lookout! Off we went to bed after a busy and epic day, ready for an early start the next day with a full-day snorkeling reef trip to come.