Beautiful Lake Tahoe

In the morning, we quickly packed and headed to beautiful North Lake Tahoe at around 8:00 a.m. There was very little traffic on Highway I-680 and I-80, and we arrived in Truckee (just west of Lake Tahoe) at 11:30 a.m. (a 3.5-hour drive).

Since we were hungry and tired from the long drive, we ate lunch at Marty's Cafe - a well-rated restaurant on Yelp. There was a long wait to be seated (as the restaurant was packed), and we initially considered other alternatives. Still, other restaurants in Truckee were also bustling, so we decided to wait it out. We ended up waiting for about 35 minutes before we were seated.

I ordered a Brie and Mushroom Omelette with an English muffin (it included a homemade raspberry jam). It was well-prepared, incredibly delicious, and served very quickly.

Inna ordered an Eggs Benedict and was surprised by how well it was prepared. We didn't have high expectations (after our spectacular breakfast in St. Regis in Bora Bora) and were pleasantly surprised.

Alex ordered a Cheeseburger with a fruit salad and was also very happy. We really enjoyed our brunch entrees here and hope to be back again!

After an unexpectedly delicious lunch, we headed for our planned hike on the Sagehen Creek Trail. This is a flat trail just North of Truckee, with a round trip distance of 5 miles.

The trail started with much tree cover but eventually became a desert landscape with few trees and no shade.

As it was a scorching day, Inna was flustered by the high temperature (over 89 Fahrenheit) and the high altitude (6,000 feet).

We did not see many animals on the trail, though Inna did manage to spot a small snake, some lizards, and a very loud bird.

After the hike, we decided to stop by Truckee for cold ice cream. We stopped by Bud's Old Fashioned Fountain shop for a sample. Yelp reviews were mediocre, but we decided to try it ourselves. Alex ordered a chocolate and peanut butter flavor and liked it somewhat. Unfortunately, we were not impressed by Bud's ice cream. I think Haagen Dazs, Ben & Jerry's, and Three Twins ice cream taste much better (and let's not even try to compare Bud's to Birite in San Francisco).

After cooling off, we headed for King's Beach to play a bit of Miniature Golf. We decided to play one game at Kings Beach Miniature Golf.

We played 18 holes, and Inna won by a large margin. However, Alex won a free game of golf by getting his last put on the 19th hole.

Here is a video of us playing a couple of holes:

After finishing golf, we headed to our hotel at The Village at Squaw Valley. Inna found a respectable room price on Hotwire, so we decided to stay there for two nights. We parked in the underground garage, which is very convenient. The whole Village at Squaw Valley reminds me a bit of Whistler in Canada (though I have more affection for Whistler).

After checking in, we decided to have dinner at Fireside Pizza. Inna did not want to eat pizza, but she liked the other items on the menu. Alex ordered a small Caesar Salad. Inna ordered a specialty salad (Buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes). We also ordered some Hummus, Feta, and Olives as a shared appetizer. We shared a large Thai Curry Chicken pizza among all three. The pizza was delicious, but Alex did not like it; he prefers Thai food.

 For dessert, Alex ordered a Brownie Avalanche, which was fabulous. Alex did not like the lemonade - it was the HiC version and prefers natural lemonade (made with freshly squeezed lemons).

Alex and I found a Foosball machine in the Kid's Play area of the Village at Squaw Hotel and played three games. I won the first game, Alex won the second, and Alex won the final third game of our tiebreak.


Sunday, July 24, 2016

We got up reasonably early, around 7:30 a.m., to get an early breakfast and have time to get to King's Beach, where I had jet-ski reservations. Since most of the breakfast eateries in the Olympic Village were closed, we drove to King's Beach and decided to eat breakfast there.

We stopped by at the Java Hut, where I ordered a waffle, and Alex and Inna ate a breakfast sandwich. After breakfast, we headed to the beach, where the jet skis were being prepared.

After signing all the paperwork and liability forms, Alex and I walked into the beautifully clear water to get to the jet skis tethered 50 feet offshore. We boarded the jet skis and were off to ride Lake Tahoe. (Even at maximum speed, jet skis would take two hours to reach South Lake Tahoe from King's Beach).

The water was unusually calm in the morning, and I could go at maximum speed, i.e., close to 49 mph. I took turns with Alex, who was initially uncomfortable with the ride's speed and bumpiness. Eventually, he got used to it and enjoyed riding the jet ski as the driver.

After about an hour of riding, we returned to King's Beach, and I took Inna for a ride. We rode slower as the water had become r. Many more boats and jet skis were out as the morning wore on. After 30 minutes of riding, we returned to King's Beach to let Alex have another turn.

Alex got to drive the jet ski far longer this time and immensely enjoyed it.

After about 3 hours of riding, we were tired and headed to lunch. Inna found a nearby eatery well-rated on Yelp - King's Cafe. We really enjoyed our lunch there, as it was delicious and reasonably priced.

After lunch, we stopped by a new Ice Cream Shop - "Sweet Tahoe Time." Alex ordered himself a Birthday cake-flavored ice cream with lots of toppings.

We walked back to Kings' beach and decided to rent some kayaks and a stand-up paddleboard. Inna and I rented a two-seater ocean kayak, while Alex rented a stand-up paddleboard. We paddled around for about an hour on King's Beach.

I filmed a short video of our kayaking and supping adventures:


Our kayak rammed Alex's paddleboard several times, and he fell off once. Afterward, we rested a bit while Alex chased Pokemon.

After 5:00 p.m., we decided to try another game of golf at King's Miniature Golf nearby. We played the second golf course. The result was the same as last time, with Inna winning (again), I was second, and Alex was third. Alex was frustrated on a few holes where his initial strategy did not work.

We were all a bit tired after a long day at the beach and headed back to our "The Village at Squaw Hotel." After some rest, we had dinner at Fireside Pizza (this time outdoors). Inna ordered a Cobb Salad, Alex ordered a personal Pizza, Margherita with a Caesar salad to start, and I ordered Spaghetti Bolognese with a house salad. For dessert, we shared a brownie with ice cream. The meal was delicious and very reasonably priced.

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Boogie Boarding on Manresa Beach

Today, we planned to enjoy our favorite beach near Santa Cruz - Manresa State Beach. Since it does tend to get crowded (with minimal car parking), we decided to leave early, stopping briefly at our local Whole Foods to get sandwiches for a picnic lunch.

The traffic heading on Highway 17 was unusually light at 9:00 a.m., and we arrived at Manresa State Beach right around 9:30 a.m. The weather was very cloudy, but many surfers were out enjoying the waves. Many 3-5 foot high wave sets were coming through.

Alex initially hesitated to go boogie boarding but eventually changed his mind and put on his new wetsuit. He initially tested the cold Pacific Ocean water, which he found to be much colder than Lake Tahoe. He grabbed his boogie board and plunged in. He only stayed out for about 30 minutes, but he enjoyed it (and was quickly tired).

The wetsuit was quite constricting, and his energy ebbed a bit. After a short boogie-boarding session, he threw me a freesbie and a football back and forth. Then we played some badminton.

Despite the cloudy and overcast (and somewhat chilly summer day), we had a relaxing time at Manresa State Beach and hope to be back again (with better weather).

We saw a lot of surfers in the morning, when the wind was a bit calmer, trying to catch 4-5 foot waves. By noon, the vast majority of surfers have left the beach.

Inna and I finally got used to the colder Pacific Ocean.

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Breathtaking Bora Bora

Friday, July 1, 2016

It was finally time for our dream vacation to Bora Bora in French Polynesia. We have heard many stories about it being the "most beautiful" place on Earth, and we wanted to see it ourselves.

Our journey began with a flight from San Jose to Los Angeles. We landed at Los Angeles (LAX) airport in the evening, using UberX from Universal Studios, where we spent a day exploring the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and other rides and attractions before flying to Bora Bora.

The traffic to LAX was terrible, but we arrived on time for our Air Tahiti Nui 3816 flight to Papeete.
Since we had a few hours to kill at the airport, we drank some "highly" overpriced (and overrated) coffee at the airport (at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf shop).

Our scheduled departure time was 11:40 pm, but our plane was delayed for one hour on the ground. On top of that, our plane had 3 disabled bathrooms (so we were asked by the flight attendants to do our business in the airport before boarding).

The flight took away around 12:30 am. I don't recall watching any movies, but I tried to sleep on the flight to Papeete.


Saturday, July 2, 2016

The flight proceeded uneventfully, and our jet landed in Papeete at 5:00 am local time.

Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia on the island of Tahiti, is considered a destination. We could tell immediately that we were in a different world, with the warm weather and French spoken everywhere. The airport was relatively small and very crowded, even in the morning.

Once we picked up our luggage (it's not transferred automatically), we got in line for the connecting flight to Bora Bora aboard Air Tahiti 433. The check-in line was moving slowly, and we almost missed our connecting flight. There were electronic check-in machines, but they were all broken. The airport was not one to impress visitors. We hoped that all of this extra hassle was worth it.

We boarded the small twin-engine ATR-72 at 7:30am for the 50-minute flight from Papeete to Bora Bora. We landed at 8:20 am, right on schedule. The Bora Bora airport was one of the most minor airports I have ever seen and the only one with a boat dock!

Once we picked up our luggage, we boarded our St. Regis water shuttle to our hotel. We were surprised that our luggage was placed on a different water shuttle.

The beauty of Bora Bora was immediately evident, and we were pleasantly surprised by the island. The short boat ride to St. Regis was exhilarating aboard our fast shuttle boat, and we arrived in less than 20 minutes.

We checked in at St. Regis at 9:00am, but regular room check-in is at 3:00 pm. We were immediately assigned a butler, who showed us around the large St. Regis property (while we waited for our room to get ready).

We were pleasantly surprised that our Bungalow #331 became available at 9:30 am, so we could enjoy it immediately.

Our Bungalow was conveniently located near the beach, pool, and restaurants. We were offered Champagne (for our 15th Wedding Anniversary), a complimentary couples massage at the famous Miri-Miri spa, and some snacks on arrival.

We were pretty happy! (However, even though breakfast was still ongoing, we were not offered one)

Our butler offered to unpack our suitcases and put away our clothes. We thought - why not - and let her do so while we enjoyed lounging and swimming on the over-the-water terrace.

The internet worked very well, and we immediately connected 4 devices: our iPhones, iPad Air, and MacBook Pro. Although I had a Roku 3 and two TVs in our Bungalow, we never used them.

We were able to call home using Skype (over WiFi). Skype is surprisingly expensive in Bora Bora (about $0.40 per minute)

After walking around the property and enjoying the beach, we had lunch at Aparima Bar. Lunch was expensive (as everything at St. Regis) but highly delicious.

After lunch, we toured St. Regis, marveling at the beautiful sights, clear blue water, and wispy clouds.

We borrowed some bicycles (free to all guests) and rode around, stopping by the beach to enjoy the hammocks.

We also spent time on the beach, kayaking and riding the stand-up paddle-board (SUP). Here is a short video of Inna and me riding the SUP:



It was so much fun!

When a Hobie catamaran became available, I borrowed it to sail around the Lagoon.

Here is a short GoPro 4 Silver video of sailing the Hobie Cat:



We saw a beautiful, romantic beach dinner.

For dinner, we decided to try sushi at Sushi Take. The sushi was well prepared but also very expensive.

Sunday, July 3, 2016

In the morning, we went for our usual early morning swim. The water was calm, and there was no one there. It seemed like everyone else was sleeping.

Our Bungalow looked so peaceful and beautiful in the morning light.

After showering, we decided to get breakfast in the nearby Te Pahu Restaurant.

Inna ordered the Salmon Eggs Benedict, while I picked up freshly baked croissants, delicious poke with tuna, grapefruit, and other delicacies. The breakfast was fantastic, and I was especially impressed by the pastries (especially Chausson aux Pommes) - they were as delicious as anything I had sampled in Paris or Vienna. The pastry chef at St. Regis must be really talented.

After breakfast, we decided to snorkel at St. Regis Lagoon. We picked up our free snorkeling gear on the beach and rode bicycles to the nearby Lagoon.

The Lagoon was quite long and full of fish. The clear water made it easy to spot fish.

Both Inna and Inna enjoyed snorkeling here in the warm, clear water.

We spotted some giant fish.

We enjoyed our snorkel very much, as the views were simply incredible.

After snorkeling, we decided to head to the nearby beach and do kayaking and paddle-boarding.

The water was warm, clear, and smooth - great for kayaking and paddleboarding.

We decided to make reservations for dinner at the Lagoon by Jean Georges - a very fancy, expensive French restaurant at St. Regis (right on the water).

Inna ordered the 10th Anniversary 4-course tasting menu while I tried the Grilled Mahi-Mahi entree.

While we didn't order wine (too expensive), we did enjoy the scenery and the exciting view through the wine glasses.

Inna's 4-course menu was fantastic (but costly). There are very few inexpensive dishes here.

The dishes at Lagoon match a Michelin 1-star US or European restaurant (with prices to match).

The grilled Mahi-Mahi entree was spectacular. I really enjoyed it! Sitting outside, right above the water, with fish swimming all around, was enchanting.

We had a wonderful evening and looked forward to doing it again.

Monday, July 4, 2016

While Inna was sleeping, I got up early to take a photo of the beautiful morning sunrise.

Some of St. Regis' hotel staff was reporting for work (aboard kayaks and Polynesian outboards).

After a quick morning swim, we rushed to an early breakfast at Te Pahu Restaurant. We ordered breakfast with Salmon Eggs, Benedict, croissants, delicious poke with tuna, grapefruit, and orange slices.

Since we had booked a snorkeling trip for 9:00am, we hurried to the St. Regis boat dock to board the  Pure Snorkeling by Reef Discovery boat. Our French captain, Ben, was entertaining and helped explain the native Bora Bora sea life. He was a qualified dive instructor and was very familiar with the snorkeling and dive locations.

The first stop was to see the Manta Rays. We saw a couple swimming at some depth and followed them for a while.

After that, we sailed to a shore break to see fish and coral in the shallow waters near a reef (south of Bora-Bora, where the Lagoon meets the ocean).

We enjoyed the clear water and all of the beautiful fish.

Our modern boat was relatively fast, and we could quickly zoom into different snorkeling spots.

Our next dive stop was called the "Fishtank," as there were numerous fish. Tahitians often feed the fish here, so fish wait around for tourists.

After spending some time at the "Fishtank," we sailed to another destination frequented by other boats.

This time, we saw lots of black-tipped sharks! We went in to swim with them, as they are harmless to humans.

We shot a couple of snorkeling videos with both my GoPro Hero 4 Silver and the Fuji TG-4:



We had dozens of black-tipped sharks and rays harmlessly circling around us. They were harmless.

We got close to the sharks, but they did not bother us.

We had a fantastic time snorkeling and were back by 1:00pm.

After we returned to St. Regis, we decided to ride the Hobie Catamaran.

The Hobie cat had no job, so it was hard to tack it.

Inna got a splinter in her hand, so we stopped by St. Regis reception to see if anything could be done.

It turned out that St. Regis has a staff trained to remove splinters, so we waited a few minutes before a gentleman showed up and took her multiple splinters.

We returned to the beach and decided to do a bit more kayaking. Here is a GoPro 4 Silver/Fuji TG4 video compilation:



We had a lot of fun kayaking around St. Regis almost daily.

For dinner, we decided to try eating on the Bora Bora mainland at the well-regarded Maikai Restaurant. It took us an hour to cross to the main island aboard the St. Regis water shuttle and then 30 30-minute drive in a minivan.

There were not too many customers in the restaurant, and the service was pretty slow (in comparison to Lagoon at St. Regis).

We started with cocktails: a Frozen Margarita for me and a Tahitian Dream for Inna.
We decided to share the Salad cheque, which was not too bad.

I ordered a Mahi-Mahi burger, which was seriously undercooked (too raw).

Inna ordered a Mahi-Mahi entree, and it was better prepared.

Although we enjoyed our time in Maikai, we did not like it enough to dine there again.

For dessert, we returned to our St. Regis hotel and tried ice cream in our favorite Aparima Bar. We enjoyed it a lot.

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

We got up for an early morning swim. What a glorious way to start each morning!

Finishing the refreshing swim in the warm Bora Bora lagoon, we dressed and rushed to our delicious breakfast at St. Regis' Te Pahu restaurant (we had a spa appointment in the morning).

I became extra healthy this time and picked up homemade yogurt, poke, and fresh fruit.

I also ordered freshly cooked Nutella-filled crepes. They were so good!

Of course, I could not resist the delicious, freshly baked pastries. They were so delicious! The Chausson aux Pommes was incredibly fabulous.

After breakfast, we rode our bicycles to the Miri-Miri spa, where we had a 50-minute couples massage scheduled for 9:30 am.

We had a very relaxing massage. Afterward, we relaxed in a relaxation studio.

It was an excellent way to start the morning.

We had such a wonderful morning.

The view from the lawn of the Miri-Miri spa was truly spectacular.

Feeling relaxed, we decided to skip lunch and enjoy kayaking and SUPping on the beach.

Inna decided to try to do some Yoga on SUPs.

I also got to enjoy the over-the-water hammock. It's a weird feeling to be suspended in water.

We spent a wonderful afternoon on the beach, but it was time to relax and prepare for dinner.

Today, we decided to try dinner at the famous Bloody Mary's restaurant on the main island. We had to take the hotel's water shuttle and a bus ride to the restaurant.

When we arrived at Bloody Mary's, we found a restaurant with an exciting dish ordering method.
We were shown all of the fresh fish available for dinner and selected whatever we wanted to be prepared.

Then, after selecting our main courses, we were led to our table. Bloody Mary's has a tropical feel, with a sandy floor.

We started our dinner with a few cocktails. Inna ordered a Pina Colada while I ordered a Strawberry Margarita.

We decided to share a Tuna Kabob for an appetizer, which was not too bad.

I ordered an Opa/Wahoo fish for the entrees, while Inna selected a Lagoon fish.

My Wahoo entree was not bad at all.

We decided to sample the Tarte and ice Cream combination for dessert, but it was nothing special.

We enjoyed our time at Bloody Mary's until the very end.

At some point, Inna suddenly felt sick and had to leave immediately. She threw up her meal and felt much better. I don't know whether she reacted to the Lagoon fish or another ingredient.

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

After our usual early morning swim, we ate our fantastic breakfast at St. Regis' Te Pahu Restaurant.

I enjoyed crepes with Nutella, apricot croissants, and Eggs Benedict with salmon.

We booked a jet skiing tour of Bora Bora, so we hurried to the beach to prepare for our 9:30am ride.

We stopped in a few shallow lagoons to rest and enjoy fresh pineapples.

The 90-minute tour of Bora Bora on jet skis was very exhilarating and exciting/

I shot a GoPro Silver 4 video of our jet-skiing adventure here:



After jet-skiing, Inna decided to try some Paddle-board Yoga.

I also had a chance to sail on the Hobie cat back and forth in the Lagoon. There was a bit of wind, and I went back and forth.

Inna enjoyed resting on the catamaran.

After finishing with the beach, we decided to try some water toys at our Bungalow.

In the evening, we decided to have dinner at Sushi Take.

We ordered an Alaska Roll (salmon, cucumber, cream cheese topped with salmon) and a Red Dragon Roll (Shrimp tempura, topped with Ahi tuna and Teriyaki sauce).

Thursday, July 7, 2016

In the morning, I got up early, only to discover that Inna's shorts, drying on our balcony, were in the water (probably blown away by the wind). I quickly swam to retrieve them.

Before breakfast, we decided to take quality photos of our vacation in the early morning light, using my Canon 5DS camera and tripod.

We started our photo session at the hotel reception and proceeded to the Lagoon.

We rode around on bicycles and enjoyed the quiet, early morning light.

It was time for our daily, delicious breakfast. I ordered crepes with Chantilly creme (superb), Chausson aux Pommes, Eggs Benedict with ham, and tropical fruits this time.

I did not know what some of these tropical fruits were called, but they were delicious.

Can anything be better than enjoying a delicious breakfast on a tropical beach?

Despite being full, I could not help trying freshly baked pastries. They were delicious, especially the Chausson aux Pommes (croissants with apple filling).

After breakfast, we spent some time on the beach while Inna had a special Balinese massage at the Miri-Miri spa.

At one point, I got tired and retired to our Bungalow, reading my Kindle. I was in the middle of the thriller - The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz. I thoroughly enjoyed the novel.

Inna really enjoyed her massage and returned in good spirits, very relaxed.

We decided that this would be a good day to go shopping on the main island, so we took the afternoon water shuttle to the main island. Once across the channel, we took a bus to Vaitape (the main town).

Vaitape is very poor by Western standards. Tourism is the primary industry here, and many shops focus on supplying tourists with cultured Tahitian pearls, t-shirts, and other knick-knacks.

We only had a few hours to look at the local shops, but there really is not much to do in Vaitape. Many shops have costly gifts, so I wondered who would buy them.

We learned from locals that most of Bora Boran's children do not attend high school. Sending children to high school requires a lot of money, as high schools exist on other islands. Those fortunate kids who can afford to go must live at the boarding school.

After shopping, we returned to St. Regis for our second dinner at the exquisite Lagoon restaurant (our reservation was for 7:00 pm). This time, we ended up sitting inside due to the weather (some wind).

We started with a delicious appetizer.

I ordered the "Duo of Veal" as my main entree, and it was exquisite - such soft, flavored veal!

Inna selected the "Crusted Black Papio," which was also incredibly delicious!

As expected, we enjoyed Lagoon's delicious entrees and quick, efficient service.

Friday, July 8, 2016

We started our incredible day with an early morning swim from our Bungalow.

This was followed by a delicious breakfast of crepes with Nutella, apricot croissants, and Eggs Benedict with salmon.

The breakfast was fantastic, as usual, and I could not resist trying all the delicious pastries.

After breakfast, we enjoyed the beach briefly before heading out for our next snorkeling adventure.

We waited until 10:30am when the Raanui Snorkeling boat arrived. We were the only passengers on the ship, but he was planning to stop at a few other resorts to pick up other snorkelers.

We spent the next 30 minutes picking up other passengers while enjoying motoring around Bora Bora.

Our first stop was to visit stingrays. There were so many rays in the water that we bumped into. They were like puppies, following us around. They had soft, smooth bodies and sharp, jagged tails.

We snorkeled with some stingrays in the shallow Bora Bora lagoon.

After this, we headed to another dive spot where manta rays hang out. We spent some time snorkeling with Manta Rays.

Unlike stingrays, manta rays tend to stay deep and are not eager to be petted.

After seeing all the rays, we returned to the boat and went to the next stop.

The next dive stop had lots of blacktip sharks and rays. The sharks

Although Black Tip sharks looked menacing, they were uninterested in us and never behaved threateningly. The water was so shallow that we did not ever wear flippers.

We swam around, with dozens of sharks experiencing no problems.

After some time, we decided to head to yet another location. This time, we got to swim with much more giant and threatening lemon sharks!

The lemon sharks looked much scarier and much more significant. Our guide decided to hug one and swim with it. He could also grab one and let both Inna and I get dragged by one. The shark's fin was very abrasive.

The lemon shark was much scarier to swim with than the blacktip shark.

After some time, we returned to the boat and headed for another snorkeling spot. Here. There were many fish, and I felt like I was inside an aquarium.

Our guide gave us some bread to feed the fish, and the fish practically jumped into my hands to get a bite.

Snorkeling in the clear Lagoon by the coral reef was simply excellent.

We enjoyed our time on the Rapanui Snorkeling trip as the local Bora Bora guide showed us dive spots that the other guide did not.

After snorkeling, we shared a small snack at our St. Regis Aparima Bar.

Afterward, we hung out on the beach, enjoying the hammocks, kayaks, and SUPs.

We enjoyed our last sunset and were a bit sad to have to leave this magical island tomorrow.

We decided to eat dinner at St. Regis' local Far Niente Italian restaurant. We ordered a "Tomato Mozzarella" salad for an appetizer, which was quite delicious.

I ordered a "Prosciutto Funghi Pizza," which was pretty good but too large. I saved a few pieces to eat at lunch the next day.

Inna ordered a "Lasagna" and it wasn't too bad.

We had a wonderful last full day at St. Regis, Bora Bora!


Saturday, July 9, 2016

The last day was never something to look forward to. We had a long day of travel, flying to Papeete, Tahiti, Los Angeles, and finally to San Jose.

As customary, we started our day with an early morning swim.

After relaxing on our patio, we walked to our last breakfast at Te Pahu Restaurant.

We stopped by a few spots to take the last photos of our beautiful island.

The Te Pahu restaurant looked a bit empty this early morning, but we were eager to get the most out of our last day on Bora Bora.

We stopped by Te Pahu's buffet to select all the beautiful foods we'd be eating.

Eventually, we selected all the freshest fruits, homemade yogurt, and salad to get started.

We had another fantastic, unforgettable breakfast!

Inna enjoyed the last of the freshly baked croissants! After breakfast, we stopped by the beautiful (but never used the pool).

The pool is gorgeous, but with the Lagoon next door, we couldn't think of a reason to prefer the pool over the Lagoon.

Of course, there is a swim-up bar, but we're not into $25 alcoholic drinks.

We returned to the beach and did a little more kayaking and SUPping. I wanted to sail the Hobie cat, but the hotel changed its policy. It used to be free, but now St. Regis intends to charge $75/hour - CRAZY! We decided to skip it and were disappointed.

Inna did some more Yoga poses on the SUP.

Since our flight to Papeete was at 6:55 pm (and our checkout time was noon), we had to return to our Bungalow and pack our suitcases. After packing, we swam around the Lagoon until the hotel staff/bell boy picked up our luggage for storage.

We never stayed at the St. Regis Oasis pool, so we rode our bicycles there. It's a lovely, secluded pool and an excellent place to relax.

Afterward, we decided to do a little more kayaking.

Since we would arrive at Papeete very late, we decided to have an early lunch at St. Regis. We asked to use a suite for a shower and were driven to a Royal Beachfront suite.

This suite was impressive! It must be how the wealthy live- it had 4 separate bedrooms, an indoor pool, a garden, a library, and other rooms.

After showering, we headed to the Aparima Bar for our last lunch.

We ordered our food, and it was brought out very fast. We needed to catch the 5:00pm water shuttle to the Bora Bora Airport!

After lunch, we rushed to check out, pick up our luggage, and board the shuttle to the airport. The St. Regis staff waited on the dock to wave goodbye! It was a lovely touch.

On the way to the airport, we saw one lonely windsurfer racing across the Lagoon.

We also had a severe incident in which our water shuttle ran over some small boat. I did not know how our captain failed to spot a bobbing fishing boat, which flipped over when our shuttle ran it over.
Thankfully, it did not look like anyone got hurt.

We had such a wonderful time, but now we had to check in aboard our Air Tahiti 433 Flight from Bora Bora to Papeete.

We landed in Papeete at 7:45 pm and had to wait a long time to finally check in for the 11:59 pm Air Tahiti Nui #3815 flight to Los Angeles.

As Inna was a bit peckish, she tried some overpriced fast food burgers in Papeete. They were edible but not that great.

Our night flight to Los Angeles went smoothly, and we landed in LA at 11:10 am. It took us an hour to get through US Customs and then head to the Southwest terminal for our flight to San Jose.

We boarded our Southwest Flight #2099 at 2:00 pm and arrived in San Jose at 3:10 pm. The flight was easy, and we quickly ordered UberX and returned to our house.

This had to be the most fantastic trip ever! We hope to return to Bora Bora one day!

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