Bumpy, Bumpy roads & Bloody Mary's

Monday morning arrived as another beautiful day with the sun shining and another excursion planned. We decided to do the 4x4 Safari around the island, which was really cool and worth all the bumpy, bumpy roads!

We took the tour with another couple on their honeymoon, who were there from London. Our tour guide was funny and had the perfect personality to be a guide for one of these tours as he not only told us about the places and history, but added in his own anecdotes. At one stop, he made a point to tell us how much the Polynesians hated the French and loved Americans, because Americans brought hospitals, medicine and built roads, while all the French ever did was show up in the 1800's and say "Congratulations, you are now French!". It was pretty funny to hear him complain about them; I wonder what he says when he takes French people around.
We toured the island in a Range Rover jeep and mind you, there is only 1 road that takes you around the whole island. There were also other roads, well not roads, just paths of dirt and rocks, leading up into the mountains, which we took as well. AND had to hold on to dear life as we trekked up and down this rocky, dirt paths.


Now, no one likes bumpy paths, but as I mentioned, it was all worth it. We went up into the mountain at 4 different spots along the tour and the view was Spectacular...looking at the pictures, doesn't even do it justice, it was unbelievable.


And now we know where they take all those pictures that advertise for Bora Bora! Along one of the stops up, we got to see an old cannon that was left by the Americans back in the early 1940s. Mike thought it would be cool to sit on the cannon, so he did and I made him take some pictures.
Side history note:
The American army chose Bora Bora because there is only one port of entry into the dock. Everything else is surrounded by coral, which gave them the opportunity to see anyone/ship that was attempting to come into the island. When it was time to leave, the Americans just left it there because it was too heavy to move. I would have too!

Towards the end of the tour, we stopped at the black pearl farm and were able to see how the pearls are harvested. We made a final stop into the mountain and the view was gorgeous.



For dinner, we made a reservation at the famous Bloody Mary's restaurant.


We arrived and walked into sand as the whole restaurant floor is sand. All the food was set out on ice, so that we didn't have to read menus and the lovely hostess explained our choices.


In honor of the restaurant, Mike and I both, just had to try the signature Bloody Mary cocktail...it was delish with just the right amount of spice. Mike had the white tuna steak and I had the mahi mahi. While dining we also had a friend, white cat, who was not starving as it was fat, but eagerly attempted to get some food out of us and the rest of the diners. Not a fan of cats, so I was definitely not giving it anything. Dinner was good and we were really glad we made it here. We even bought some t-shirts, different ones of course, for each of us, but something that says, we were there.