After 3 days on Moorea, we packed our things and headed to the teeny-tiny open-air building that was the Moorea airport. Fortunately there was a nice cross breeze at the Moorea airport so it wasn’t too uncomfortable while we waited for our plane to arrive. I have to say that the Ait Tahiti inter-island flights are very comfortable – I swear there was more leg room on those seats than there was on the jumbo jet from Los Angeles to Tahiti.  It was a short 40 minute flight to Bora Bora but our plane actually made a quick stop on the island of Huahine to drop off and pick up a few passengers and then we were off to Bora Bora.

I had read that it was best to sit on the left hand side of the plane (when standing in the back facing the cockpit as you board from the rear of the plane) on the way to Bora Bora and I snagged a good spot behind the wing.  It’s true – sit on the left on the way there and on the right when leaving Bora Bora. The flight in gave us some incredible views of the island.

The Bora Bora airport is on a small island so all the hotels meet you at the airport and escort you straight to their individual boat slip for your 15 to 20 minute ride to your hotel.  Upon arrival at the St. Regis you are given a glass of cold mango juice, a cold scented towel and are escorted to check in and a golf cart tour of the enormous property.  Fortunately, our room, a Lagoon view overwater bungalow, was ready and we were taken there right after our property tour.

We walked in and I was immediately in love with our massive OWB.  The OWBs at the St. Regis are the largest on the island and I personally think the St. Regis has the best view of Mount Otemanu from its motu (though the views from the Four Seasons Resort and from the Le Meridian also looked excellent).

But first, our room tour.

The bungalow features a long hallway that leads into the spacious living room that has windows on all sides, large sliding doors out to the massive two-level deck and a see-through coffee table so you can see the fishies below.  There’s also a small dining room table perfect for two.

There is also a huuuge bedroom with king-size canopy bed and large flat screen TV (there is a big TV in the living room as well).  There are sliding doors from the bedroom that also lead out onto the deck. Multiple windows reflect the blue lagoon throughout the room.

Behind the bedroom is the huge bathroom with stand up shower, sunken tub for two, private toilet room and big double sinks with an extra vanity area in the middle.  I loved that you could actually slide open the vanity mirrors and watch TV or have a view towards the outside while getting ready.

The hotel also provided us with a welcome gift of a bottle of bubbly and some sweet macarons, which we instantly devoured (and drank).

The best and my favorite part of the room was the two-level outdoor deck, which had super cushy chaise loungers, an outdoor dining/seating area and then a few steps down was a lower level swim platform with ladder.  Of course, we frequently skipped the ladder and just jumped right into the bluest, clearest lagoon ever!

We spent our first afternoon swimming in the lagoon and marveling at the colors of the water.  I really couldn’t believe we were actually here as this has been a dream vacation for many, many years. Here are a few additional pictures taken from the deck of our bungalow.

I’ll write a separate post about the rest of the St. Regis property and the restaurants next but here is a picture of Mount Otemanu from the Lagoon Restaurant where we had drinks our first night and dinner our last night and was my favorite meal of the whole trip.

Does it get any better than that?  Up next is a post on the rest of the property and restaurants and then another post about our full day private tour of the island with private champagne lunch on our own motu (and with our very handsome Polynesian guide)!