Things to do in Bora Bora when the weather’s boo

We woke up to an overcast sky and made our way to breakfast. Andy was happy to find a great selection of fruit and a ‘proper’ coffee machine and proceeded to treat himself to an expresso. We got seats right by the lagoon and saw an incredible variety of fish (including some new ones). People happily chucked bits of food in the water and the fish all rushed to nibble it.

After breakfast, we explored the other side of the complex, and found lots of fish in the protected lagoon (this is where they take the turtles for a swim in the afternoon).

At 10:30am, we headed for the museum for a brief talk about safety around the turtles. We then went to the turtle hospital. Here, they look after turtles rescued from poachers, turtles with fishing net related injuries, and baby turtles. These were very cute and they were given to the hospital as eggs as their mother had been killed by a poacher. It is illegal to kill turtles but there is a demand for the meat and so the money means that some are ready to take the risk. In front of each turtle there’s a lunchbox containing fish, shrimps and squid bits which you feed to the turtles. You’re not allowed to touch them or make them eat out of the water, you need to drop the food in the water and they get it. They gave me a latex glove, and even with the glove on I can’t say that I particularly enjoyed picking up the fish and the squid but I got to feed turtles. Each afternoon, one of the turtles gets to go for a swim. The only reason it’s only one of them is that they are quite territorial and the protected lagoon is not that big. Most of the turtles we saw are green turtles, with the exception of one hawksbill sea turtle (these are critically endangered).

We played pétanque and I won; I should stick to Scrabble and pétanque from now on.

With the weather showing no signs of improving, we decided to go swimming – first in the two swimming pools, then the mini jacuzzi, then the ocean and finally the non-protected lagoon. All along, it was just us. A few Americans congregated around the pool bar looked at us weirdly.

Back in our bungalow, we saw fish underneath our glass floor so we decided to go snorkelling. Andy saw a number of fish. I didn’t see anything, but as I removed my mask and got back on our steps, a small ray went past.

We both expressed surprise that it was already 2:30pm – island time again.

Thunder and heavy rain. We spent the afternoon indoors, deleted some photos, researched our next destination and watched the final episode of Apple Tree Yard.

We were close to getting cabin fever when the rain eased off so I sent Andy out for a walk. And when the sky cleared, we had a beautiful sunset and of course, an iridescent cloud (our third in three days; they are a thing!).

On the way back to our cabin, we decided to pay a visit to the Miki Miki bar, sat on the terrace and ordered Tiki Miki (Manao white rum, Avatea dark rum, pimm’s, passion fruit juice, mango juice and ginger cordial).

Andy was ordering room service (not sure what we’re having, I just heard the words Pinot Noir) when there was a knock on the door – my missing laundry, which arrived on Air Tahiti flight VT241.

On fish watching duty, I switched on the underwater lights beneath the bungalow and spotted three large fish right under our glass floor. We were just about to leave to go and see the Polynesian show on the beach when a school of fish came by. We were watching them, lying on the bed, with our heads towards the glass floor, when a reef shark swam past.