Bloody Mary's on Bora Bora!

Jackamy
Paul & Derry Harper
Sat 5 Jun 2010 22:17
 
Saturday 5th June
 
We'd planned to cycle around the island today but when we woke to torrential rain we thought our plans were ruined. But once we'd killed a few hours skyping the sky had cleared up a bit so we decided to go for it but by this time it was 12.00 so we weren't likely to get as far as planned. We immediately noticed the difference in the road conditions between here and the other islands we've just visited. The other islands were newly tarmaced and lovely to walk, cycle and drive on whereas these roads are in definite need of repair. They weren't the comfiest of roads for the bums! We headed south from the yacht club and our first stop was at Vaitape village which was quite busy considering how quiet the island is. There were lots of nice boutiques and galleries which I guess at one time would cater for the rich and famous, whether they'll still be here in a years time I'm not sure. Then it was one big slog down to the famous Bloody Mary's restaurant, where we'd planned to go for lunch.
 
 
  
 
Either side of the entrance were two billboards listing all the famous people who've visited since it was first opened in 1979. Some names you may recognise are Johnny Depp, Paris Hilton, Bill Gates, Ringo Starr, Diana Ross and the list goes on
 
  
 
Of course we had to have a Bloody Mary with our lunch - you may notice how quiet the restaurant is behind me!
 
 
And then it was to the bar for a drink with Fai Tira
 
 
Who'd have thought 10 years ago we'd have been here!
 
After our fantastic lunch sat on coconut tree stools under a thatched roof with our feet on a floor of sand it was time to get back on the bikes. We continued to make our way around the island as we wanted to see some of the east coast as we've heard that it is much better than the west and as we rounded the south part of the island we noticed an immediate difference. There were white sand beaches, better roads and it just had a completely different feel although we did come across one of the hotels that has shut down. We're going to try and move the boat round tomorrow but it may be a bit tricky as it's quite a shallow and narrow passage, we're going to give it a go though as it's meant to be worth it.
 
We didn't get much further around the island before Paul had a puncture. He pumped the tyre up hoping it might last him a little while and we turned back, but 100 yards down the road it was flat again. It called for drastic measures and thankfully Pete from Fai Tira who had joined us had a puncture repair kit.
 
 
How many people does it take to repair a punctured tyre!
 
By this time it was around 16.30 so we cracked on to try and make it back before the sun went down. We came across what appeared to be the speedboat car park, I thought it made a nice picture.
 
 
We made it back just as the sun went down behind Jackamy. We're all glad we braved the weather anyway, it was a nice day and we've now ticked another thing off our list of things to do - eat at Bloody Mary's!