Christi was up early and decided that we needed to use up the fruit. We weren’t eating it fast enough and it would start going bad soon. Two of the pampelmousse had already gone bad (they may have already been bad when we got them as citrus fruit usually lasts a long time). She decided to make papaya-banana muffins, and recruited Shelley to help when Shelley got up shortly after. The recipe called for a cup of papaya. One papaya yielded three cups, so we made a triple batch. The muffins were really good.

Our plan for the day was to rent a car and tour the island. Since we were making muffins, we were in no hurry to get out the door. That turned out to be a big mistake. A big cruise ship snuck into port while the muffins were in the oven. Once we noticed the ship, we put the rest of the batter in the fridge, got ready, and headed out as soon as the batch of muffins in the oven was done. But it was too late. The last car was rented by the guy in line ahead of us. Fortunately, a car out for a half day was due back in an hour, so we wandered through the tourist shops for an hour to kill time. It was noon, so we could only do a half day rental. That seemed like plenty of time since the island is so small.

The car rental place gave us a brochure entitled 10 things you must see, which had at least thirty things listed. We were also armed with Lonely Planet, so we felt confident that we would find everything worth seeing on the island. Our first stop was an art gallery in between Vaitape, which turned out to be closed on Sundays. It has a big anchor left behind by the US Navy from when they occupied the island during WWII, so we will have to go back another day to see it.

According to Lonely Planet, most of the locals live in or near Vaitape, but most of the development is at the southern end of the island, where most of the hotels are congregated. There are seven large, fancy hotels all side by side by side. We decided to stop for lunch at a snack because it would be faster than going to a restaurant. Lonely Planet recommended a place in the hotel belt. It was situated on one of the few beaches in Bora Bora.

The place across the recommended restaurant caught our attention. It was called Ben’s Snack, and featured an odd assortment of foods, including Tex-Mex.

Eric was dying for Mexican food, so we went there. Shelley ordered a tomato and garlic quesadilla. Eric ordered shrimp fajitas and Christi and Pete ordered fish fajitas. We got chili cheese fries for the table. A half hour later, Ben came out and told Eric he was out of shrimp. Was fish OK? Sure, fish was OK. Another fifteen minutes went by and Pete, Shelley and Christi got their food. Another twenty minutes later, the fries came out, and another five minutes after that, when the other three were totally done eating and ready to go, Ben finally brought out Eric’s food. We were there an hour and a half by the time Eric scarfed his food and we paid. We were really antsy to go since the clock was ticking on the car. The restaurant guide said Ben was laid back and made good food. Laid back must be a euphemism for really slow. The fajitas consisted of grilled onions and bell peppers and fish on a bed of lettuce on top of a single tortilla, all topped with cheese. The chili was all meat and had no beans. The food tasted OK. You can’t expect much from Mexican food in Polynesia.

Lonely Planet said there was a WWII cannon at the top of the hill near the road across from one of the hotels. We couldn’t find the trail, so we asked at the reception desk. No trail, just go up there and you will find it. It looked steep with dense foliage. Definitely not worth a crazy hike to see a cannon, especially since there were several more around the island.

The next stop was Belvedere Point, which according to the brochure from the car rental place is a nice twenty minute walk to a viewpoint. It said to look for a staircase across from Club Med. We found the staircase and headed up. The brochure neglected to mention that the staircase goes up the entire mountain to the top. It was one heck of a climb. The forest the staircase was cut into is pretty.

The view at the top is phenomenal. Looking east.

Looking southwest.

The leaves on the ground were slippery, making heading back down a wee bit treacherous, but we all made it down just fine.

The next stop was another viewpoint, ancient Polynesian temple, and two WWII cannons. The main road went up a hill. At the top of the hill we parked the car and hiked up a dirt road that only a 4×4 could tackle. It was a short trek to the top. Once again, the view was breathtaking. This shot is looking east and you can see the big hotel on the reef motu in the distance.

There was a concrete slab at the peak, and you could see where the cannons once were embedded into the slab.

No indicators of an ancient temple that we noticed, unless the big rock is part of the temple. Chances are the ruins were covered by the concrete slab.

There was a hiking trail that looked like it may head to the water, but we were short on time and couldn’t go exploring. As we were about to leave, a beautiful White-tailed Tropicbird swooped by us; we’re guessing her nest was nearby that she was protecting

From there we struck out on everything we looked for. We couldn’t find Marlon Brando’s condos or the marine museum. We had to ask some restaurant where the Yacht Club was since there was no sign for it. The drive was still pretty, none-the-less. We made it back to town promptly at 1600 (4:00 pm), then headed back to Kosmos for dinner and a movie.