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BORA BORA PEARL BEACH RESORT

From your vantage point at Bora Bora Pearl Beach Resort’s pool on Motu Tevairoa, you’ll gaze across azure and sapphire waters to the renowned Mount Otemanu, one of Bora Bora’s distinctive and lush icons. With only eighty rooms, fifty of which are over-water, the property caters to the romantic; afterall Bora Bora is known as the Romance Island, and what better way to be romanced than in a bungalow facing Bora Bora’s signature setting?

SPA SPECIFICS  Opened last spring, the Manea Spa is nestled amongst a tropical garden bursting with Tahitian fragrances including gardenia (Tahitian Tiare), and surrounded by a lake. The treatment rooms all feature thatched pandanus leaf roofs as well as timber-panelled walls. But the piece de resistance is the Royal Pomaire Suite designed for couples with a private shower and Jacuzzi. For a real taste of Tahiti, book the Coco Otemanu experience, which includes a coconut hair mask and scalp massage, a coconut body polish, Vichy shower, and a full-body massage with coconut oil. The only thing missing is a pina colada!

GET A ROOM!  The property offers both garden and over-water bungalows. The garden bungalows each feature a private plunge pool and garden, while the over-water bungalows are situated as such that you can literally walk from the beach, through the warm waters, to the furthest bungalow from the property. If you’re staying in an over-water bungalow, either have your breakfast delivered by canoe, or swim in the warm turquoise waters from your bungalow to the shore, grab a towel, and enjoy the delicious tropical fruits offered on the breakfast buffet.

DOWNTIME All of the Pearl Resorts are PADI dive centers, so diving is definitely a draw for most visitors. However, the Bora Bora property also features a unique coral nursery, To’a Nui. Designed by marine biologist Denis Schneider, the nursery was established to protect and renew the coral in Tahiti while increasing the fish population. Currently, there are more than eighty different species of fish in the nursery, offering quite a spectacular snorkeling excursion just steps from the property’s shore. If you’re romantically inclined, get married or renew your vows (like my hubby and I did), in a traditional Polynesian wedding ceremony. After being wrapped in white parea’s and serenaded by Polynesian dancers and music, you’ll be bound together in a tifaifai (wedding quilt), handed a fruity drink, and escorted to the white sands where you’ll have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pose, newly wed, with Bora Bora’s legendary Mount Otemanu looming behind you.

CONTACT (800) 65-PEARL, www.pearlresorts.com/bora

—M.B.W.

BORA BORA CRUISES

This is the cruise for the cruise-phobic. With only thirty cabins aboard the streamlined and stylish Ti’a Moana, there are no lines, no unsightly midnight buffet feedings, and lots of elbow room. As soon as you land in Bora Bora, you are effusively greeted and led to a private beach pavilion and toasted with champagne. Meanwhile, your luggage is being loaded onto the launch and ferried to the yacht in the bay. You’ll soon follow, only to find a cheerful international staff plying you with cold scented towels and welcome drinks. The personalized service continues at such a high level that leaving after a week is a bit traumatic.

SPA SPECIFICS  Spa treatments can be enjoyed either in a cabin or on a different beach each day. You can’t go wrong with the Egyptian Foot Reflexology; something about the kneading of different pressure points on one’s soles truly inspires a sense of lightness and well-being. The treatment concludes with a scalp massage. The papain fruit enzyme in the Papaya Body Scrub works well to smooth tired skin, but might feel abrasive if you’ve gotten too much Polynesian sun. In that case, the Aloe-Cucumber Body Wrap is good for re-hydration.

GET A ROOM!  The cabins are not huge, but they are ingeniously designed—a place for everything and everything in its place. You’ll find good closet space, lagoon views from double windows, comfy robes, and wall-mounted plasma TVs with DVD players (DVDs provided on request). The bathrooms feature compartments for bath and grooming products, stall showers, and bottles of light monoi and monoi-based moisturizer. You’ll become addicted—the monoi also works as an insect-repellent and hair tonic.

DOWNTIME The Ti’a Moana hits several ports-of-call in the Society Islands, including Taha’a, Huahine, and Raiatea. Excursions include visits to a vanilla farm, a pearl farm (bring your AMEX), and other options such as a submarine ride. But most folks choose to while away their cloudless days in the stunning lagoon—the yacht drops you off on a different sandy motu (island) everyday, where beach chairs, kayaks, and snorkeling gear are always available. The cuisine is to die for—it’s international style with full American breakfasts made to order, multi-course lunches (either on the boat deck or a motu), and elegant dinners where the entrees include rack of lamb and the wines flow. Catch the dramatic Tahitian sunsets from one of the Jacuzzis on deck as butlers feed you strawberries.

CONTACT (404) 915-8728, www.boraboracruises.com

Moorea

MOOREA PEARL RESORT & SPA

Located just twelve miles from Tahiti, the island of Moorea is accessible via a short eight-minute flight from Tahiti. The property, which is situated between eight acres of white sandy beach and the island’s lush and tropical mountains, offers the perfect setting for both land and water adventures, and is just a short drive from both Cook’s Bay and Opunohu Bay.

SPA SPECIFICS  The Manea Spa at Moorea is an intimate Polynesian affair featuring only three treatment rooms, yet a full range of spa experiences that highlight such indigenous ingredients as pineapple from Moorea, monoi—a perfumed coconut oil common in Polynesia, and sandalwood and umuhei oils from the Marquesas. The spa also features a traditional hammam (steam bath). Book the Manea Manea, one of their signature treatments, which begins with an oil-infused steam bath and is followed by a body scrub, wrap, massage and facial. And don’t be too surprised if your therapist looks familiar; during my stay, my therapist moonlighted as a fire dancer on property!

GET A ROOM!  Garden bungalows feature private plunge pools and are accented with kohu, an exotic tropical wood. In the over-water bungalows, underneath your modest coffee table, you’ll see the bright hues of both the ocean life and water below. From your deck, watch as other guests snorkel around the property or as locals swiftly pass by during their catamaran practice.

DOWNTIME Book the optional excursion to one of the island’s most notable pineapple plantations where you’ll not only have the pleasure of tasting delicious, juicy pineapple, but you’ll also get the opportunity to sample a selection of local jams and liquors including banana, vanilla, and papaya. Other excursions include day trips to Cook’s Bay, which is home to a variety of sea creatures including turtles, leppard rays, and scorpion fish.

CONTACT (800) 65-PEARL, www.pearlresorts.com/moorea

—M.B.W.