A sunset to remember

We hiked Mission peak yesterday. We don’t have a count anymore for how many times we go to Mission peak or to PG&E and black mountain these days.

The hike was to start at 7AM but because outside temperatures dropped to almost freezing, it was postponed to 1:30PM start.

Given I did not get the memo from wife early enough, had done back to back hot yoga double on Friday evening to make up for missing Saturday.. When I found out the hike was in the afternoon, went back to yoga at 8AM in the morning.. why waste the opportunity?

After 3 classes in 18 hours, was still hydrating (do a decent job of it) when we did the hike. Took an extra 20 minutes given it was still very cold and windy but managed to do the usual “one step at a time” routine when things got tough. There was a huge crowd at the top and we did not wait to get pictures at the pole but as we came down, nature put on quite a show for us. The sunset and colors were just gorgeous!

Photos here..

A video highlight..

Came back with really tired legs, but all good now. Have done yoga again this morning and that helped.

Most Mission peaks are the usual affair.. this one was made special thanks to the sunset!

Yogagraphy and portraits in Bora Bora lagoon

The previous post in this series is here..

We did spend time in the morning before breakfast taking photos in the lagoon with me doing yoga poses and later in the evening before dinner. This time we came a good hour before sunset time and got some amazing pics. It was not raining and that was a big plus! Will strongly recommend the Royal Hotel in Bora Bora. Fantastic setup, fantastic people!

Earlier in the morning.. or I should say way earlier than sunrise, the roosters that kept us up, ended up right outside our sliding door. I got to drink tea watching them and this cat that wandered around the premises.

The place was full of trees, especially Badam trees.. Told the family they were Badam and they did not believe me. Later we saw a sign naming the trees and was vindicated! The other tree was a “fish poison” tree that is actually toxic to humans. Good they label trees so we learned something.

Here are the photos..

This is a small subset. Had so many good photos did not know which ones to pick..

You can give your camera to any random stranger and get a click and it is frame worthy in this place !!

A video highlights reel..

We had a great dinner after taking pictures. The service was fast on the day after Christmas because they had more staff on hand. We went back to our rooms and went to bed. We had done our exercise for the day in the water..or at least that is how I consoled myself after that heavy dinner and dessert!

Snorkeling with Sharks and Stingrays and a Coral garden - Bora Bora

The previous post from this trip is here..

The plan was to have a nice nights sleep. I had set an alarm for 5:15AM to catch a sunrise while the rest of the family slept till 7AM. However, the roosters started crowing at 3:45! There was no chance of sleep.

So I missed the sunrise.. Later I learned that we don’t actually get to see the sun through the clouds in Bora Bora in December with the clouds.. only a slight increase in purple hues and brightness increase. So I did not miss anything!

When we went for breakfast the place was calm. We did some Yogagraphy. Then I decided to get in the water for an hour. It was great! Then we went back to the room and got ready for an early lunch.

We had booked a snorkeling adventure trip for the afternoon. It is not easy to just look at each other and stay in hotel rooms. The kids were okay with this plan. We had found just 4 spots for the afternoon with Moana Adventure Tours. Will definitely recommend this company if you are looking for a great snorkeling experience.

They picked us up from the hotel and after a 15 minute drive we got introduced to the captain and guides and were off to the reef. First we were in a shallow area with 4-6 feet water where we could snorkel. There were a lot of sharks and one big stingray that went past us.

After this we got back on the boat and went to a place where the water was 6-7 feet deep. This was tricky and some swimming knowledge was necessary to snorkel and not step on the corals in the coral garden. We were told that this is the only company that is allowed access to this garden as they help maintain it.

They did give us inflatable vests to help float. I did get some help from the guide Mr. Tema to maneuver around the corals and not step on them. One of the other tourists on our boat, a couple from San Diego were nice enough to give me a space iPhone waterproof case so I could take videos and photos under the water while snorkeling. That proved to be a challenge but you can see it in the video. Two of the 8 people still managed to get scratches on their legs and bleed. One of them was Jr. who is an expert swimmer. Mr. Tema quickly sprayed them with something that would dissolve any stuck coral and an instant bandage. He was Mr. Ice cool. He also kept telling us “do not pick any shells no matter how pretty they look”.. later he told us about a neurotoxin on the shells and death in 15 minutes if you get stung.. nearest hospital is 45 minutes away. Thought he was kidding. Later I came home and googled it and sure enough, it is called the “cigarette snail” because if you get stung, you may get to smoke one cigarette before you die!

The photos from this amazing experience.

Here is the video highlights. Have edited more than 30 minutes of video clips to this shorter clip… iPhone goes in and out of focus when underwater.. maybe it is my phone that is getting old.. maybe I should have changed some settings before taking it underwater.. best edit I could do in a rush.

Restricting this post just to the morning dip in the lagoon and snorkeling.. The photo shoots of us with Yoga poses and in the evening light at golden hour (no gold colors though) will be in a separate post!

Note to self and others. Remove Rudhraksha beads before you get into salt water. I usually do. For some reason in the excitement forgot. Some of them almost cracked. Now they are going to have to go through some conditioning to save them.