After the cyclone (and before a tsunami!)

Hey everybody! Sorry for the wait since the last posting (almost a month...). We are now back to Europe, but before sharing our latest adventures in white Denmark, let’s go back to turquoise (sometimes grey...) Polynesia. We’ll also enjoy remembering those holiday moments, when getting back to work on Monday for C...

First of all, at the time of writing these lines, we are relieved to hear from the Polynesian radio that the red alert to the tsunami caused by the earthquake in Chile is now over. Nobody seems to have been hurt, fortunately, although waves up to 4 meters (12 feet) were reported.

Please check back the previous two postings as we have now added photos and a video of our special reporter, commenting live from the cyclone area!

After our cyclone-day inside, things gradually went back to normal. The wind dropped some, it was time to go outside to assess the damages caused by the storms. Many gigantic palm leaves were everywhere, from the roads, to the walkways, to the corals at the bottom of the sea. Where we were, most of the roofs held pretty well. Some of the palm leaf-based roofs of the overwater bungalows got peeled away, especially for the Intercontinental hotel Le Moana, the one we see on several pictures at a distance in the bay. This hotel actually remained closed for two days after the cyclone, because of repairs.

Hence damages on our side of Bora Bora were pretty moderate compared to that on the other side, especially near the main town that faces the only pass to the Pacific ocean. There, the main dock and the roads were flooded and many Polynesians' homes lost their roofs. But by the time we went to town a few days later, pretty much everything had gone back to normal.

So we were happy that this cyclone overall caused “plus de peur que de mal” (more fear than hurt), while sending our warm wishes and support to the families that will need to rebuild part of their homes.