Editor’s note: This is the second of three posts on the Hilton Bora Bora. Check out our other posts here:

• 5 Nights at the Insanely Beautiful Hilton Bora Bora
• The Good and Bad Eats of Bora Bora

Today is a continuation of yesterday’s post on the Hilton Bora Bora. Whereas yesterday I was talking about how to get to this amazing resort, and how beautiful Bora Bora is, today I’ll be discussing what you can actually do there – other than the usual relaxing, eating, and napping, and taking long walks on the beach.

I jest of course, though there are plenty of beaches for strolling if you like that kind of thing. Not those shelly beaches either – these are powdery sandy white beaches!

Diving in Bora Bora

Since Mrs. Selfish and I are both certified divers, we decided a dive in the crystal blue-green waters of Bora Bora was a no-brainer. Unfortunately, options in Bora Bora are pretty limited, with only 4 companies. The 2 larger ones felt a little crowded and impersonal to us, so we ended up going with Dive N’ Smile, which was a one man operation run by Patrick.

Patrick picked us up promptly from the Hilton and suited us up. Not only was his equipment brand new (and very nice!), but he also had steel tanks, which is not something we’ve never seen before.

Although the reefs around Bora Bora are dead, thanks to a hurricane that ripped it up a few years, there is a ton of wild life! We ended up spotting half a dozen lemon sharks, a giant school of blue-spotted eagle rays, and a couple of very active eels.

Visibility was great, the animals were amazing, and the equipment and instruction were on point. Overall this was definitely one of our better dive experiences and I would highly recommend Dive N’ Smile. If anyone is thinking of going, shoot Patrick an email at: diveNsmile@mail.pf.

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Editor’s note: This is the first of three posts on the Hilton Bora Bora. Check out our other posts here:

• Fun in Paradise at the Hilton Bora Bora
• The Good and Bad Eats of Bora Bora

After our evening of cold croque monsieurs in Tahiti, Mrs. Selfish and I awoke early the next day and boarded a plane for Bora Bora, one of the most beautiful (and expensive) places on Earth.

Having read good things about the Hilton Bora Bora, I was anxious to check out our new home for 5 nights – an overwater bungalow in some of the most magnificent waters I’d ever seen. I booked the stay before the Hilton Honors great devaluation using an AXON award and an extra night, so the total came to 195,000 HHonors points.

Getting there and check-in

Getting to Tahiti itself can be quite difficult on miles and points, though flyertalk has several threads devoted to the topic as I mentioned yesterday.

Once you’ve reached Tahiti the intra-island flight from to Bora Bora is costly at roughly ~$450 round trip. Air Tahiti Nui has multiple flights a day starting in the early morning and ending mid-evening, but unfortunately none of these accept points or miles, just cold hard cash.

Pro-tip: Sit on the left side of the plane for stellar views of Bora Bora

After landing, you have two options for getting to the Hilton Bora Bora: a) take Hilton’s fancy speedboat to the property for roughly $125 per person round trip, b) take the boat into Viatape (the main town) and then catch Hilton’s boat from there for roughly $8 round trip. While we chose option B, we ended up giving our bags to crew of Hilton’s speedboat, which they brought to the hotel for us. I highly recommend this option.

Getting to Bora Bora proved more difficult than most destinations: with 2 flights to Tahiti, a plane to Bora Bora, a shuttle boat to Viatape, and a boat to the Hilton Bora Bora, but man is it worth it.

Bora Bora is easily the most beautiful beach destination we’ve ever been to, beating out Koh Samui, Bali, Danang, and Cancun. Since Mrs. Selfish and I wanted to maximize our time at the resort, we took a late-morning flight in, and an early evening flight out and boy was I glad we did, the Hilton Bora Bora is gorgeous.

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