by Leanne Guenther

I giggled nervously at Darren as he stared wide eyed out the window of our overwater bungalow into the blackness outside. Furniture rattled around the deck, illuminated briefly by flashes of lightning that showed the shifting positions of chairs, loungers and tables with strobe light effects.

Water streamed through the windows that, though closed, weren’t weather tight enough to keep out the rain or the waves — I’m not sure which.

Every so often the building would shudder against the force of a particularly strong gust of wind, rattling the television set which we’d turned off the moment we arrived in Bora Bora and hadn’t turned on since.

“Do you think I should do something?” Darren asked, glancing at me with concern.

I love Darren dearly and while I appreciated his desire to batten down the hatches, I really couldn’t think what two middle aged accountants from the frozen prairies might be able to do to guard against the elements that seemed suddenly eager to sweep the buildings and tourists from the lagoon that had seemed like a peaceful paradise only a few hours earlier.

“Don your lifejacket, maybe?” I quipped, only half joking. We’d thought earlier that the jackets had been left in our closet in case we felt like snorkelling, but the lack of snorkel equipment and the rising swell out our windows suggested that they may have been left for us for more practical reasons.

Eighteen hours later, the island had returned to the state of idyllic tranquility one expects from photos and tales of French Polynesia and we watched the sun set over Mt. Otemanu while sipping a crisp white wine and sitting on the deck chairs that had woken us with their crashing about the night before.

The following day, teams of workers showed up to rethatch the roof of one of the bungalows a couple doors from ours. Perhaps repairing unexpected storm damage or perhaps just taking care of the normal maintenance required when you work on a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Disclaimer: As always, my opinions are my own. Airlines, hotels or resorts don’t provide me with free upgrades for my articles. No one involved is ever even aware I’m doing it.

You might also enjoy visiting these sections on DLTK's Sites:

• Ocean Crafts and Activities
• Weather Crafts and Actvitites
• More Family Travel Journals