Fabulous Activities and Amenities at the St. Regis Bora Bora

~ Chris Wada

We found plenty to do during our five night stay at the St. Regis Bora Bora. While there are paid options, we stuck to the free ones and enjoyed them.

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If you take a look at the St. Regis Bora Bora’s website, you’ll find all sorts of different activities awaiting you. We’ll run down the list of our experiences with each of them and let you know our honest thoughts. We’ll address most activities here, but will cover kid-specific activities in a separate post.

And note that free activities might require reserving a spot in advance. You should check with concierge or your butler if you want to ensure you have a spot.

The Lagoonarium

Let’s start with one of the more advertised activities at the St. Regis Bora Bora: the Lagoonarium. You’ll find it across a couple of short bridges from the main area, away from all the overwater bungalows. The area around the Lagoonarium is where all the land villas can be found.

If you need snorkel gear, head over near the main pool, where the towel hut also stores its snorkels.

The water was plenty warm for us when the sun was out. We saw several others enjoying the Lagoonarium while we were there, but it never got crowded. Be advised there are warnings of lionfish in the water, so it’s preferable to use water shoes. We didn’t encounter any during our time.

I wish the hotels we’ve been to at the Maldives did something like this. The Maldives is a beautiful place, but many resorts don’t have a significant number of fish around their shores. The Lagoonarium does a good job at making sure everyone gets a chance to get up close with the local fish.

Access to the Lagoonarium is through the various ladders you’ll find scattered around the lagoon. It’s best not to just jump in anywhere. As you can see, the fish like to crowd around where the ladders are at.

As with many places around the St. Regis Bora Bora, you’ll often get a great view of Mt. Otemanu peeking up in the distance to say hello.

There is plenty to see when in the water. They are trying to grow coral in these waters and you can see some more established bunches.

The kids loved swimming with the fish, even trying to catch them as they swam by. Of course, they weren’t successful, but not because of a lack of trying.

We could stay down here for hours–and indeed we did. One of the nice features of staying in room 404 was that the Lagoonarium was just outside our room.

If you want fish food, you’ll need to buy it in the Maeva Gift Shop for 2,290 XPF or $20 US.

Marine biologist talk

At scheduled times each week, you could chat with a local marine biologist to learn more about the many fish calling the Lagoonarium home. The talk happens at the hut pictured below at the farthest point from the front desk.

There are over 120 species of fish from 30 families here. You can listen to the prepared presentation, but also ask questions about specific fish you’ve seen in these waters.

It’s nice to have someone knowledgeable around just in case you want to learn more. I think it’s a bit better to get in the water first and have a look around before going to this talk.

The beach and pool

The main beach and pool at the St. Regis Bora Bora are near where most restaurants are located on the island.

The beach

There is a rather large beach along the water near the restaurant area on the island. It’s a well-maintained beach that offers lots of sun and plenty of fun.

The sand here works if you have kids wanting to build a sandcastle. But, again, the suggestion is to wear water shoes to avoid stepping on a lionfish.

Forgot your sunscreen? Not a problem because there is plenty of free sunscreen available (SPF 50).

And if you want to relax in a hammock between four trees, you can do that too here.

Water sports

Right along the beach is the water sports hut. If you go near the hut, you’ll see some signage that describes the rental process. The water activities are open from 8AM to 5PM daily.

Free water activities include snorkeling, kayaks, and stand-up paddleboards. Basically, the stuff without motors.

We would have liked to give it a try, but our schedule was a bit packed and we didn’t get the chance to try.

The pool

If you’re wanting to swim with others, you’ll find the pool next to the Aparima Bar. There is food service available if you’re looking for a relaxing day at the pool. This water is cooler than the ocean water over at the beach, but marginally so. Just be careful getting in as there are varying depths and you might bang your foot if not paying attention.

Yes, as I mentioned above, you can always look around and see Mt. Otemanu. Here, you’ll see it while inside the pool. I appreciate how the resort seems to be maximized with the viewing angles.

If you’re here with little ones, you might be thrilled to know there is a zero-entry access to the pool.

There’s also a swim-up bar in the pool, so if you wanted to dine at Aparima Bar while in the water, you can do that.

Over by the restrooms next to the pool, we did notice quite the pile-up of floaties. Unless I’m mistaken, there are people who leave their floaties behind after coming to the St. Regis Bora Bora. I think all those floatation devices end up out of the way over here.

The bike doctor

Each guest room has its own bikes, with one bicycle for each guest. Should you encounter any problems or need a new bike that fits you better, you can stop by the bike doctor. This hut is located right next to the water sports area.

Champagne sabering

If you enjoy watching a champagne bottle get sabered, this is the place to be. Check the schedule when you check in to see if it will occur while you’re there. We were able to watch it once on the last night of our stay. It started at 5:30PM and ended by 5:45PM, so it goes by quickly.

The demonstration slices through two bottles of champagne (Billecarte-Salmon Le Reserve). The first bottle is demonstrated by the staff, and the second bottle was sliced by someone in the audience. Not sure how they chose the individual as it was already decided when we showed up.

You might ask if you can bring your children to the sabering. Well, I’ll let you know that you can indeed bring children but they won’t be able to have a glass. For some reason, they were concerned they would be forced to drink it because they’re there. Kid logic.

Everyone in attendance gets a free glass. If there are any extras, you can have another glass.

Coconut demonstration on Motu Iti

Motu Iti in the Tahitian language roughly translates into “small island”. If you’re a fan of Moana, you would know that she came from the island of Motunui, which means “large island”. So in some ways, you’re visiting the smaller version of Moana’s island.

Motu Iti is located near the beach mentioned above. There isn’t normally all that much to do on the island aside from lounging on a hammock out in the middle of the ocean.

In any event, there are occasional activities hosted here, such as this coconut demonstration. This ended up being the most interesting of the free activities at the St. Regis Bora Bora. We’ve done other coconut demonstrations before, but this presenter had quite a bit of charm and humor that made the presentation quite enjoyable.

He demonstrated the proper technique for opening up the coconut to extract its interior. We even got to see him open one with just his bare hands. Quite impressive! You’ll know if you’re extracting the flesh of the coconut correctly based purely on the sound it makes as you scrape.

The in-depth explanation also went into how to extract the milk, some Tahitian lore, and some warnings. While you might think you can drink any coconut milk, do so in moderation. It is at least partially a laxative. And the coconuts that have sprouted with no bumps are just pure laxative at that point. You have been warned.

We all received some fresh coconut to eat. Jenn and I found it quite delicious while the kids passed on it. Not only did we try the ripe coconut, we also got to sample coconut foam from that same coconut that sprouted. The foam has a unique consistency–very much like you’re eating foam instead of coconut–and it was great to give it a try.

Making flower hats and the concierge desk

Flower hat demonstration

Over in the Bridal is the flower hat demonstration, which is located near the front desk. This, along with all other activities we did on the St. Regis Bora Bora island, was free. We ended up showing up a little late because it took a little longer to get there than we thought it would take. Oops.

Once there, we learned the proper way to weave the local flowers into the ribbon to make a beautiful headdress. This was perhaps Char’s favorite activity since she is very much into arts and crafts. It also gave us a chance to chat with other guests as we weaved our flower hats.

The final step was just to tie off the ends, and it was a success. We only ended up making three as they were running out of flowers for everyone. But it was a fun class and we’re glad to have done it. Even Alex had fun.

The concierge desk

Right next to the Bridal is the concierge desk. You could just use it as a chance to chat with the hotel concierge, but there are some games inside too.

Examples include this tic-tac-toe game.

Or you can play chess.

And you can also play billiards. We hung out here only for a short time, but it’s nice to have a place to be social and play games. It would be nice if they had more to do in here, but it’s still better than nothing.

Fitness center and tennis court

The fitness center

Head over towards the Lagoonarium and you’ll stumble across the fitness center. Somewhat surprisingly, we didn’t see it used at all during our stay. Access is granted via your keycard whenever you want to work out.

Inside is plenty of exercise equipment. There are plenty of different types of machines at your disposal.

Or you can go with the free weights.

The tennis court

Right next to the fitness center is the tennis court. To play here, you’ll need to make a reservation either through your butler, the concierge, or with the front desk. Time slots are for an hour at a time. You’ll pick up the equipment at the front desk, which is also where you’ll return the equipment.

The kids made for fun doubles partners. It was their first time playing and, as you might imagine, they struggled to return a serve. It would have been more fun for them to play pickleball, but all that was available was tennis.

Right by the entrance to the tennis court is a much-needed water fountain. There’s also a notice to wear the appropriate footwear. I’ll just say it’s not strictly enforced by anyone, but for the sake of reducing the likelihood of injury, you probably should abide.

We had fun out here for an hour. During this time, we noticed Marion, one of our two butlers, drive by on a buggy. She stopped the vehicle and waved at us, prompting a wave back. She then watched us for a short while, which was sweet to have an audience. Seriously, I said it before, but we loved our butlers Chloé and Marion.

The spa

Going full circle on activities at the St. Regis Bora Bora, the spa is located in the center of the Lagoonarium. To access it, just head across one of the two bridges to the island in the middle.

The entryway to the spa makes you feel like you’re on your way to a relaxing time. We didn’t have time for an appointment at the spa (in large part because there is no kids club anymore to allow us to get away). But despite no appointment, you can just stroll right on in to enjoy the area.

Just past the entrance are some single-seater pods in case you’re here solo.

And there are plenty of lounge chairs available if you want to stretch out and relax.

There is a very small beach at the spa, but don’t expect it to be one where you can play in the sand. Besides, kids are a bit too noisy for the area. There is a ladder leading into the Lagoonarium from his beach too.

I did spy the rest of the family posing for a picture from across the lagoon. That’s nice of them to wait for me while I checked out the spa. In short, I’m sure much of the enjoyment from the spa comes when getting a service. It’s nice to relax here if you have an overwater bungalow, but with a land villa, we had ease to just go back to our room to relax. To each their own.

Closing thoughts on the activities and amenities

We found some good enjoyment out of the activities at the St. Regis Bora Bora. While there are plenty of paid options available, we were quite satisfied with all the free ones we did. In particular, the Lagoonarium was our favorite feature of the resort, with the coconut demonstration being our favorite activity.

For a five night stay, there was plenty for us to do, especially with mixing in the paid excursions we did, which we’ll get to in a future installment. Ultimately, we were fairly satisfied with the options provided and things definitely weren’t boring.

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