For most of us a week or more in a stylish Tahitian over water bungalow is the ultimate extravagance. Just you, your significant other and the gently lapping, calm, crystal clear, turquoise waters of the Pacific surrounding your slice of paradise.
2017 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the distinctive overwater bungalow, and some of Tahiti’s magnificent 5-star properties are celebrating with panache.
Tahiti Over Water Bungalows
In Eisenhower’s conservative America, James A. Michener’s short story collections, such as Tales of the South Pacific, inspired some Americans to consider abandoning their day jobs and escaping to a tropical idyll. It was then that three Californians – a stockbroker, a lawyer and a salesman traded the daily grind for the treasures of Tahiti.
Jay Carlisle, Hugh Kelley and Don ‘Muk’ McCallum took the plunge. Hugh had crewed a yacht across the Pacific and found a vanilla plantation on Moorea. After the price of vanilla crashed, the trio met a local politician with a run-down hotel. They made a deal and secured coveted 5-year visas and 4 bungalows that had seen better days.
By day they repaired their hotel and by night they partied. Hard.
Tahiti wasn’t really on the map, and pre-jet travel meant they struggled to find guests despite being located just 12 miles from Papeete. They named their hotel after Michener’s fictitious island, ‘Bali Hai’. And, the legend of the ‘Bali Hai Boys’ soon spread.
Famed photojournalist Carly Mydans detoured after his Life Magazine assignment to stay a night with the boys. He stayed for three weeks.
In December 1962, pictures of the three living the good life in Life made them overnight celebrities and reservations took off.
Soon, the resort expanded to 65 units, and they bought more properties. In 1967, they built their first overwater bungalow in the lagoon of Raiatea. They adapted the traditional Polynesian pandanus-leaf thatched roof hut and built three on the water’s edge to give their guests direct lagoon access. The accommodation landscape (or should that be horizon) was never the same again.
Fast-forward to the 21st century, and there are more than 900 overwater bungalows scattered across Tahiti’s 118 islands. Most are lavishly appointed, with some featuring ‘Tahiti TV’—glass floors and insets to watch the sea life below. There is also the last of the ‘Bali Hai Boys’ resorts—Club Bali Hai Moorea Hotel.
InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa
The InterContinental Bora Bora is celebrating the anniversary with the unveiling of new pool villas and Brando Suites to join the 80 spacious, contemporary overwater villas.
The Brando Suites feature large terraces and private outdoor pools, and they offer breathtaking views of Mt Otemanu. King-size beds and bathtubs are positioned to take in the views of the lagoon and the island.
Sofitel Moorea Ia Ora Beach Resort
Nothing says romance quite like a heart-shaped island. Moorea is endless cornflower skies, hypnotic blue lagoons, and warm breezes … you get the picture. The Sofitel Kia Ora Beach Resort is all that and more.
The French do know a thing or two about the art of living. Wine and food experiences are part of the Sofitel DNA. Former private chef to Francois Mitterand and Bill Clinton, Guillaume Burlion has also worked alongside the legendary Joel Robuchon and Paul Bocuse. The Ia Ora Beach cellar is considered one of the finest in the South Pacific.
The overwater bungalows do come complete with the aforementioned Tahiti TV and every amenity against a backdrop of white sand and rugged green mountains.
Club Bali Hai Moorea Hotel
Although not the property where it all began, the Club Bali Hai is still owned and operated by two of the surviving Bali Hai Boys. The trio took over the hotel in 1982.
Part-time-share, part hotel, the property sits on the eastern side of Cook’s Bay, surrounded by picture-perfect Gauguin views. What’s missing in luxury touches is more than made up for with charm. Muk McCallum still holds court most nights, telling stories and sharing his love for Moorea.
Club Bai Hai Moorea Hotel features all of the natural splendour that the big resorts share without the price tag. http://www.clubbalihai.com/
Perhaps, if I could turn back the clock, I’d make it June, 1963. I had just come back to the States from a diving-for-diamonds expedition to British Guiana, was home in West Los Angeles, and decided to go to Tahiti and Moorea. Also, I had only recently seen the Bali Hai Boys spread in Life Magazine and was very much impressed. Have been back only twice, and would like to go again! That first time, I ‘fell’ hard for a young Tahitian lass, stayed, besides in Papeete for a buck fifty, also at the Hotel Eimeo in Moorea, which later became the last of the Bali Hai Boys properties – their only remaining one. Most of the time in Moorea back then I spent at the Bali Hai Boys’ first property which had a noisy generator accompanying each very small bungalow, and it was programmed to shut off at 9 p.m.! Suddenly, I was left all soaped up in the shower with no electricity. The predicament made me laugh out loud. I was invited to stay in the hillside home of a European who spoke good English (Swish, as I recall) but I refused, thanking him. He was probably all of 55 or so but seemed rather old to me, as I was barely 22. I did ask him if he was happy that he came over to Moorea something like 40 years before 1963 and he said, “No”. He eventually had his own little “motel” of sorts called “Motel Albert”. It was the romantic scenery which outdid every place I’d ever been (except maybe for Yosemite). plus the little Tahitian girlfriend that I was serious about (thought of returning to her and wrote, but never heard back, once I Ieft. She cried heavily and continuously at my departure. The “little things meant so much: the two of us sitting on the edge of a tiny pier with our feet in the lagoon – splashing the water and making the reflecting sunlight ripple. Or taking a walk into the interior, perhaps awesomely stand before those stone pillars that Chiefs would, in ancient times, lean against and conduct their own religious practices. There’s an old song called “I Left My Heart In San Francisco”. If the beautiful word MOOREA were to supplant “San Francisco”, that song might be my long-time lament.
I’ve always loved the Bali Hai beginnings. Actually, I was one of their first guests, so long ago – in June of 1963! Have returned twice and Still wish to go back. Jay was “hawking” on the Papeete waterfront for passengers to Moorea in a little boat that also hauled a couple of pigs. Arriving at the Bali Hai dock, Hugh was sitting on a fence, plucking a ukulele with a big smile on his face. Muk seemed a little more serious (in the beginning, anyway) and was very helpful. Life, back then, was idylic! Cherished memories.
It’s the end of an era. Don “Muk” McCullum has passed away.
We spent our honeymoon with the Bali Hai boys in Dec. 1975
My bride and I actual stayed in the Lagoon Bungalow on Raiataea !
The Honeymoon Suite ! Fantastic memories as we all fade into
The Sunset ✝️?❤️
I visited Moorea in April 1966. I was with my parents. We actually stayed in Papeete, but visited the island of Mooreaa a few times. Even in Papeete, there were no hotels. We stayed in a thatched hut with screening all around to keep out the bugs. Maoorea was a beautiful tropical place, I remember talking to the boys I remember them complaining to me that they had to do the heavy work themselves because they couldn’t get locals willing to work that hard. They explain why should they work hard when all they want is beer money. Everything else they already had, the boys worked very hard to get that hotel built .
I also have to comment on Quinn‘s bar in Papeete. Some people call it the toughest bar in the world. There is a book by that name. I saw the governors daughter get into a brawl with one of the waitresses. This was a time when the French foreign Legion was in Tahiti because France was exploding nuclear bombs at this time in the Pacific.
I’m glad all the boys hard work paid off..
In the early ,70s, an airline friend & I went to Moorea – maybe 10 days? I ended up spending close time with the 3rd Bali Hai boy, Hugh Kelly…. So fun, he let me drive his old VW around the island whenever i wanted to, so we got to see lots of that gorgeous island, No cell phone cameras back then, so very few photos. Every other year the TransPac Cross-pacific yacht race went to Tahiti instead of Hawaii, & we were lucky to be there for that. I was invited to the winner’s celebration on Papeete – what a night! A couple days later. Hugh led us on an adventure to gather island fruit for the making of an alcoholic Mai Tai type of drink in big barrels, to be drank by the sailboat Captains from the TransPac who were competing in the “Bali Hai” race to Raitea, Huahini & ?. They had to to Drink the concoction before swimming out to their sailboats, & begin their “Bali Hai” race. It was so exciting! After the sailors returned, i was invited to sail to the Society Islands, but I had to decline.
A year later, Hugh Kelly asked me to meet him & the Islanders he was bringing to Utah for skiing- none of the islanders he brought had ever seen snow! Afterward, i returned to my Bay Area airline life & never saw Hugh again. Last year, i learned he died & is buried in his island element on Moorea. What a wonderful life Hugh, Muk & Jay had – and what an adventure I had as a young gal at the original Bali Hai, Moorea💕