Dennis & Christine: A Heavenly Proposal

At Pacific for Less get many stories from our customers after their trip to let us know what a fantastic time they had and the amazing memories they brought home with them. But once in a while we get a story that stands out, one of those goose bump stories that is in a category of it's own, one we look back on and feel so special to have been a part of. Dennis & Christine’s surprised mariage proposal on the island of Tupai is one such story, the kind that touches the heart and soul, the kind that lives on forever...

Dennis: We arrived at the St. Regis Bora Bora, greeted right off the boat by two butlers, flowers for both of us, and a refreshing glass of cold ginger tea – how nice! We were taken to our Royal Overwater Villa, unbelievable! Two bedrooms, two baths, large living room, incredible overwater pool, two terrace gazebos to enjoy, and a stunning view of the lagoon and mountain – We had made it to Heaven!

Our first day was spent just chilling at the pool and lagoon...Dinner that night was at the sushi restaurant, really nice food. The next day Christine went to a yoga class while I ran on the treadmill and then we had our couples massage – fantastic! So good we booked another 80 minute massage, with the same two masseuses, for the day before we left. Christine then did a refresher scuba dive and I made some plans for Saturday.

The biologist excuse - I met up with Clement, the concierge at the St. Regis to make sure everything was lined up for the helicopter arrival the next morning – we weren’t sure how to get Christine to the helipad without her figuring out that something was up – I had heard that there was a marine biologist that came to the St. Regis to check everything in the lagoonarium, twice a week, so I suggested, since I am a wildlife biologist, how about I tell Christine that I met the marine biologist on Friday afternoon, and that on Saturday morning, we have a butler come to us at breakfast and say that the marine biologist has found something really cool and maybe I’d like to go and see it, and they would take us over to the helipad where we would supposedly meet the marine biologist – we even practiced our “lines”!

Saturday morning showtime! I woke up, during the night, probably 3-4 times worrying about the plan and if she would say yes!!! The alarm went off and we were up to make it to breakfast (by the way, the St. Regis breakfast is really nice) and, while Christine showered, I packed the good camera in a St. Regis bag and some clothes over top of it so she wouldn’t wonder why I was bringing the good camera to breakfast. Off we went and when we arrived, I noticed another butler checking me out, so I waited until Christine went back to the table, then I approached him and he whispered that the helicopter was delayed until 10h00 (a medical emergency, yikes!). Finally, at about 10h00, I saw Fanny (one of the butlers) drive up close to the breakfast area and start to walk towards me – she came to the table, said “Are you Mr. Hosack?”, “yes, why?”, “the marine biologist has called us to say she found something she thinks you’d be interested in, would you like to come with me and see it?” – I said “oh, wow, that’s nice, shall we go?” – Christine then said, “maybe I should just meet you over there” – huge frowny face from Fanny (as if to say, that wasn’t part of the plan), and I quickly said “no, just come along, this might be really cool” and she agreed. The helicopter landed, and Christine said “hmm, there are no passengers?” – finally the pilot got everything shut down and got out, walked a bit towards us, and then motioned to come on over – I looked at Christine and said “Let’s take a ride” – she was stunned, and said “really, you are crazy”, but already had her hand in mine and was ready to go.

Off to Tupai... We hopped in, with the photographer in as well (I told her, that Pacific 4 Less had asked if he could come along to get some pictures for the website). The pilot was super friendly, and we just lifted off and headed towards Tupai – everyone had headphones on so we could communicate and the pilot pretty much was quiet, except for pointing out some landmarks to us – we could finally see Tupai, Christine taking pictures, the photographer taking pictures of us with Tupai in the background, out of the window. We then circled Tupai, and swooped in to land on the beach of Tupai. It is simply the most beautiful spot I have ever been in!

The Proposal - The pilot shut the chopper down and I asked if it was ok if we walked around a bit – he said “Of course, the island is yours right now!!!”. Sandals off, and we started walking down the beach, hand-in-hand. The photographer stayed back and was busily appearing to be taking pictures of the chopper, the pilot, and the island. Christine and I made our way down the beach, just laughing and smiling about how lucky we are in our lives...

I noticed a spot, a couple hundred meters down the beach, where the sand extended a bit into the ocean and decided that would be the spot. We stopped and took some pictures and then continued towards the spot I had picked. I made some hand motions to the photographer to indicate that the spot was just ahead and he was getting ready back some distance, staying very well out of the way and not causing any concerns from Christine. We walked into the ocean a bit, then I asked her to stay while I went and got the camera, but then I asked her to walk back a bit closer, then closer still, and when she was just in front of me, I dropped, in the water, to one knee and told her that she makes me happier than I have ever been and I would be like to marry her if she would agree – she said “Yes, are you sure???” She then kissed me and that was the beginning of the rest of our lives together! We walked back down the beach, the pilot had retrieved the champagne cooler stand that they had stashed before coming to get us and the photographer had already dropped in the bottle of Dom Perignon that they had grabbed from our room earlier in the morning, while we were at breakfast! The pilot opened the champagne for us and poured us, in glasses with flowers around them, a glass each. Now, I know there are more romantic people in the world than me, however, there is nothing that has ever happened to me or that I have ever been a part of, that compares to the romanticism of asking the perfect woman to marry me in that place, at that time, with everything that had to happen to make it occur.

We will never forget everything that the Pacific for Less staff did for us - It really makes the beginning of our life together special, and certainly has started that life on an incredible start.

It was just the best – best holiday, best location, best people, best woman, and most importantly, the best answer!!!

Dennis & Christine