Barack and Michelle Obama Leave Tahiti as They Continue Post-White House Tropical Tour
Temperature 82 degrees with occasional clouds, and lagoon waters, clear as paradise… the Obamas are wrapping up their month-long vacation in French Polynesia.
On Sunday, Tahiti television station TNTV revealed photos of Michelle Obama paddleboarding while the Barack swam in a Polynesian lagoon.
The pictures were taken on the island of Moorea by fellow vacationers, who spotted the laid-back couple using a small boat for a late morning excursion. They were escorted by two other boats with their security detail, the station says.
Earlier last week, the former president was seen snorkeling around the outer atoll of Fakarava.
“True to his reputation, he was very relaxed,” the report says. The former first couple posed for selfies with anyone who asked, though “his entourage insisted the photographs be only for private use,” TNTV reports.
The couple have been staying out of the public eye at The Brando, the super-private luxury hotel on Tetiaroa, the South Pacific island bought in 1967 by Marlon Brando as a personal retreat.
Obama is working on his White House memoirs while relaxing at the ultra-private South Pacific resort which boasts white sand beaches, natural forest, and a sea tortoise reserve, the Washington Post reports.
Stressing Brando’s desire for an eco-preserving environment, the resort is powered by solar energy and coconut oil. Each of its 35 villas is air conditioned by a sea water system and each has its own private beach and pool.
Voted ‘Best Resort In The World’ by Condé Nast Traveler in 2016, rates at The Brando run $2,750 to $13,000 per night. In November, Leonardo DiCaprio celebrated his birthday in the hotel.
Obama was invited to visit French Polynesia by the island nation’s president, Edouard Fritch, during a White House encounter in August 2016.
Following their post-White House vacation with Richard Branson in the British Virgin Islands and a March stopover in Hawaii, the Obamas headed to French Polynesia on March 15.
Local authorities refused comment when the Obama’s Gulfstream G550 jet touched down on Tahiti at Faa’a Airport, March 15, and the former president’s visit to the capital island was brief, involving a quick transfer to much smaller aircraft.
The Brando, 35 miles from Tahiti, is reachable only by two-engined Air Tetiaroa planes or by boat.
Upon return, the former president is expected to resume a somewhat more active schedule. Plans have been announced for him to address a charity dinner in Scotland on May 26, the British press had reported.
