It was a warm Tuesday afternoon as I sat sipping frosty chilled cocktails at Dirty Old Bob’s Bar. The recent tragic pandemic has us locked down and only dreaming of these languorous afternoons. Lacking the baby blue and gin clear seas nearby, who wouldn’t prefer to be stranded on The Brando Island? Panama hat and white linen de rigueur, of course. My pink sandals dangling from the bar stool, I was in a state of bliss. Tropical palm fronds whispering in the sea breeze, interrupted only by birdsong.

What I would give for a seat at the pandanus thatch-roof bar this afternoon!

So many choices, including the Marlon Brando Margarita, each equally energizing and effervescent! Several of the concoctions include island honey from the Tetiaroa hives sprinkled about the neighboring islands.

Rare Ingredients and even more Rarefied Scenery, captivating combinations at The Brando and Dirty Old Bob’s Bar.

Until you are ready to ring me and reserve, you should at least come up to speed on the bar menu. In the meantime, sip an icy cocktail:

Dirty Old Bob Ingredients
2 oz. Jack Daniel’s or favorite Whiskey
11.5 oz. pineapple juice
1/4 oz. lime juice
4 fresh mint leaves
½ half of an egg white
3 drops Angostura Bitters
1 oz. Tetiaroa honey

An epic island retreat, a refresher to remind you of its charms! I’ve never felt so detached, calm and disconnected from the world as I did at this luxurious resort.

From the air, Tetiaroa Island is nary a speck of tall swaying coconut and vivid green palm fronds surrounded by the palest of brilliantly clear turquoise seas visible from your private plane that transports you from Papeete to the private island. Your first glimpse is of startling gem blue seas contrasted by white sandy beaches punctuated with miles and miles of jade green palms – a beautiful necklace of sea surrounding the pristine white beaches. A quick 25 min. hop, just barely skimming above the transparent seas and through huge billowy clouds; before you know it, the short runway appears on the edge of the sandy atoll.

Legends abound about the lure of Tahiti from painters Gauguin and Matisse, to the writers Jack London, Melville and R.L. Stevenson. The brilliant light, the mighty sea and the allure of beautiful Polynesian women enticed many to this balmy paradise. You might be aware and possibly intrigued by Marlon Brando’s tranquil utopia, his paparazzi free hideaway. If you need such distance, this is the most enchanting escape. I truly felt I had left civilization behind – the real world was merely 25-air minutes away, yet it felt a million miles away.

Let me share my visit to this enchanting island, where I fished the flats with Teihotu Brando. https://www.gwenbooks.com/2017/08/the-brando-island-warm-winter-wanderings/

More on Teihotu https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJm4HYR6UjA

Teihotu’s charming daughter Tumi, who works on the island https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PerWfBJjwPQ