Bora Bora -- APR-21

Like all of the Polynesian Islands, Bora Bora was created by a volcano, so peaks from around the crater are prominent.  Unlike the last two islands, though, this one is surrounded by reefs of coral, creating a lagoon all the way around the main island.  The outer reef island(s) is called “Motu(s)”.  The best beaches seem to be on the motus, and also where you find the best hotels.  Many of these hotels have the tiki hut cabins out over the water, and we passed several, ranging from a few hundred dollars per night to a quite a few thousand dollars per night.  (Note, we passed them; we did not stop!)  But this is the place if you want one of those idyllic places where the scenery, water, and beaches complete the tropical fantasy, particularly if money is no object!

Theresa had arranged a tour with a group, which was to take us on a four wheel vehicle ride around the main island and lunch and swim with sharks and manta rays.  The group was large so they split us in two.  We had the truck first.

Our driver was a typical Bora Bora native, shirtless, flip flops, shell necklace, very brown and very round!  He told us there are about 10K people on Bora Bora and “everyone knows everyone else”.  They have an elementary school, a middle school, and a “college” (which is our High School).  Then some students might go to “high school” (our college) on Tahiti.  He was a good tour driver, and gave us little bits of info as we went along, and did not rush anything.  We headed up this track that was once a US Army road.  

During WWII, the US Army built (or rather cleared) a few roads, built the airport, and put 8 gun emplacements on the top of the hill overlooking the lagoon and beyond.  The Japanese never attacked Bora Bora, so there was no fighting.  But the “road” remained, and that’s where we were heading.  Several parts were deep mud, but we chugged through them like it was a normal drive.  Well, the sort of normal where you hold on and get thrashed around like a bar drink before it gets poured!  It was actually rather funny. 

Bouncing along the "road"

View from the top of a hill (at the artist's house)

View from the "King Kong" lookout.

We stopped at a couple of locations, like a bunker, and one of the guns, then near the top at a place he called “King Kong”, a large rock outcrop that looked sort of like a mushroom.

"Lilo" and HIS coconut!

Then we went up to a little house on the hill, where a couple seemed to live there and paint fabric and sell it.  There was a very nice overlook, too.  But the part we liked the most was their dog, Lilo.  He was funny.  He had his personal coconut, and he took it with him everywhere he went.  He would set it down and look at you, but if you thought it was for “fetch”, he would grab it up and make sure you knew it was NOT to be shared!  After a while he started gnawing at it, and would get bored and check us out again.

At the beach waiting for our boat.

At the end of the four wheel tour, we went to the beach to wait for the boat tour.  Both halves of the group took the boat to a spot a few hundred feet from the shore of a motu, where the water was only 3-4 feet deep.  The sand was fine and white.  They said it was perfect for exfoliating, and suggested people grab handfuls, and smear it on, rub a little, and rinse.  It did work pretty well, but would have been much smarter to have NOT done so liberally.  We’ll get to that later!

Our boat tour guide.  Yes, he was playing a ukulele, while driving!

Expensive hotel rooms along the way.

Our lunch location

Our Lunch host, Patrick.
(also featured on Amazing Race)

Then we went to a motu where we would have lunch.  Several tours were going there, and it was probably 100 people or so.  The owner of the tour company was a guy named Patrick, who we were told handed out clues on the Amazing Race, on an episode that aired in January.  We’ll have to go back and look at that!

They opened the pit, by removing several blankets, then several layers of palm branches, and finally revealed the pig on the bottom, surrounded by various vegetables.  The buffet lunch included pork (of course), tuna, mahi mahi, some “lagoon fish”, and taro root (from which poi is made), bread fruit, and banana (cooked) and plantain.  It was all served on a banana leaf on a woven palm “plate”.  The fish was excellent!  The pork was good.  The taro and breadfruit pretty much was tasteless.  Eating cooked bananas (which was sticky, pasty, and gooey) with just your fingers was kind of messy.  There were no napkins, and their idea of washing hands was the same as they washed the “tableware”.  Doing dishes was easy, they simply rinse the leaf plates in the water and let the fish eat up the bits.  They then burn the leaves and reuse the woven parts.

Lunch!

Note the little fish just waiting...to flee!

After about a 2 hour lunch, we headed out on the boat and dropped off the other half to do their truck tour.  The first stop on the boat tour was a snorkeling spot, about 15-20 feet deep.  I’m not really sure how deep, but I could swim down to the bottom in maybe 5-10 seconds, and get back, so it was not too far or too close.  I brought up a handful of sand for Theresa, but she was not very impressed.  There was a lot of coral, and all sorts of fish.  We found several colors of clams, and saw many of them open and close. 

Several clams in the coral.

A better capture of the color.

Then we headed out.  Theresa’s main reason for the tour was to be able to swim with the manta rays.  We thought that was next.  But, we found out the manta rays are only in large groups in the morning, and then fan out on their own.  So, we would not be able to swim with them.  That was disappointing.  And we should have been able to swim with both the manta rays and sharks in the same spot.  But, to see the sharks, we now had to head out past the motus and out of the lagoon into the ocean.  Along the way, we passed a large private yacht, with a helicopter on the back.  The helicopter barely fit!  Anyway, the locals knew that Leonardo DiCaprio was at Bora Bora, and it was suspected that it was his yacht.  We didn’t know for sure, but we assumed it to be so, and waved.  There were people busy doing something on the boat, and we presumed they were staff of some sort. 

They never got closer than about 10 feet.

My water camera battery was nearly dead by the time we got to the sharks, so I only got a few pictures.  Theresa had ZERO interest in getting in, but I was intent on seeing.  So, I promptly got situated and got my pix.  Theresa said the guy chummed the water a bit, then jumped in.  But then his 10-12 year old son chummed it quite a bit more, and soon there were 5 or so black tip sharks (about 2-3 feet long) near us, and a 4 foot lemon shark on the ocean floor just hanging out.  The guide said the sharks were getting aggressive, and we needed to get out.  We headed back to the port, arriving about 15 minutes before the last tender was to depart. 

As we neared the ship, there were two outrigger canoes with a couple of local teenage boys on each, pulled up near our ship, and talking to a handful of teenage girls about 4 decks above them.  Good luck, lads, but if “not a chance” was in the dictionary, it might have this picture to go with the definition!!

We were exhausted, sunburned, and got a quick dinner and off to bed!  We realized it might have been smarter to leave the dead skin on until AFTER we sunburned, not remove it and make the new skin more available to burn!