“Majestic mountains sculpted by ancient volcanoes, a shimmering lagoon and a barrier reef dotted with tiny motu, or islets – welcome to Bora Bora, perhaps the most stunning island in the South Pacific. Only 4,600 people live a seemingly idyllic lifestyle in the main villages of Vaitape, Anau and Faanui. No wonder those generations of travelers – including novelist James Michener – regarded Bora Bora as an earthly paradise.
Connected to its sister islands by water and by air – the landing strip sits atop Motu Mute, one of the reef’s islets – Bora Bora remains relatively unspoiled by the modern world.” – The Princess Patter
After two days in port in Los Angeles and eight days at sea, we have finally reached our first port: Bora Bora. While we were at sea we had plenty to keep us entertained. Frances took a Pilates class. We both went to the gym every day. We formed a trivia team with a couple seated at our dinner table (we haven’t won a contest yet but we’re optimistic.). There were afternoon movies and every night there has been a musical and/or comedy show in the ships cabaret. None-the-less is was great to finally catch sight of land and what a beautiful little Island Bora Bora is.
After the ship dropped anchor, we went ashore to see what the little village had to offer. We had some time to kill as our tour wasn’t for about three hours. As it turned out, they had shops selling black pearls to left and shops selling black pearls to the right. Same with the other side of the street. We traipsed through the town even though it was hot and humid but, by the time we had done both sides of the only street, we were hot and tired. So, we decided to return to ship where we rested and cooled off for about an hour and a half.
At 3:30 in the afternoon we were ready for our tour – a trip around the island on a vehicle referred to as ‘le truck’. They are flatbed trucks with a compartment constructed on the flatbed fitted with seats and open windows. Not the most elegant or comfortable transport but they served the purpose. The tour guide sat in the cab with the driver and gave commentary through a totally inadequate sound system. None the less, the beauty of the island was it own treat and was certainly worth the bumpy ride. I’m not sure that I know a lot more about Bora Bora except that it is lush and it is beautiful. At the end of the tour we stopped at “Bloody Mary’s Bar” named after the Michener character from “South Pacific”. It was interesting. We both had a soda.
Before we pulled anchor in the lagoon surrounding Bora Bora, I got a couple of very nice pictures of the sunset.
