Bora Bora, French Polynesia
Yesterday we were in Bora Bora, also part of French Polynesia. Bora Bora is smaller than Tahiti but more appealing visually. It has resorts, produces various produce, has a fishing industry and lots of tourism of course, and provides its residents with essential services such as schools (including a new high school under construction), post office, a medical clinic, etc., although if other than routine medical care is required the patient must be flown to the hospital in Tahiti since there is no hospital on the island. There is an airport on Bora Bora, one constructed by the U.S. in 1943 soon after we entered WWII, but flights to and from here are only to other islands in the archipelago. Tahiti, on the other hand, has an international airport.
Our time in Bora Bora was delightful, as expected. In the morning we were on a 3-hour "le truck" excursion around the island. I took many of the photos I'm posting here during that excursion. In the afternoon we took a glass bottom boat excursion out in the lagoon. Beautiful scenery everywhere. By the way, all of Bora Bora is surrounded by a lagoon. As a consequence, the color of the water is different from place to place, depending on depth and currents. (It is often a beautiful shade of turquoise.) The only place a ship of our size can enter is through a rather narrow channel dredged by our military in 1943.
So I'll start with our early morning approach to the island.
Here are randomly selected photos of people, places and things we saw during the morning excursion:
Along the way someone even took a photo of us and, later, I took one of Janis.
During the morning excursion, we had a stop at a small outdoor market where we were invited to watch a tie dye demonstration (and then, of course, to purchase tie dyed products):
We had another brief stop where we didn't get out of "le truck" but were invited by our guide to observe large sand crabs crawling out of their holes on the beach in order to pull down and into their holes hibiscus flowers and stems that they apparently love to feed on. Again, I took these photos at a distance and then cropped them to enlarge them. They're not in altogether sharp focus but adequate to show what was going on.
In the afternoon we did the glass bottom boat excursion. As was the case with coral I saw in Tahiti, this coral was also lacking in color. I won't repeat the explanation we were given which I incorporated in my Tahiti blog post. First, a word about our two guides. Both are natives of Bora Bora. The smaller of the two has blue eyes and sun bleached blond hair. He noted that when the American soldiers pulled out after WWII they left behind lots of babies with blue eyes and blond hair. He was undoubtedly refering to his own blood line. George, the big guy, regaled us with stories, played the ukelele and sang songs. When in answer to one of his questions I told him we were from Maine and Florida, he said he loved Florida. I asked him why in the world he would go to Florida when he was surrounded by all this beauty. He said there was nothing to do in Bora Bora and he was bored. Here are a few photos of the guides.
Next, some random photos of coral we saw through the boat's glass bottom. Note the absence of fish.
And some photos through the glass bottom showing fish. The fish appeared only because guide George got in the water and attracted fish to our spot with food (tuna). You'll see him in a couple of these photos.
All good things must come to an end. So we returned to the ship late afternoon, showered, dressed for dinner and joined everyone on board for a Viking Inaugural World Cruise group photo (I expect a series actually, and maybe a video) that was taken by drone with passengers spread out on an number of outside decks. Very festive. We then joined friends in the Explorer Lounge to watch the sailaway. Here's a photo of the last tender being pulled up prior to departure, another of the view from the Explorer Lounge (one of several amazing viewing spaces on the ship) and a final photo of the sunset as we were leaving to go to dinner. (By the way, we are enjoying over 13 hours a day of daylight.)
Today we're at sea. Tomorrow we arrive bright and early in Rarotonga, one of the Cook Islands.
Our time in Bora Bora was delightful, as expected. In the morning we were on a 3-hour "le truck" excursion around the island. I took many of the photos I'm posting here during that excursion. In the afternoon we took a glass bottom boat excursion out in the lagoon. Beautiful scenery everywhere. By the way, all of Bora Bora is surrounded by a lagoon. As a consequence, the color of the water is different from place to place, depending on depth and currents. (It is often a beautiful shade of turquoise.) The only place a ship of our size can enter is through a rather narrow channel dredged by our military in 1943.
So I'll start with our early morning approach to the island.
Once we tendered in, on our way to our first excursion, here was the scene:
Here are randomly selected photos of people, places and things we saw during the morning excursion:
Along the way someone even took a photo of us and, later, I took one of Janis.
During the morning excursion, we had a stop at a small outdoor market where we were invited to watch a tie dye demonstration (and then, of course, to purchase tie dyed products):
We had another brief stop where we didn't get out of "le truck" but were invited by our guide to observe large sand crabs crawling out of their holes on the beach in order to pull down and into their holes hibiscus flowers and stems that they apparently love to feed on. Again, I took these photos at a distance and then cropped them to enlarge them. They're not in altogether sharp focus but adequate to show what was going on.
In the afternoon we did the glass bottom boat excursion. As was the case with coral I saw in Tahiti, this coral was also lacking in color. I won't repeat the explanation we were given which I incorporated in my Tahiti blog post. First, a word about our two guides. Both are natives of Bora Bora. The smaller of the two has blue eyes and sun bleached blond hair. He noted that when the American soldiers pulled out after WWII they left behind lots of babies with blue eyes and blond hair. He was undoubtedly refering to his own blood line. George, the big guy, regaled us with stories, played the ukelele and sang songs. When in answer to one of his questions I told him we were from Maine and Florida, he said he loved Florida. I asked him why in the world he would go to Florida when he was surrounded by all this beauty. He said there was nothing to do in Bora Bora and he was bored. Here are a few photos of the guides.
Next, some random photos of coral we saw through the boat's glass bottom. Note the absence of fish.
And some photos through the glass bottom showing fish. The fish appeared only because guide George got in the water and attracted fish to our spot with food (tuna). You'll see him in a couple of these photos.
All good things must come to an end. So we returned to the ship late afternoon, showered, dressed for dinner and joined everyone on board for a Viking Inaugural World Cruise group photo (I expect a series actually, and maybe a video) that was taken by drone with passengers spread out on an number of outside decks. Very festive. We then joined friends in the Explorer Lounge to watch the sailaway. Here's a photo of the last tender being pulled up prior to departure, another of the view from the Explorer Lounge (one of several amazing viewing spaces on the ship) and a final photo of the sunset as we were leaving to go to dinner. (By the way, we are enjoying over 13 hours a day of daylight.)
Today we're at sea. Tomorrow we arrive bright and early in Rarotonga, one of the Cook Islands.
Love the posts and the pictures! Looks like you guys are having an amazing voyage thus far.
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