Bora Bora day 1

The name Bora Bora is apparently a European corruption of the Tahitian Pora Pora, meaning “first born.” This refers to the island being the first to be created after Raiatea in Tahitian mythology.

We pulled into Bora Bora around 8:00, which was earlier than the original itinerary time of 11:00. When Pago Pago got nixed we were able to get to French Polynesia a bit faster. We did not do much with that time, however, as we had a ship excursion booked that left at 1:00. So we let the boys sleep in and lounged a bit in the morning, which is something that we very rarely do.

The excursion was a simple glass-bottom boat outing that we’d signed up for because we had extra excursion slots to fill after previous cancellations. You never know about these kinds of outings, but this one turned out to be quite good. First, the location is simply spectacular. Mount Pahia on the main islad dominates the view wherever you are. The lagoon is a patchwork of blues: darker over the rocks and coral; lighter turquoise over the sandy stretches. And everything that is not water is covered in greenery.

Beyond the scenery, we got to see some good sealife through the boat. The highlight was stopping where black-tipped reef sharks and rays gather. We saw probably a dozen sharks and several large rays. Some folks spotted a sea turtle on the trip back to the dock, but we missed him.

With some daylight left we decided to get ourselves out to Matira Beach for some snorkeling. It was only about a 15-minute drive and the beach was beautiful. We grabbed a spot and DJ and I went in with our snorkel gear. He didn’t last long for some reason; I don’t know if he was cold or what, but he left and Liz came in. The snorkeling was quite good, with lots of fish. We also saw a large ray that was a different species from those we saw earlier from the boat. Later on we walked down the beach and met a man who was feeding the rays in very shallow water. We figured he was looking for tips for pictures, but no, he just seemed happy to be doing what he was doing.

With darkness not far off we returned to the dock to tender back to the ship. I’d been fighting a cold for a few days, so we showered and ordered room service for a relaxing evening.Baca lagi