Source: Moon Tahiti Guide
Source: Moon Tahiti Guide
Bora Bora. I don't think that there is any other island on this itinerary that is more anticipated than this one. This is the island that inspired Michener's Tales of the South Pacific, the basis of the musical South Pacific and the setting of the mythical Bali Hai.
We set the alarm again today, but this time for 6am. Again, no matter; we were up before it sounded (but we're sleeping a little later each day...progress!), but when we went up to Deck 9 and peeked out toward the pool, it was discouraging to see that it was pouring and the ship was surrounded by fog. Still, by the time we had a cup of coffee in the Panorama Buffet, the sky began to clear as the Pacific Princess slowed considerably to make its way through a break in the wide, shallow reef which is the only opening into the Bora Bora lagoon, Teavanui (Tay-ah-VA-nwe) Pass. We made our way to the open deck on the front of the ship where port lecturer Douglas Pearson was once again holding court, educating interested passengers on what we were seeing and how it all came to be.
The peak of chimney rock Mount Otemanu, 2384 feet tall, was still in the clouds, but the rain had, at least temporarily stopped. Occasionally we'd see a glimmer of sun break through the clouds and when that happened the clear blue water in the lagoon took on its characteristic iridescent shimmer of varying hues of blue. Since my first visit here in 2004, I've called that color Bora Bora blue. As we approached the island, a recording of Bali Hai was being played on the open decks. Fun!
The Pacific Princess anchored off the village of Vaitape on mainland Bora Bora (just 5 miles long and 2.5 miles wide, home to about 9000 people), and tender service was begun. G and I headed down to breakfast in the Club Restaurant with Douglas and his sister Margo, who is visiting him from England for a few cruises, and the two of them kept us thoroughly entertained (and significantly educated) about all things French Polynesian while we ate.
G and I made our way to the Vaitape pier on a tender about 9am. As we stepped off the tender, we were each greeted with a tiare flower that tonight is still fragrant in our cabin. We had no firm plans for the day, and the weather was just questionable enough for us to not want to commit to taking a $5pp each way shuttle to Matira Beach (the only beach on mainland Bora Bora). There are plenty of tours available right on the pier; there is one that is $80pp for the standard snorkeling with stingrays and sharks and coral gardens experience that several of our fellow passengers took today and recommend. Twice before when we've been here we did all day tours doing just that plus a motu picnic with Top Dive. We have a snorkel trip/motu picnic planned with the famous Bora Bora Patrick (not to be confused with the Tahiti Patrick) later in our trip, plus a jet ski excursion another time. We're hoping that those days offers little better weather than we experienced this morning.
Still, we wanted to do something and so we hopped on the free ferry to the Bora Bora airport on Motu Mute (MOO-tay). The upper deck of the ferry offered gorgeous and differing views as we circled around the northwest part of Bora Bora, and, once on Motu Mute we were able to walk along the spit of sand fronting the lagoon and get some sunny photos of the opposite side of Mount Otemanu from where the Pacific Princess is anchored. We watched the small inter-island Air Tahiti flights (not to be confused with Air Tahiti Nui which operates the international routes) land and take off. With each arrival, the ferry makes another run from the airport to Vaitape, though most of the resorts located on the various motus run their own boats from the airport.
This airstrip was originally built by Americans in 1943 as part of an American base established here just two months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. There are still American gun installations around Bora Bora, intended to keep watch over the valuable island access via Teavanui Pass, though they are only reachable by 4WD. While the Germans reached the island in WWI, the Japanese never did in WWII.
Mount Otemanu as seen from Motu Mute
Look at that water color!
We eventually took the 15-minute ferry ride back to Vaitape (and were recorded saying "Bonjour" and "Bienvenue à Bora Bora" for a French documentary film crew while on the upper level with the island behind us...always an adventure!). We purchased 60 minutes of wifi for 500 CFP at the Vaitapi Visitors Center on the pier, but should have saved our money...the only saving grace is that the login and password are good on several other islands too, so we'll try again another time. I took a minute to look at the shell jewelry being sold on the pier (I was hoping for Tiare perfume, but found none) and then we made our way back to the ship on a 10-minute tender ride. It was fun to watch the locals in outrigger canoes paddle toward each tender, and then paddle madly to surf in its wake. Over and over again they did this, all afternoon, and while we watched some get tipped over by the wake, most would ride the crest back to the pier or ship. It started to rain again while we were in the tender, and that kind of set the tone for the next couple of hours. We returned to our cabin to get dried off and cleaned up and went up to the Panorama Buffet for a quick late lunch.
A rest was in order this afternoon in the hope that we'd be able to stay up until at least 11pm (the latest so far!) for the Tropical Deck Party being held tonight. It continued to drizzle on and off all afternoon, and Mount Otemanu disappeared and reappeared over and over again with each shower, right outside our cabin porthole.
G took a few minutes to use a hot tub (and get that 3:30pm ice cream available in the buffet!) while I showered and got ready for the evening. We stopped into the Elite lounge for a few minutes (just 'cause the view was so amazing!) and then headed down to dinner. In the Club Restaurant, all the waiters were wearing wildly varied topical shirts in preparation for tonight's party, and passengers are similarly dressed. I can't help but imagine that the waiters, though they probably dislike having to work the special dessert buffet that will be available from 10:15pm to 11pm, must enjoy not wearing jackets and ties while serving dinner.
We are skipping the show tonight (a female vocalist) and instead taking a tender back to the Vaitape pier, to go to the famous Bloody Mary's for a drink before the deck party later. We will awaken tomorrow with gorgeous Mount Otemanu right outside our porthole and another day in paradise.
Life is soooo good. :-)