BORA BORA
We arrived and sailed into the protected lagoon this morning at 7am. We will overnight here so spending two days anchored in the calm lagoon.
Historical/Background Info:
Bora Bora
is an island in the leeward group of the Society Islands of French
Polynesia. The island is surrounded by a
lagoon and barrier reef.
Photo of Bora Bora and its lagoon taken from the international space station.
In the center of the island there
are two peaks from an extinct volcano and the highest point is 2400 feet. It is a small island only 6 miles long and 2
½ miles wide.
Bora Bora
is 150 miles northwest of Tahiti and has a population of 9,000. It is a major international tourist
destination know for its luxury resorts, most of them feature water bungalows
built on stilts in the lagoon. The
island’s economy is driver almost entirely by tourism. Snorkeling and scuba diving are very popular
activities. French and Tahitian are
spoken here but due to the high tourism population, many of the natives have
learned English.
Without
doubt this is most beautiful island we have visited on this and many other
cruises. The Hawaiian Islands cannot
come close to this FANTASTIC island. The
many colors of the lagoon water are amazing, breath taking, and mesmerizing. We were here in 2010 & 2017.
LAST EVENING
At 5:15 we had to do a compulsory emergency lifeboat drill as a refresher. They say we need to do one every 30 days.
Our meeting place is in the theater.
New flowers arrived in Papeete and placed in public rooms/bars. None in our suite however.
Terry Bishop and his wife, Julie, saying good bye to Nickie, our outgoing General Manager. Paul, Cruise Director is with her. Nickie is going on vacation but will return later on during this WC.
L to R: Harvey, Richard, and Marcia with us for dinner in Prime 7. Lots of fun and laughs with them.
This piece of art behind Richard is VERY weird for a dining venue. Harvey & Richard do NOT like it so I seated them with their backs to it.
TODAY
Sailing into the lagoon at Bora Bora.
This cruise ship is the Amadea. Under charter by a German company she was built in Japan back in 1991. 604 passengers and crew of 292.
I met in the theater at 9am for my today's tour, "Bora Bora Island by Le Truck". Then had to take the tender ashore for it.
Tenders are being used again today as there is not dock for cruise ships on Bora Bora.
This is my Le Truck. I managed to get a window seat for this 2 1/2 hour tour. There is a road around the coast line of the island and all the people live along it. Inland is mountainous from extinct volcanos and not habitable. The road was built by the United States during WWII as they had a big naval base here. Sea planes were also use during the war. So today's Le Truck ride was much better than the last one as it was cloudy with an occasional light rain. Much cooler today.
Several road side stands.
Not sure what king of sandwich these were but certainly big and looked good.
Our first short stop was at Mama Ruta's. A family run cloth dying business. She demonstrated how they were dyed.
Coconut meat, pineapple, and cantaloupe was available.
On a small island across the lagoon was the Four Seasons Resort with bungalows over the water. You can stay in one for $2000 per night. Other similar resorts were Intercontinental, Le Meridian, etc. The airport was built out on a one of the barrier reefs. So you would have to take a boat to and from the airport to the island. The resorts had their own boat service that was included in the room price. If traveling independently the boat transfer cost approximately $100 per person.
These were used to suspend islander's little boats out of the water so algae would not grow on the bottoms. I must have seen 1000 dogs today. Dogs everywhere!!!
Old banana plantation
Bread fruit tree loaded with bread fruits. The put them on a fire for an hour to burn the outside. Then they remove the inside. They say it tastes like potatoes.
Intercontinental 5 star resort
We stopped at the little white sand beach for photos.
Matira Beach
I thought this interesting with roots coming our of the rock.
The world famous "Bloody Marys". I was here on previous cruises. There is a bar and restaurant here. Many, many stars have visited here.
Bar
Restaurant. It smelled very good here.
Names of all the famous people who have been here.
Across the road I could see our ship.
Mariner
Back on the ship by 12:30 and we headed down to Compass Rose for a bite of lunch. I had the honey mustard glazed salmon with fried rice and asparagus. During lunch most of my photos were downloaded. Still have about ten to go and they were not going in the suite so went down to Coffee Connection where internet was better. While there Massimo, our new General Manager, came by so we had a nice chat. We have know him for many years.
Rebecca not having much luck streaming her soaps this afternoon so she's taking a nap while I work on this blog post.
As I mentioned the food and beverage team is having a Grand Deck Barbeque from 7 to 9pm up on the pool deck. I had photos of it in an earlier post as there was one last segment too. The pool deck is closed now (2pm) so they can clear it and start setting up the tables, chairs, and buffet tables. It is 83 degrees now at 2pm but it will cool off by 7pm. Of course, we will be dining in airconditioned comfort down in Compass Rose, not the BBQ. We have requested special entrees of chicken parmesan for dinner tonight, but here is the menu for today.
Some island singers and dancers are coming on tonight and doing a cultural Polynesian show up on pool deck after the BBQ.
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