Bora Bora

We have two days in Bora Bora, an island 15 miles northwest of Taha’a.

The sunrise was visible through some clouds, then it started raining around 6:30 am.

Our first day we have a snorkel safari with stingrays at 8:45 am. It was canceled due to the winds stirring up the sand in the water, so you can’t see much. All the snorkeling tours were canceled, the land and diving tours did go.

We went to town and walked around. It had rained overnight, so there were many puddles and mud. Lots of cars driving the one road through town and there isn’t much of a place to walk beside the road, especially when cars park on what little space there is. Lots of shops selling pearl jewelry.

We took a road next to the church that went up towards the base of the cliff in the photo above.

It rained for 15-45 minutes several times throughout the day.

Donna went to a jewelry making class that used fishing line and little shells to make a necklace and a bracelet.

I worked on a puzzle that reminded me of a Stave puzzle. Elephants in psychedelic colors with India inspired patterns. It was a surprise for the others as they hadn’t done anything like it, and it took a while to get the hang of the weird shaped pieces.

They took everyone to a Polynesian Feast & Fire, a buffet and song and dance show, on a small island nearby, Motu Tapu. The island is run by the nearby Conrad resort, they rent it out to the cruise ships.

Not much of a sunset because of the clouds.

It did spit a few raindrops while there, but mostly held off. They did fire dancing with batons.

Day 2 of Bora Bora

The wind has died down so that the snorkel trips are running today. We had a snorkel trip that went to several sites around the island. We first stopped on the west to see Manta Rays at a place where cleaner fish hang out. The Manta Rays come here to get parasites cleaned off. I was in a hurry to get into the water as the boat was small and I was blocking others behind me, I slipped into the water with my phone in my pocket, but realized it a minute later and got it back on the boat. When we got back on the boat after seeing the Manta rays, I took it out of the case and poured fresh water on the ports and buttons and turned it off. Dried it off and put it in the duffle. The phone survived its dip in the ocean.

Next, we went around to the west side of Tu’opua to see eagle rays. The water was quite cloudy with stirred up sediment and there were broken clouds that blocked the sun. There were 15 or so eagle rays down about 40 ft so they were hard to see. They also were leaving the area, so you only had a minute or two to see them. Donna never spotted them, and my video is out of focus with all the sediment.

Then up to the coral garden by the airport. It had some colors, especially purple, much of what we’ve seen in the past is very dull. This is an area that has had coral restoration work done.

The small giant clams can be colorful and even next to each other can have different colors.

It was raining on the southwest corner which would have been another chance to see eagle rays, but everything in the boat would have gotten soaked. We went to a sandy area next to a resort and relaxed in the water for a while.

Then we got back to the ship and ate lunch. The Aranui passenger/cargo ship was anchored nearby. It travels to islands that Windstar doesn’t, but sometimes the stops are fairly short, only enough time to load/unload cargo.

I worked on a puzzle while we waited for lunch to settle, I had to start one, which was number 17 on this cruise.

We then went down to the marina on the back of the ship and swam a bit and lounged on the floating chairs. I did swim a few laps, but going against the current was hard work and the waves were bad enough that I got a few mouthfuls of salt water.

Then we got cleaned up and went to dinner at Basil and Bamboo for the last night. Sat next to a couple that went on the snorkeling tour with us today. We started a photo circle for the group.

Then up to the dessert party on deck 7 at 8:30 pm. We watched the band for a bit, but it was loud.