South Pacific - Bora Bora - Paradise and more paradise
Written: Jul 14 '00 (Updated Jul 14 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Gorgeous island! Great lagoon
Cons: Tourist influence
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| Jennlee.2's Full Review: Bora Bora |
I visited the South Pacific in March/April of 2000 and have been writing reviews about the various islands and my cruise. For more information, check my profile for my other reviews:
Huahine - True South Pacific Paradise,
Moorea - Gorgeous tropical paradise,
Renaissance Cruises Tahiti - affordable island paradise (Seeing a trend here? Paradise!),
and Tahiti - good initiation to French Polynesia.
These South Pacific islands are as close to paradise as you can come on this earth. They are also relatively accessible. For such an exotic destination, you can visit them fairly easily. If you're going to visit I recommend a cruise or a package tour that is all inclusive.
Author James Michener described Bora Bora as "the most beautiful island in the world" and he was right! Of all the islands I experienced it is the most beautiful. If I was going to go back to just one island it would be Bora Bora (Moorea is a very close second). The remnants of an old, eroded, volcano developed an amazing reef fringing the island. The island contains three craggy peaks springing up from the lush rainforest. The lagoon encompasses the island completely, and the water is shallow, calm, and a thousand shades of blue in the tropical sun. The waters are so warm and calm it is like swimming in a heated pool. Most hotels on Bora Bora do not have swimming pools because the lagoon is so nice. Many hotels have bungalows out over the water.
Bora Bora, one of the Leeward Society Islands, is a very small island. The road which encircles it is only about 29 kilometers long! Settlements are around the rim of the island, and the main town is Vaitape. The population is only about 4000. The island has craggy peaks as ancient remnants of the volcano - these peaks have inspired the mythical Bali Hai in the movie South Pacific, and are used often in movie shots. They are beautiful. The tallest peak is Mt Otemanu which is about 2379 feet high. Geologists have speculated that Bora Bora is about seven million years old. Time eroded the volcano and it sunk under its own weight. Charles Darwin visited Bora Bora on his much renowned trip on the Beagle. He studied the island and its reef and put forth the now accepted theory of the formation of atolls.
The protective reef encircles Bora Bora, with only one navigable passage in or out. I heard somewhere that this passage is not a natural one, but was created during World War II by the American military who came to Bora Bora to defend it from the Japanese. I haven't found out if that is really true or not, but its an interesting story. Most South Pacific islands have natural passages through reefs caused by fresh water flowing off of the island. Fresh water in a particular area inhibits coral growth which maintains a passage through the reef.
Most often when I travel I find the geologic attractions the most interesting. I have a funny way of thinking of it - collecting photos of rocks! I have wonderful photos of the craggy rock peaks at Bora Bora (my collection also contains interesting and wonderful photos from around the U.S. - Bryce, The Grand Canyon, Arches, Monument Valley, etc). Bora Bora has some wonderful scenery. Lush jungle vegetation, craggy rock peaks, beautiful blue water, white sand beaches - simply gorgeous.
You can get to Bora Bora by air from Tahiti. The airport at Bora Bora is not on the island of Bora Bora itself, which doesn't have much for flat space, is on a large motu islet. The airstrip was built by the Seabees during World War II. An alternative is to come by ferry - there are ferries from Tahiti several times a week. I got to Bora Bora via Renaissance cruises 12-day South Pacific cruise. I recommend this highly because it saves a lot of money. It means you only get two days at Bora Bora though! See my review on the Renaissance cruise for additional information on the cruise. The cruise proved to be a very economical way of vacationing in the South Pacific. Economical and comfortable.
Naturally, because Bora Bora has this reputation as the most beautiful island in the world, and is used a lot by Hollywood, it has a significant tourist influence. This detracts slightly from the typical island paradise vision. Overall however, it didn't bother me - and after all, I was there, contributing to the tourism, so I can hardly complain about that.
Water sports abound at Bora Bora. The lagoon is the most beautiful and I enjoyed it so much. We took a tour from our tender dock called Marona Tours. The tour was wonderful in all respects. Four passengers and about 5 or 6 tour operators (we probably could have had more passengers) departed from the boat dock via motorized outrigger canoe. Throughout our journey we travelled completely around the island. First we stopped off for a little shark feeding. Holding on to ropes we snorkeled in the shallow water as guides tossed chunks of bait into the water in front of us. Several black-tipped reef sharks made an appearance to feed and we got wonderful views of them. A little scary to think we were within only a few yards of the sharks. I'm sure they could take a chunk out of you if they wanted to, but they aren't very aggressive and they were only 3 or 4 feet long.
Next we travelled to the Coral Garden, a beautiful garden reef off the South East part of the island. We snorkeled there for about an hour or so in water so blue and warm. This was the best snorkeling I experienced in the islands. Glorious coral and lots of fish. The current can be strong however, and our tour did not operate this as a drift snorkel, so I recommend wearing fins and being mindful of where you are in relation to the boat. A boat of French Tourists were also snorkeling at the same time and one lady had to be rescued by a guide. I believe she got worn out by the current and was unable to return to her boat. Her companion was holding her up but was unable to bring her to the boat. The guide, hearing their cries for help, swam out in an instant and rescued this lady. I was amazed at the speed and power this Polynesian man had in the water.
After the Coral Garden we spent an hour on a beautiful white sand motu (small island). This motu had spiritual meaning with a rock that would endow blessings upon those who touched it, and beautiful rocks and corals placed in lines around the islet. It had been kind of overcast that day and we touched the rock and were blessed with blue skies the rest of the day!
After the rest and refreshment at the motu we fed sting rays at a place that had a sandy bottom. The rays were not aggressive, as they are some places where they are fed, but they did swim around us a lot and feed. They are beautiful animals. I was a little afraid to touch them - some places the rays are very used to feeding and touching is very safe. I know they're called "sting" rays for a reason!
The most fun part about this tour was the operators. They were so wonderful. They were happy and singing (wonderful voices!) and it seemed like they were enjoying themselves as much as we were. One man, Roraea (sp?), spoke English quite well and was so funny he probably could have been a comedian. The other guides did not speak English well but were always laughing and smiling. This trip cost $40.00 per person and lasted about 5 hours.
Diving is said to be spectacular at Bora Bora. One of the dives that is recommended is a dive off Point Mantira, where Manta Rays congregate. These huge animals are a wonderful sight. My mother, a PADI-certified diver, took the manta ray dive for this unique opportunity. Unfortunately, it is rare that mantas are actually seen. Many, many divers and boats congregate in this area. It actually is kind of crowded. The water is not too calm and gets stirred up with sediment. This makes for extremely poor visibility. She said she could not see more than a few feet from her face. She would not recommend this tour.
I took a circle island tour via van around the island. It is a nice tour and only takes a couple hours because the island is so small. We saw many remnants of the US "friendly invasion" in 1942 including a huge ship's anchor, bunkers, and gun emplacements. Our guide was an older gentleman who had been born and raised on Bora Bora. He remembered the American GI's fondly. On the tour we saw many of the ritzy hotels that are extremely expensive. Many are Japanese-owned, we were told. We also saw an ancient Marae, one of the few left at Bora Bora, because of missionary influence years ago. We saw the gun emplacements built into the mountain. We were taken to an area where the view of the mountain was wonderful. Don't forget your camera. We stopped at Bloody Mary's, a famous bar/restaurant. It was closed at that time of the morning but we had fun looking at their outside sign which contains the names of the many celebrities that have visited.
We didn't visit the Lagoonarium, a place where ocean life is contained within areas fenced off in the lagoon. You can snorkel there and have close views of the fish, sharks, eels, and sea turtles. We heard a lot of people recommend it highly. It is crowded though. You can see much of this just by snorkeling around the island. Still, it is all in one area, and may be fun.
I longed to take a helicopter tour of the island. I've heard this is the best South Pacific island to take such a tour. One guy I met had taken it and raved on and on about how wonderful it was. You fly around the lagoon and the island. They saw large sharks and some turtles as well as the traditional views of the mountain peaks. If I ever have the chance to go back I will definitely take that tour.
Over all, Bora Bora was as close to an island paradise as I have seen. White shimmering beaches, calm lagoon waters, lush tropical vegetation, and friendly natives. I'd love to visit again and stay more than two days.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Jennlee.2
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Member: Jennlee
Reviews written: 117
Trusted by: 55 members
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