Bora Bora!

Approach to Bora Bora

We sailed from Raiatea over to Bora Bora in fresh 20 knots winds. Only took 4 hours and was a great sail. We rounded the bordering reef and watched  the giant breakers crash onto the reef. We were two miles off the reef and could hear the thundering breakers! Awesome! We had "brochure-expectations" of blue-green waters with swanky resorts, but on approach it's nothing like that.  The approach through the pass was easy and open, but still unnerving when the depth sounder  announced 30 ft with breaking waves on either side!

Capt. John  enjoying the sail to Bora Bora

Reef surrounds the island of Bora Bora

We landed in the mooring field off of the Bora Bora Yacht Club, a very cruiser friendly place with easy  dock landing, free internet, complimentary hot showers and garage dump...at a mere $15.00 @ day.

Bora Bora yacht club

Our first landfall...Bora Bora Yacht Club...not bad...

What an  inviting place...

Wizard moored Bora Bora Yacht Club

Sunset in Bora Bora

We spent a night meeting other cruisers, had hot showers, good beer and dinner. Prices are very expensive compared to Mexico, and Marquesas, but not any more than Sonoma County! Something we didn't budget for...but, really, how can you have a budget out here? Next day we find out there are still cruisers that we know from the Puddle Jump here...Osprey, Compass Rosey,  Dragonsbane, Slow Ride. ..who are enjoying Bora Bora ...and waiting for the "weather window" to sail on to Tonga. Seems like many boats will be leaving next week.

Four Seasons bungalows over the water

We rented bicycles and toured the whole island, yesterday. It was a long and hot ride, but we're really glad to have seen how the locals live and work. There is not much  flat land and  maybe 20 miles  circumference.

Biking around island was fun!

The islanders have scratched out a home on every usable space. This is a dichotomy of cultures here that is clashing in that the upscale hotels have developed all the prime real estate on the private motus that surround the lagoon.  There is 80 % more water than land in Bora Bora. The islanders live in very simple houses, some look at poverty level in shacks with old cars left to rust and garbage about...but, everyone seems to have a car. There is litter along the water.  This the most disappointing thing to see. We have visited five French Polynesian islands and Bora Bora is by far the dirtiest.

Trash and litter ...a shame to see...

Could it be related to this being the highest cost of living island... so no one cares about littering? There doesn't seem to be the pride of home-ownership that we saw in the other islands.  For example, the streets and communities of Tahiti were clean of litter, even though it's the biggest population of French Polynesia. There were recycling bins everywhere.  The homes were kept neat. Here is Bora Bora, there are garbage bins, but no one seems to use them.  Other than that, the turquoise colored waters and blue skies are fabulous, changing every hour as the trade winds blow through. There is even the blue-green colors from the lagoon reflected back up to the white clouds. Never seen that before.

Beautiful orchids for sale

We see the tourists being shuttled in tour boats to hotels, restaurants and dive spots. The St. Regis and the Four Seasons, The Intercontinental are the big hospitality employers with special shuttles running employees back and forth from the main island to work at these glamour resorts on the motus. Its just two different worlds colliding...tourism and traditionalism...just like Mexico...one side of the road is rich hotel, the other side of the road is almost poverty...so paradise is a little disappointing.

BUT, on the flip side...the waters are spectacular blue-green and the visibility for diving is awesome!

 White sands of Matira Beach and home of the manta rays!

Spectacular blue-green water!

I am a tourist-picture!

 At 8:30 am  one morning, Top Dive picked me up at our boat (great service) picked up a few other customers at hotel docks long the way, loaded with all the correct sized gear(wetsuit, Tank, Buoyancy Vest and fins, ready to go dive. There were ten of us divers with two dive masters directing the process.

Dive mates

It's the coldest two months, July and August with some rain, but underwater visibility was spectacular!

 Our first dive was a deep dive outside the pass to see sharks. We saw a few lemons and black tipped sharks, but not many fish. The coral reef was destroyed three years ago by a typhoon that broke up the outside coral...so not a lot fish. Its growing back, but will take some time. The next dive was in the lagoon at a spot where we were promised manta and sting rays. This spot that has the best coral of Bora Bora...yes, we saw a huge manta ray...it circled right above me! Prehistoric in shape and design. Our dive group was large and broke into two groups... the other group found a spot where 50 rays swam by! Lucky them!

Cold, but happy, with five dives under my belt!

Yoga on the dock...a popular event for cruisers, led by past crew, Bri.

That's the tour of Bora Bora for us...we have a perfect "weather window" to leave to sail to the Cook Islands, stopping at Suvorrow... we won't have internet for a few weeks.  I'll post later in Tonga!