Bora Bora, French Polynesia

Bora Bora, French Polynesia

Today we woke up to another beautiful day in the South Pacific.  As we peeked outside it was even more beautiful than expected. The water was crystal clear and bright blue. We could see water huts off our port side and towering mountains off the starboard. Our tour for today was a lagoon tour with snorkeling, and Polynesian lunch on a private island.

We started out tour by walking through the port to one of three Polynesian style boats that would take us on tour.  We were circumventing the island with several stops along the way.  Our first stop was to snorkel with Black tip and lemon sharks.  I was a bit leery about this but once in the water I was not nervous at all.  They were very peaceful. We saw many black tip sharks and two lemon sharks as well as several other fish. 

 

 

As we drove to our next stop, our boat driver entertained us with ukulele playing as well as information on the island’s history, culture and nature.  He was born and raised in Bora Bora, and had no insecurities about hosting a tour of Americans in authentic Polynesian wear. 

 

The next stop was at a shallow area which was home to several more fish, black tip sharks and rays.  We have played with rays before on our visits to Grand Cayman, but these were a bit of a different breed. They were very large with a span of 3-4 ft.  In Grand Cayman we were able to feed them through there sucker mouth, but here they would not let us as they said that their “teeth” could be hurtful.  Instead we fed them through two slots atop of their heads beside ear eye.  These are their ears but connect directly to their mouths.  These rays sucked the pieces of fish through their ears into their mouths.  As the food came out, more and more rays and sharks arrived.

After our fun playing with the rays and sharks, we went to our last snorkel spot at a coral garden.  This may have been the best snorkeling spot I have ever been to.  There were hundreds of colorful fish, rays, eels, neon bright clams etc. so much fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We spent the morning snorkeling and were in need of a break and some food.  We continued our ride around the island until we arrived at a private Motu section that was preparing to host us for lunch.  Lunch was a traditional Polynesian feast cooking in an earth oven.  I have decided that I could never go hungry in the South Pacific. In the earth oven they prepared a half of pig, fish, several different local root vegetables, a spinach and chicken dish cooked in coconut milk, a baked banana pudding as well as Tuna and Mahi cooked over a grill, a cold ceviche tuna, cucumber, carrot and lime salad (loved this!), sliced fresh fruits and all the local beer and wine one could want.  I really have loved everything that I have been served from these ovens.  Some of the root vegetables I questioned before I tried them but when cooked (like a baked potato) they are all delicious and sweet – even the Taro which I have had before in Hawaii and just did not taste as good. The earth oven is the Polynesian version of our crock pot times 10.  After the fire turns to coals they pack the hole with food cover it with palm leaves and leave it for about three hours. Awesome.

 

After our feast and some relaxing on the Motu we were off to finish our tour around the island and back to the ship. We had an amazing day here in Bora Bora.  This is the most beautiful island I have ever seen, and French Polynesia is becoming one of my favorite places already. Meanwhile, while Ty is loving it as well, he says he can’t wait to see snow….