Known as one of the most beautiful places on earth, Bora Bora did not disappoint. But, of the French Polynesian islands, our favorite has to be Moorea. Why? Well, maybe because we stayed two nights at the Hilton. No, really, Moorea just seemed a little more intimate, even though Moorea has 18,000 people vs. Bora Bora’s 12,000. Bora Bora has many different islands so your hotel May be on a different island than the airport or sea port than the places to visit. But, we liked it nevertheless. We took a land and sea excursion. Three hours in the sea – 3 different spots: one outside the reef where we saw lots of black top sharks, including lemon sharks; one inside the reef where we saw lots of stingrays, but these weren’t as friendly as the ones in Moorea (another reason to love Moorea more); then the coral garden, which was kind of sad because all the coral reefs are dying. Yes, global warming and sunscreens (please use reef safe such as ones from Pacific Beach Organics or Raw Elements), among other reasons. We saw spottings of color but mostly it was lots and lots of gray. Again, most of my underwater pictures are on the GoPro so will just leave you with a few photos out of water.
Then, we had lunch at Bloody Mary’s. Then 3 more hours of a land tours with amazing views. We also stopped for coconut water and went to a sarong shop where they made the sarongs. Cotton is from 🇨🇳 but the rest is done by hand. All colors are natural and they were beautiful. We even got a lesson in different ways of wearing the sarong.
Our tour guide serenading us during our coconut water break (above)
You will find these rock arrangements (above) on every island. These are called Marai – they are ceremonial alters where people gather to offer sacrifices to their gods. In the 12th century, they had one god and would offer animals. But, around the 17th century they had many gods and would offer human sacrifices. The first missionary came to Tahiti in 1845. In 1878, the first Polynesian was converted and it was the 2nd king of Polynesia.
Unfortunately, some friends from the ship went to a beach and got everything stolen. The islands all seem very serene and safe but Justin learned there’s a dark underbelly here too. Apparently, the meth problem here has been on the uptick. Our tour guide told us that for the first time since he’s know there have been home break-ins. Our friends went to the beach, and were having fun in the water and when they returned everything was gone. EVERYTHING – money, credit cards, cameras, all of it. They did file a police report and she has insurance for all her techy gear but they have to start over! Sucks!! We let them use my extra phone and extra camera until we get to Auckland where they are having credit cards and things sent to. That would just suck! But, this shows you that you can never be too vigilant.
On our tender back to the ship, we saw these guys in a canoe chasing our tender. We thought they were going to run into us but, instead, they were trying to catch our wake to ride it. It was really cool. They would go from one boat to another. It looked like a lot of fun.
We are going to be in American Samoa next, then Western Samoa, and Fiji will be our last stop in Polynesia. Don’t know when I’ll be able to update again so I’ll leave you with this sunset over the South Pacific.
Higman Travels 