January 20, 2024 Bora Bora Day 32

 

Here comes our Bar Pilot. He will guide us into the lagoon where we will anchor for the day. Our guide tells us the lagoon is the crater of the volcano and is 100 feet deep. There is another small cruise ship in port. The population of Bora Bora is 10,000 strong in 3 villages. 

These are our views as we sailed into the lagoon.

Above the bungalows coming out into the water are the usual picture you will see. I believe it is every woman's dream to stay in one. The largest at the end can rent for up to $3,000. a night. The picture below shows a closer look at the bungalows. I guess I will have to be ok with just taking a picture. We did not get to see the water at its most dramatic, as we did not get any sunshine. We were told the color of the water is due to the white coral sand that forms the bottom of the lagoon. The shallow areas are more turquoise due to the shallow depth. The deeper the water the darker the water. Today the deep water is really dark due to the cloud cover. It was a pretty sail in.

I caught a picture of our ship anchored in Bora Bora. There is an excursion boat headed out for the first trip of the day.

Our greeting at the dock was festive in spite of the light rain. I love the natives bright colorful dress, and head dress. The musicians were playing festive music to greet us. We were greeted by our tour guide, and walked to our boat.

Here is our Captain. There are 5 couples on the excursion including us. If you notice 3 couples are sitting in the back under the canopy, giving them some cover. We sat with another couple up front with no cover, and no protection from the wind. It was suppose to be 80 plus degrees, but instead we are in the mid 70's. We proceeded with increasing rain to take a tour of the lagoon. Bora Bora is surrounded by small islands, and reefs. One of the islands is inhabited by natives who live without water or power provided. They have to have water collection for each house, and either generator, or solar power. They also eat fish they can catch, and vegetables they grow themselves. Across the lagoon about 200 yards was a privately owned island that reportedly has 3,000 coconut trees, but no coconuts as they are removed so no one gets hit on the head. No natives live here as this is the high rent district. 

We were allowed to snorkel for about 30 min. The fish were plentiful, the variety amazing, and the water heavenly warmer then the rain and current temperature in the boat. When we got out and prepared to go to our next stop, the rain started coming down in sheets. Our boat stopped for a while,  until visibility improved. There was nothing to do but laugh. I had packed one of the Viking umbrellas, so Mike opened it up and protected us and the couple we were sharing the front of the boat with. It worked great protecting us from most of the rain, and all of the wind.

Mike wanted to stay in town following the tour, but I looked like a drowned rat. I wanted to go back to the ship and take a hot shower. We caught the tender back to the ship, showered, changed, grabbed a snack and caught a tender back to Bora Bora. We went to town, found some treasures, and some needed items for our ship building project. Shh it is a secret.  It was a quick trip, and much dryer as the rain had stopped. We saw locals selling bananas. Someone from the cruise caught some young local boys checking out the fruit.

 Below is the picture we took from our balcony after we returned from town. Look how clear the mountain is behind us. What a difference in a couple of hours.

We are back on board. Our quick visit has come to an end, and while we were eating dinner, the ship has pulled the anchor back in and we are on our way to Moorea.