{"id":3199,"date":"2015-09-10T00:06:11","date_gmt":"2015-09-10T00:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/?p=3199"},"modified":"2015-09-10T00:06:11","modified_gmt":"2015-09-10T00:06:11","slug":"high-society-bora-bora-french-polynesia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/?p=3199","title":{"rendered":"High Society – Bora Bora, French Polynesia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_4574\"<\/a>We have to pinch ourselves. We really do. Here we are anchored in the stunning emerald lagoon of Bora Bora, the epitome of romance for honeymooners and touted as the most beautiful island in the world. And we just sailed in and plonked ourselves down next to all the rich and famous enjoying their mega-bucks holiday! Ok, we didn\u2019t exactly get here for free when you take into account all the costs associated with cruising..\u2026but you get my drift. All very \u201cAb Fab\u201d \u2013 \u201cEddie, Eddie sweetie dahling, fetch me my long white gloves and let\u2019s crack open another bottle of Bolly dahling\u201d.<\/p>\n

As expected, tourism is the only business here, and the lagoon is mostly filled with bungalows over the water, belonging to all the major hotel chains. Tourist boats whizz back and forwards together with the inevitable jet-skis (grrr!!) but nothing, nothing<\/em>, can take away from the stunning scenery and the shades of blue in the lagoon. Words really can\u2019t describe it, so here\u2019s some pictures to paint the scene:<\/p>\n

\"Bungalows<\/a>
Bungalows galore<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Bungalows<\/a>
And yet more bungalows…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The extinct volcano provides a great backdrop<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"You<\/a>
You can just see Toucan (left) and Rehua in our special southern anchorage (photo courtesy Rehua)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Blue<\/a>
Blue on blue on blue. Rehua off the Intercontinental hotel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"another<\/a>
another view of the volcanic crater that is Bora Bora. on it’s way to becoming a coral atoll<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

These pictures were taken, of course, on the good days when the sun was shining. But the reality is that the weather\u2019s been very unsettled since we\u2019ve been here and more often than not it\u2019s been raining or very windy, making it difficult to do many \u2018off-boat\u2019 activities. It\u2019s also been hard to find a good weather window for the next 500NM trip to the Cook Islands, so we\u2019ve now been here almost double our intended time, waiting for an opportunity to go west. Damn, I here you say, you poor things being stuck in paradise!<\/p>\n

When we first arrived we anchored on the west side of the island, near the township of Vaitape and the Mai Kai Marina (not really a marina at all but a popular cruiser\u2019s hangout at happy hour). The town itself is surprisingly under-developed and uninspiring.\u00a0There are two reasonable supermarkets, a small chandlery and hardware store, banks and post office, but the rest of the street is filled with the usual tourist shops selling pearls and souvenirs.<\/p>\n

\"Mai<\/a>
Mai Kai Marina, a nice spot for happy hour<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"the<\/a>
the main street, Vaitape. Not so pretty or upmarket.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So we got out of there as quickly as we could and moved a little further north to the next bay, off the Bora Bora Yacht Club. (again, not a yacht club as we would know it, rather a small waterfront restaurant and bar with accommodation, and not very welcoming to yachties!). The anchorages on this side of the island are very deep so unless you can find a vacant mooring ball you\u2019re faced with the prospect of putting out 60-70 metres of chain. It gave our anchor windlass a workout I can tell you!<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The anchorage off Bora Bora Yacht Club<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Having had enough of the west side of the island we motored round to the eastern lagoon. There are a couple of shallow spots and some tricky navigation but it was well worth it, it\u2019s definitely the beautiful side of the island.<\/p>\n

\"On<\/a>
On our way to the south-eastern end of the island<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here we\u2019ve mostly been spending our time swimming and snorkelling in the crystal clear water, catching up on internet (finally we\u2019ve been able to get some decent wifi courtesy of the Sofitel hotel) and enjoying the scenery. We tried 3 different anchorages on this side, but our favourite has been right down on the southern corner, through a very narrow (and shallow) channel which opens up into a small lagoon off the Intercontinental Hotel and very close to the coral garden snorkelling area.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The coral isn’t great, but there’s an abundance of fish life<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"and<\/a>
and the largest moray eel I’ve ever seen!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"DCIM100MEDIA\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"DCIM100MEDIA\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A trigger fish,racoon butterfly fish and cleaner wrasse hanging out in the coral gardens<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We decided to try our luck getting access to the beach bar at the Intercontinental, and were pleasantly surprised by the warm welcome we received, even directing us where to land the dinghy on the beach. So we indulged in some very fine Margeritas, enjoying our upgraded status from grotty yachties to welcomed guests.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The very lovely Intercontinental Hotel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"beautiful<\/a>
beautiful bougainvillea everywhere<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Great<\/a>
Great Margaritas!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Diving is supposed to be one of the drawcards of Bora Bora, but since we\u2019ve been here it\u2019s mostly been too windy and rough to venture outside the reef. We tried one dive-site inside the lagoon on the south-west side but the swell coming over the reef had created a fiercesome current, so we aborted that mission. We had more luck on the eastern side of the lagoon \u2013 one of my dreams has been to dive with manta rays, and there’s a site on the eastern side known as \u2018manta ray alley\u2019. Sounds like my sort of place! So we geared up and took the dinghy over to the mooring ball, eventually tying up alongside one of the other dive boats there. Sadly the visibility was pretty poor, but when those giants came gliding out of the gloom \u2013 what a thrill! A very very special encounter and one for the memory books. Here\u2019s a bit of video that Bruce took:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/manta-ray-Bora-Bora.m4v<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

They may look daunting, but they\u2019re completely harmless with no stinger like other rays. They feed on plankton, and are one of the most graceful and beautiful creatures of the ocean, and not in the least phased about the presence of divers. How very lucky we were! When we surfaced and told the guys on the dive boat that we\u2019d seen two mantas they were quite stunned, I don\u2019t think their group got to see any!<\/p>\n

We\u2019re now back on the western side of the island doing our final provisioning and checking out, and preparing for our 3-4 day passage to Aitutaki in the Cook Islands. The weather looks promising for a good run (hopefully without too much motoring) so tomorrow is likely to be D- day and our farewell to French Polynesia. So long, and thanks for all the baguettes!<\/p>\n

\"IMG_4545\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have to pinch ourselves. We really do. Here we are anchored in the stunning emerald lagoon of Bora Bora, the epitome of romance for honeymooners and touted as the most beautiful island in the world. And we just sailed in and plonked ourselves down next to all the rich and famous enjoying their mega-bucks … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “High Society – Bora Bora, French Polynesia”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-svtoucan"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6B46t-PB","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3199"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3209,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3199\/revisions\/3209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}