A day in paradise!

Bora Bora is another island in the Society Islands...part of French Polynesia. The island was settled by Tongan people in the 4th century. James Cook brought the first Europeans in 1777. Bora Bora is 162 miles northwest of Tahiti and is surrounded by a lagoon and a fringing reef. In the center are the remnants of an extinct volcano rising to two peaks, Mount Pahia and the highest Mount Otemanu reaching 2385 feet. Many high end resorts built here with the first over-the-water bungalows on stilts and today they are a standard feature...and VERY pricey! Bora bora's main attraction is its calm and crystal lagoon. The waters are said to be some of the most beautiful in the world and our experience today can certainly attest to that.

Our excursion today was a snorkeling adventure with stingrays and black-tipped sharks and also a stop in the golden coral banks that surround Bora Bora--the best snorkeling on the island. Everyone on the trip was a part of the cruise critic rollcall that we joined for this cruise so we are getting to know people and had many laughs. After snorkeling we headed to a motu barbecue. A motu is a beach on a lagoon. We had a traditional Tahitian barbecue that included roast pig baked in an earthen oven, lobster, chicken, breadfruit, pumpkin cooked in coconut milk, which they call poi, and a couple of other dishes that are hard to explain. It was all delicious! Sadly, they said it was time to go and we headed back to the ship via the coastline. What a beautiful island and friendly people.
I do believe this is paradise!

On the motu

Black tipped shark and stingray

More sharks!

The huts over the water.  Bora Bora has thousands of them!

The roast pig in the earthen oven

The beach motu.  We had lunch at the picnic bench in the water.



Sailing away from Bora Bora---we want to stay here!

 Next two days are sea days as we travel 1000 west to Pago Pago, American Samoa! It's been a busy few days....we'll enjoy the rest as we sail along.....