Day 40 18th February 2011

The captain’s announcement that we were at anchor in the Bora Bora lagoon woke us up this morning. When we looked out of the window it was to see a tropical island on all sides except for the mouth of the lagoon which leads to the ocean. There was a hotel built over the water. That is, each room is built on stilts with an individual staircase that allows the guests to have private access to the ocean. Jack, a friend we have made on the ship told us that in Indonesia the very poor live in this type of house while here the very rich stay in these hotels. The island was clearly volcanic and originally must have been enormous considering the crater it has left.  The sea was azure in colour and palm trees covered the shore. Along with the Aurora is another cruise ship from the Princess group.

It was a tender port in that we were going to be ferried ashore in the ships boats. However, before we could get into one the clouds came down to make it impossible to see the island. A tropical rain storm had arrived. The rain came down like being in a shower and lasted for about 45 minutes. We decided to wait for the rain to stop before boarding a tender for the short journey to shore. It is apparently the rainy season here. When we did try to join a tender we got to the embarkation point to be told that wheelchairs had to come a different way so we had to retrace our steps This was a pain and even though the alternative way was better it is an example of making disabled people take twice as long to carry out an action. They had forgotten to tell us about the route.

The small settlement is a scattering of shops, a bank and post office along a road parallel to the shore. It is a busy road with many vehicles and the rain made it very humid. There was little to buy except black pearls which are very expensive. I was disappointed with the town which was very commercial. We tried to locate a boat trip or taxi but the taxis seem to only shuttle people to the local beach and the boats seem to service the hotels or need to be hired to go diving. Anyway Chris thought the place was wonderful. On the way back we sat on the tender with Simon Young, the Deputy Mayor of Pit Cairn who is a charming man and an excellent representative for his community.

We sailed away at 5pm this afternoon. The view from the ship was spectacular with the different islands that make up Bora Bora coming in sight as we moved slowly through the channel in the reef. It is the first time we have seen a reef at close quarters. The green volcanic mountain that towers over the island is simply astonishing in size and scale, dwarfing everything else and in order to see it fully you need to be on a ship moving out to sea.  

Simon Young, Deputy Mayor of Pit Cairn

Bora Bora

We now have a weekend at sea before we reach the next island at Pago Pago in American Samoa on Monday. There are apparently a large number of restaurants on the island so perhaps we can sample local food assuming it is not gone over to American burger and fries.