Bora Bora – What Dreams are Made of

The highlight of our 7 day Windstar cruise in French Polynesia was Bora Bora. We sailed here in the evening after a wonderful day in Taha’a, just 18 km to the south. Our visit to Bora Bora lasted 2 days, allowing us a bit more time to truly enjoy this amazingly beautiful island. Having heard about exotic Bora Bora since childhood, it was a little surreal actually visiting this fabled island and enjoying its many charms.

Our ship at anchor in Bora Bora

Bora Bora is pretty quiet – all you see is a small town (Vaitape), some scattered homes, various beach parks and a few restaurants. Most of the resorts (and airport) are on the motus (islets) surrounding the lagoon and main island. Our time was filled with the following activities over our two days:

Island Tour

We started our visit to Bora Bora with a tour that took us completely around the island. This adventure gave us a feel for the island and various views of the island, motus and lagoon.

I don’t know how our tour vehicle made it up some of the ‘roads’ we took – the guide had to make several attempts to get up some of the muddy slopes!
WW II gun emplacements on Bora Bora.
Looking north from Bora Bora – the main channel into the lagoon.
One of the tour stops – local textiles and other items are available.
Robyn trying out the latest Bora Bora fashions.
Looking south from Bora Bora – many of the resorts are located on the southern motus surrounding the lagoon.
In the distance, overwater bungalows can be seen on the motus – not a bad way to spend a vacation.
Additional resorts on the southern motus of Bora Bora (the islands of Taha’a and Raiatea are in the distance).

Glass Bottom Boat Tour

This tour was arranged through Windstar. Our guide knew how to attract the fish for our viewing pleasure! Our guide was very kind and enjoyable, and like so many tour guides, had musical talents!

Our Glass Bottom Boat guide attracting the fish for us!
Our guide providing musical entertainment on our way back to the ship, and letting me pilot our boat.

Private Boat Tour of the Lagoon

We arranged this tour ourselves at the tiny tour desk at the Viatape dock, and it was really worth it. We had the boat and driver all to ourselves. We circumnavigated the island and our captain took us to different spots around the lagoon where we could snorkel, play with the friendly rays, get amazing views of Bora Bora, and swim with the black-tipped reef sharks, just outside the protected lagoon in open, deep water.

Every view around the lagoon was stunning!

Diving

Also arranged through Windstar, I took my first dive ever in Bora Bora. While there were several experienced divers in our group, there were also several of us for whom this was a first experience. We received instructions and then did a 30 minute, 6 meter dive (about 20 ft). What a blast. I really loved the dive and what better place try it out than Bora Bora!

The best place ever to experience a first dive!

Evening Dinner and Show

Windstar hosted a dinner and show on a motu not far from our ship during our overnight stop. The meal, show, and stunning setting made this a very memorable event.

A great show was put on by the local talent.
Looking out over the sunset after another perfect day in Bora Bora.

One comment

  1. Wow!! Thank you for sharing your experience. I think Mark and I will be planning our next adventure!

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