Bora Bora

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Our lagoon tour started at 9.30am and the small motorised outrigger canoe picked us up from the little beach by our bungalow.

We picked up about eight more people from the hotel a bit further along the beach before heading out to the Coral Garden. On the way there the lady running the tour (we‘ll call her Helena because we can‘t quite remember her actual name) and the guy sailing the boat sang to us in Tahitian as she played her guitar.

The ‘Coral Garden’ seems to be the focus of most of the trips and our outrigger joined another couple of bigger boats there.

We were far out in the deeper part of the lagoon and it was choppy. Only half of our group decided to jump in to snorkel with the fish. Helena dropped in some bread for the fish and they were literally swarming around the boat. Matt and I swam around the boat taking underwater pictures. The water was quite deep - maybe 4 metres - so for a change we could float directly over the top of the coral and watch the fish swimming below without being worried about getting pulled into it. It was a very different experience to the snorkelling we’d been doing previously. The water was crystal clear but it was almost impossible to stay still to watch any fish as the current was so strong. Unfortunately we hadn’t brought our fins with us - we thought they’d provide them on the boat but they didn’t - so it was difficult to go far and it took a lot of effort to get anywhere. I swam through the area where the fish were being fed bread and was completely surrounded by sgt majors, whitebanded trigger fish, double saddle butterfly fish and angel fish (see I knew it ws worth paying £8 for that fish card!).

After half an hour in the water we were tired out and ready to get back onto the boat for a rest.

The canoe set off again and within a few minutes we saw three giant manta rays (maybe 6ft long) swimming by. The boat stopped and some of the group jumped in to try to snorkel with them, but it was too late as they’d already gone past. I got a quick photo of them before they vanished.

The next stop on the tour was further out in the lagoon in a much shallower part. We arrived next to the other larger boat we’d seen previously. In the open water around the boat were lots of stingrays swimming around and under the boat. We took lots of photos and videos of them, and saw that there were black tipped sharks with them too.

We got back in the water again with our snorkels and just stood in the water with them initially before putting our masks on and snorkelling with them. Matt managed to get some excellent photos.

The good thing about this experience was that it was completely open and the fish were free. When we did the stingray snorkelling in Antigua previously they were kept in a large pen in the lagoon. I’m not sure whether they are just creatures of habit and get used to the boats coming and feeding them at the same time in the same place each day. It was strange that there were only stingrays and sharks - no other fish like at the Coral Garden. I’d guess that there were about thirty rays in total of all different sizes and about seven sharks.

The rays really swam against you and flapped at you, sometimes making you jump. You could stroke them as they swam past - they feel all soft and rubbery. We had to make sure that we kept our feet on the ground (we remembered being told to do the ‘stingray shuffle’ in Antigua so that you only slide your feet along the ground rather than stepping so that you don’t stand on them, as if you do they might sting you in fear.

Matt had a moment where a ray got trapped between the boat and his back and it flapped against him. Steve Irwin ran through his mind for a few seconds, but luckily although it was a bit stressed out it didn’t hurt him.

We all got back in the boat and then it was time to do a circle island tour. By this time it had gotten a bit cloudy and we were all wet and a bit cold.

It was fun going past all of the resorts - the most expensive place on the island started at 2000 euros per night, and went up to 12,000 euros per night for a watervilla with it’s own private pool. Here tourism is such a major focus and although some of the resorts look spectacular, it also takes away the feeling of being in a beautiful natural environment. The more we see of the big resorts the more we’re pleased to be staying in smaller local run establishments where we can see the money going straight back into the local community (although I have to confess it would be nice to spend a night or two in one of the water bungalows on stilts just so I could say I’d done it but I’d need it to be at an eco resort as some of the hotels have done some real damage to the natural environment that I’d feel too guilty.)

Finally after circling the whole island we approached the motu that we will be staying on from Tuesday onwards and got some photos from the water of the place we will be staying at (Eden Beach). The tour leader told us that it’s a tiny resort with only 14 bungalows and it looked lovely so we’re now really looking forward to it. It’s the most ecological resort on the island and our guide book raves about it being the best of the mid priced hotels. Also, they had kayaks on the beach outside so we’re hoping that they are free to use - although we’ve been warned that there will be a big swell from Monday onwards so I’m not sure how much canoeing we’ll be able to do.

We pulled into the other end of that motu for the rest of the afternoon. While our picnic lunch was cooked we had an hour to swim in the shallow water or lay on the beach. The beach here was perfect - white and sandy, with crystal clear water. From this vantage point we had an excellent view of Bora Bora - the view of the mountains that appears in most of the brochures. It was beautiful floating out in the shallows and looking back at the beach or out across the lagoon.

After a dip, we walked along the beach for a while and went into an artists studio that was around the corner. He was a French artist who had been visiting Bora for years to ’recharge’ his creative energy so that he could paint and write, before finally deciding to move there completely. It was a shame that we couldn’t buy any of his beautiful paintings but unfortunately they were a) expensive and b) difficult to pack. Not a good combination.

It wasn't long before lunch was ready, and we were starving. I don’t know what it is about swimming that makes you feel so hungry. We had traditional plates made with palm leaves, with two layers; the first was for your main course and when you’d eaten that you threw the top leaf away and used the next leaf for your dessert. Lunch was warm coconut bread, barbequed fish, chicken legs, raw fish and taro (a South Pacific vegetable a bit like a potato but harder and served cold in chunks that are slightly purple in colour). Dessert was bananas, pineapple, melon and a gooey banana bread that was soaked in something sweet to make it squishy.

After we’d polished off the food, Helena made a handbag out of palms, weaving and plaiting the leaves together. In about ten minutes she had made two and proudly told us that one was Chanel and the other Gucci. Then she weaved a head dress and filled it with flowers and put it on the head of a pretty Brasilian girl . She used the same girl as her model so that she could show us six different ways to tie a pareo (sarong). I tried to memorise how she did it so that I could at least manage one of them as it was amazing the different outfits she made from one piece of material.

Next it was something for the boys…time to be shown how to break into coconuts. She took a brown coconut in it’s husk and tapped it to find the hollow end. Then she put a stick into the ground and pushed the hollow end into the point of the stick. Once it was pierced she moved the coconut around slightly and pierced the top again in another place and used her right hand to press down against the husk using the stick as a lever. The husk came off in chunks and then she twisted it again and pierced it again, pushing down with her right hand on the husk so that it came away. She made it look easy and within about thirty seconds she had broken the nut free. All of the men on the trip had to have a go and the first guy really struggled. When it came to Matt’s turn he did really well and got lots of applause as it only took him a couple of minutes. We tried to upload the video but unfortunately the internet connection isn't great here and it kept crashing so you'll have to wait until we get back to see him in all his glory.

Next Helena showed us how to break into the actual coconut once you’d removed it from its husk. She took a stick, held the nut in her hand and tapped it firmly. It partially shattered the nut in the centre, and she turned it and hit it again to make it split in two. We all had a drink of the coconut milk and ate some of the flesh and I even managed it even though I hate it! I have to confess, even coconut tastes ok when you’re on a white sandy beach in the middle of the South Pacific!

While the boys were showing off their masculinity by breaking into coconuts, Helena made all of the girls on the trip a weaved head dress to wear for the journey back.

As we got back into the boat we were each given some flowers to throw into the water as we sailed away and we had to make a wish as we dropped them in.

We both felt like we were burning so had wrapped up well for the trip back. Even though it was only 3.30pm we felt exhausted, as though we’d had a really long day. I wondered if we felt this tired after a day on the beach and in the sea how we are going to cope again with a full day of work!

We got dropped off on our little beach again and arrived in our bungalow to the satisfying sight of our clean washing, neatly folder and smelling nice. We’d decided to invest the £7 to have a stack of washing done at the resort in the machine as there is only so many times you can hand wash things before they need a proper good clean.

It was time to view the days photos on the laptop and then have a shower to see just how sunburnt we had gotten. Luckily for us it wasn’t too bad as we’d both been careful about putting sunblock on and keeping covered up when it got too hot.

In the evening we decided to try the restaurant next door as they did cheap hamburgers and we figured after spending £120 on the trip today we needed to save money where possible. Unfortunately when we sat down we found out that burgers were only on the lunchtime menu and we had to have an expensive meal instead. We couldn’t afford wine there as it was £20 for the cheapest bottle and even a large glass was about £10, but we did decide to invest in a dessert to share as we’d heard they made the best ‘chocolate volcano cupcakes’. We felt we had to give it a try. It was actually a chocolate soufflé cooked in a cup, which was full of warm , runny chocolate sauce when you broke into it, served with homemade (local) vanilla ice cream - it was delicious. I commented to Matt that it was the best pudding I’d had in ages, and he pointed out that was because our puddings had mostly ended up being chocolate biscuits from the supermarket eaten in our room in order to save money - and at £8 for one dessert I could understand why we so rarely had them!

I know that here we need to make the most of eating out as by the time we get to NZ we will have cooking facilities most of the time so will be making our own meals again (plus at this rate we‘ll have run out of money so won‘t have a choice!)

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Photos

Karen with a stingray
That's the problem with an underwater camera. Once you've taken it under water you get water on the lens!