French Polynesia - Tahiti, Moorea & Bora Bora

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I think that French Polynesia will always be one of my favorite places on the planet! On January 23rd we cruised into Papeete on the island of Tahiti, the largest of the 115 islands and atolls that comprise French Polynesia. This capitol city is a busy trading port and not at all the scenic little island with grass huts and natives dressed in pareos with flowers in their hair! There is an international airport, a busy sea port, and a modern city bustling with cars and people conducting their business of the day. We spent the night here, with a beautiful Tahitian feast up on the pool deck and a wonderful show but on by the leading local native dance troop.

Early the next morning we sailed off to the stunningly beautiful island of Moorea, best known as Mitchener’s “Bali Hai”. This is an island of spectacular beauty with stunning vistas everywhere you turn. We took an off-road jeep safari that gave us a really great tour of the island, and then enjoyed a seafood lunch at a local restaurant before returning to the ship. Our Captain did a 360 with the ship so we could enjoy the scenic bay in which we were anchored before steaming off to Bora Bora.

Our Captain actually lived in the South Pacific for many years and still has many contacts here, so he helped Bruce organize an outing with our friends for our day in Bora Bora. As luck would have it, while we’d have some iffy weather all along, our day in Bora Bora was spectacularly beautiful with sunny skies! We hired a traditional outrigger, complete with a native captain dressed in a thong (and only a thong), native jewelry, with dreadlocks and who entertained us along the way with his ukulele!

As such, eleven of us set off for the day on board our private “yacht”. We went swimming with the sting rays and reef sharks (I skipped those guys), snorkeling over colorful coral reefs that were teeming with beautiful tropical fish, and then had an island style beach picnic complete with champagne, island fruits, grilled lobster and mahi mahi. We even ate with our hands just like the natives! At the end of the day, we all agreed that this would be one of the best outings of the entire cruise … a great time was had by all!

While Moorea is probably the most beautiful island by land, Bora Bora has the most beautiful waters. If you could put those two islands together you might just have one of the most beautiful places on earth!

And now, off we go towards Samoa.

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Photos

Girls Partying on Deck
Ditta, Rusty & Kathryn at Polynesian Feast

Bruce Food
One of Bruce's Many Plates of Food

Evy
Evy Wants to Dance

Voyager
Voyager from Above on Moorea

Touring Moorea
Touring Moorea

Our Bora Bora Yacht
Our "Yacht" in Bora Bora

Captain
Our Native Captain

The Bora Bora Gang
Our Gang in Bora Bora

Bruce Time
Pooty Time

Lobster Anyone
Lobster Anyone?

Lunch
Lunch Native Island Style

Bora Bora
Beautiful Bora Bora

Bad Hair
Bad Hair at the End of the Day

Comments

[Mark G]

How fun
I think I'm having as much fun reading about your adventure as being there....not really but thanks for sharing your adventures. I'm so happy for you.

[Dick Turbiville]

While you were gone....
I'm typing this on 2-12. You are the envy of the cayfriends neighborhood. And what you missed is the 8 or 9 inches of snow that is now in your front yard. Judging from your blogs, I think you'll be able to get over the missed snowman opportunity!! Sounds all beautiful and that, Katherine, part of your fun is watching what Captn Bruce will be doing next. I suggest that before he returns, he 86 the native loin cloth he surely has been wearing.