Days 10-15, Jan 18-23, 2024 Five Sea Days + a Day on Bora Bora, a French Polynesian Island

-

On the fifth sea day of this leg, the night before visiting Bora Bora, we were treated to a marvelous 'surf 'n turf" pool-side lobster tail and beef evening meal.
 

.

Bora Bora (French: Bora-Bora; Tahitian: Pora Pora) is an island group in the Leeward Islands in the South Pacific. The Leeward Islands comprise the western part of the Society Islands of French Polynesia, which is an overseas collectivity of the French Republic in the Pacific Ocean. Bora Bora has a total land area of 12 square miles. The main island, located about 125 nautical miles northwest of Papeete, is surrounded by a lagoon and a barrier reef. In the center of the island are the remnants of an extinct volcano, rising to two peaks, Mount Pahia and Mount Otemanu; the highest point is at 2,385 feet. Bora Bora is part of the Commune of Bora-Bora, which also includes the atoll of Tūpai. The main languages spoken in Bora Bora are Tahitian and French. However, due to the high tourist population, many natives of Bora Bora have learned to speak English.  The population is about 5K.

Bora Bora is a major international tourist destination, famous for its seaside (and even offshore) luxury resorts. Its major settlement, Vaitape, is on the western side of the main island, opposite the main channel leading into the lagoon. Produce of the island is mostly limited to what can be obtained from the sea and from the plentiful coconut trees, which were historically of economic importance for the production of copra.

More info:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bora_Bora

We left the cruise ship to join the rich and famous!

More pictures of the harbor our cruise ship anchored in for the day



Our welcoming committee

With no dock, we "tendered" to and from shore

Welcoming area




Off on a glass bottom boat excursion

Stingray

Black tipped sharks


Another Stingray


Crazy woman on a "swim with the sharks" excursion


An escort keeps track of the surrounding black tip sharks

If you look closely, you can see the black fins above water



On our way for an overnight move to Mo'orea, with population around 20K.






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Days 1-2 - Intro 2024 Viking World Cruise/Santa Barbara, CA

-
Image
Snow pictures at noon Tuesday January 9, our original flight day at 3 PM. The pictures above were emailed to us by friends "back home."  We watched forecasts for over a week and did not like our favorite TV weather forecasters.  On Monday (1/8) we had an extremely rushed day!  We were to fly Tuesday (1/9) afternoon, however when our travel agent called Monday morning suggesting we fly that afternoon, we agreed but had to step on the throttle to get to KCI on time.  Part of our jumping thru hoops Monday morning was to cancel KCI hotel reservation.  Thankfully our travel agent made the LAX reservation when she changed our plane reservation from Tuesday to Monday, same times. A few days earlier we made reservations at a KCI hotel to spend Monday night then take a shuttle to the airport the next noon (3 PM flight).  This way our friend would not have had to drive to and from KCI in the snow.  But that all changed,  per paragraph above. ...
Read more

Tolin's 2024 World Cruise blog posts, Day 103, Apr 21, 2024, Dakar, Senegal, Bandia Reserve Safari

-
Image
  Dakar  is the  capital  and  largest city  of  Senegal . The  department  of Dakar has a population of 1,182,417, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.9 million in 2023. The area around Dakar was colonized by the  Portuguese  in the early 15th century. The  Portuguese  established a presence on the island of  Gorée  off the coast of Cap-Vert and used it as a base for the  Atlantic slave trade .  France  took over the island in 1677. Following the abolition of the slave trade and French annexation of the mainland area in the 19th century, Dakar grew into a major regional port and a major city of the  French colonial empire . In 1902, Dakar replaced  Saint-Louis  as the capital of  French West Africa . From 1959 to 1960, Dakar was the capital of the short-lived  Mali Federation . In 1960, it became the capital of the independent Republic o...
Read more