On our second day we explored Bora Bora’s famous lagoon on a snorkel tour with a family-run business called Lagoonarium. The staff were all family who exuded fun-loving charm and cheer. As we rode in an outrigger boat from spot to spot, the family (including grandpa on bongo drums) would sing fun islandy songs. They would periodically stop to talk about points of interest, and would encourage us to quickly jump over the side with our snorkels whenever they saw something interesting in the water. Here’s a short video of them singing.
Our first snorkel stop was along a reef with lots of colorful fish and interesting corals. I didn’t have an underwater camera, but one of our fellow passengers shared some of his pics with me. It was very easy to snorkel in the calm, warm waters of the lagoon. We even saw a very fat moray eel come out of its cave!
We stopped at several more snorkel spots as we circled the island several times. We saw eagle rays, sting rays, a large manta ray and lots of sharks – black tipped and lemon sharks. I even got to gently touch a sting ray that swam right below me. I didn’t touch the sharks! 😉
We had a lot of fun on our tour. On our way back, the staff gave us hand woven palm headbands and a nice basket of fruit also made with woven palm. It tasted great after being in the salt water all morning. If you ever go to Bora Bora, we would highly recommend this tour.
That night we walked down the hill to a food truck and picked up some more fresh fish and fried shrimp that we brought back to our bungalow for supper. It was so good!
The next day we rode bike to nearby Matira beach. It was a nice beach with good swimming. The water was very warm and it was nice to see many locals enjoying the beach and not just us tourists. We got caught in some unexpected rain on our way back on the bikes, but since we were already in our wet swimsuits it really didn’t matter.
That evening we went to a popular restaurant called Bloody Mary’s. It has been an institution since the 70s and has an extensive list of famous people who ate there posted outside its entrance. The floors of the restaurant are sand and you sit on coconut tree stools. When you enter, you are shown all the fresh fish of the day and make your choices which they grill for you. A band was playing when we were there and it was a fun place.
On our last morning in Bora Bora we decided to hike up the hill above our resort to get a better view of the island. This was a strenuous hike, so it’s good we started early before the sun was too strong. We started by crossing over a jungle to get to a steep road parallel to ours. We quickly lost the path and were literally blazing our own trail through. Once we got to the road, we followed its very steep slope to the top where there were some antennas. This was actually just the start of the trail! From here we winded and twisted up a steep path through trees, over rocks, through wildflower fields and tall grasses. Some spots were so steep that there were ropes to help you climb. The trail wasn’t always easy to spot, but was marked periodically with a piece of plastic bag or ribbon tied to a tree or root. We made it to the top in around an hour, but we were completely soaked in sweat! The air was close to 90% humidity and temps were never below 80 degrees. It was all worth it, though, as the views were great. We were just below the main mountain peaks and had great views of the island and lagoon below us. There was a cute Tahitian gardenia, their national flower, at the top waiting to be photographed.
That afternoon Nir took us back to the ferry dock for our flight back to Papeete. We spent the night at the airport hotel again before an early flight to LA, then back home to reality the following day. I’m really glad we went to Bora Bora and that it lived up to our expectations.
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