Day 1,902 of Traveling the World | Bora Bora, French Polynesia | April 18, 2023

Jan and Mike

Here we go again! This feels like an embarrassment of riches…for the fourth time in just a few months, we are back in Bora Bora. AND, we fell under the power of Bora Bora’s lure yet again. Since we have always rented a scooter here and driven completely around the island, we remembered the outstanding beauty of the water and the sky and wanted to see it all again. But the memory of having driven on a scooter in Tahiti for five hours, with the attendant saddle sores, was sharp, so this time we rented a Fun Car.

What is a fun car, you ask? It is a teeny-tiny two-person electric car that, in its entirety, is a little smaller than the size of a ferris wheel cage. There are two photos of it below. Of course, it drives just like a regular car, except there isn’t a window to roll down – the door is one piece of glass. There was a small sun roof for air circulation, and the vehicle did have air conditioning. But we quickly discovered that using the A/C dropped the remaining power precipitously, from 100 percent to 89 percent in just a few minutes. So we learned to love the sun roof with just a little breeze. We suppose it is called a fun car because we stopped frequently for photo-taking, and every time we turned around and saw this tiny munchkin car, we laughed.

Having been in many places in the world, we really do think Bora Bora is the prettiest island of all. As you will see in the photos, every time we drove just a mile or two and stopped for photos, the water and sky were different colors, dependent on where we were in relation to the sun and the geography. It is so interesting to see. All the islands of Tahiti have pretty multi-colored water and gorgeous skies, but many have a large numbers of houses on the beach, making good chunks of beach inaccessible. Businesses like restaurants also claim a lot of the beach access. But Bora Bora is very generous with views of the beach and parking for scenic viewpoints. It is all beautiful and wide open for swimming, snorkeling, and water sports. We saw a paraglider today, its parachute colors brightening the sky.

We were here over the weekend, and then after a quick trip to Papeete to pick up new passengers, we’re right back in Bora Bora. Mike went diving and said the manta rays were about about 10 feet across. They were the largest animal Mike had seen while diving, and the sight of them was other-worldly. In the pre-dive briefing, the dive guide told the divers to stay as low as possible and move as little as possible, so as to not scare them away. She said that they had a curious nature, so might approach us, but if they went past us, not to chase them, as they might otherwise return. Sure enough, several mantas passed above several times, looking majestic as they moved slowly by, as if they were moving in slow motion. Some reef sharks were seen on the second dive, which are, of course, a very common sight in French Polynesia. There are photos of rays and sharks below, but they were taken with an older GoPro camera. Due to that and the murkiness of the water, they aren’t the best quality, but will give you an idea of what’s down below.

In some places, the clouds and water made extraordinary companions, both dazzling us with their color and drama.
The sky here is almost completely – clouds!
There is one lone swimmer out there in the clear water.
The mountains here always seem to be enveloped in clouds.
The ocean is largely devoid of swimmers, so there are loads of views just like this one.
One of several long docks that we saw.
There are lots of little curving bays like this in Bora Bora.
The sky and ocean are different colors here than the previous photos. You just never know what you’re gonna get!
This was a very broad beach where a few people were sunbathing, a few were in the water, and these folks had a beach stop on the tour they were taking.
Loads of tranquility to be found here!
Two more swimmers (or splashers). Look how shallow it is for quite some distance.
A tiny motu just off the beach.
A few over-the-water bungalows.
There is the paraglider!
Two motus off in the distance, framed by two trees.
Several more motus.
Boats resting in the shallow water.
After a few hours of driving around the island, the clouds are still there on top of the mountain.
There were lots of boats. We love the pale blue water out where the reef rises.
Over the weekend in Bora Bora, it rained all afternoon. At 5:00 pm, we were rewarded with this perfect rainbow. There is an outrigger on the left. You can see the ends of the rainbow dropping into the ocean. Everyone was quite in awe.
This is a photo of one of the divers on Mike’s scuba diving trip, when they were quite a distance offshore.
One of the manta rays. Tip to tip, it was about 10 feet.
Some of the reef sharks.
Our cute little Eli electric car.
Here is Eli, parked at Bloody Mary’s. Established in 1979, the restaurant/bar capitalizes on its name, offering Bloody Marys and bar fare like burgers, salads, and tacos.
The inside features a sand floor and open-air concept.
Out front is the “Celebrity Hall of Fame.” It features people like Johnnie Depp, Slash, Marlon Brando, and many other notables of our day and past days who have visited here.
This totem pole looks like an endorsement of the Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers.
Across from Bloody Mary’s is this pretty view.
Sunrise in Bora Bora – not to be forgotten.

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