Port 17 Bora Bora, French Polynesia

Io orana!

I will start this post with an apology for taking so long to get these posts out to you. Beginning with our next port of call, our second visit to Los Angeles, I will start to streamline the content away from a description of our day to the essence of interesting sights and photos we captured. I hope this will allow me to build a post faster. I’m worried about our time coming soon in the Caribbean when we have 18 ports of call back-to-back, and almost that many in the Mediterranean!  The primary effort is still in selecting and formatting the photos, so please bear with me as I try to get this information our to you! I hope you are enjoying my posts, and will continue to follow me as we move on!

We pulled in to Bora Bora late morning on Jan 31st, 2022, for a two day stay. As we arrive we see we already have company – the Windstar Star Breeze and the Paul Gauguin are already at anchor ahead of us! This isn’t as bad as it sounds – these three ships still have less than 1000 passengers combined, unlike what could happen if three of the large cruise ships were here – there could be more than 10,000 passengers descending on the island!

Our neighbor, the Windstar Star Breeze

And looming above us is the central mountain of the island, Mount Otemanu. It is said this mountain changes shape and color all day as the sun moves over it. We’ll see!

Once again, we are tendering to shore. At the tender pier we have this band welcoming us.  They became the subject of a painting by our resident ship’s art instructor, Jack Shehab. I am also working on my own version of this in a watercolor painting!

On the first day we didn’t have an excursion – it was cancelled a few weeks ago. So we are taking a walk and doing some pearl shopping. We saw a few things along the way.

OK, a cheeky caption, but I couldn’t resist. Not used to seeing these anymore!

This church is nicely framed by Mount Otemanu!

This is the only street art we found. So sad someone had to tag it.

We have an excursion on the second day – a catamaran tour with a snorkeling stop. Fortunately, only people from our ship are on this tour, so the mask policy was well observed! There are only 14 of us, plus the captain and his 1st mate. Plenty of room! We were served rum punch and plenty of fresh fruit.

Luli’s Law is represented in Bora Bora!

We actually sail on this cat tour! Yay! The cat is extremely stable, even on a solid beam reach!

The trampoline was a nice hangout. Absolutely no waves splashing us!

The trampoline is also a great spot to watch for wildlife! We were joined by a handful of dolphins for a few minutes!

We are sailing all around the motu that forms the harbor, and, of course, we catch a nice glimpse of our ship, Insignia!

On the far side of the motu we see the Conrad Hotel. Every one of the nearby bungalows has its own hot tub!

Mount Otemanu creates a rugged backdrop from the Conrad Hotel’s point of view.

As we head past the harbor entrance, the mountain seems more ominous!

This is the hill on the north end of Bora Bora. Can you find the bunker and anti-aircraft gun emplacement on this hill front? They were placed here during World War II to help protect the island from a Japanese invasion.

We see this great rainbow as we head back to the pier.

As we leave Bora Bora the sun finally starts lighting up the green.

We say “nana” to Bora Bora, and get ready for 9 days at sea. Next port, Los Angeles!