February 7 – An Island Tour, Bora Bora, French Polynesia

This morning, we had a tour of the island.  We were picked up in an open ATV and then we headed to the harbor.  There, the Azamara Onward was anchored.  How funny.  We picked up two couples from the Onward.  One couple had been on the ship while we were on it but we had never met them.  The other couple had just boarded in Tahiti. 

Now that we were all here we headed out on the tour.  

Much of the drive was up into the hills…on very steep and poorly paved roads. 

Our first stop was a viewpoint overlooking the harbor…

Our tour guide with his ukelele

and with views of other parts of the island.

Random photos from the drive around the island.  Boats.

The Barrier Reef.

The Mountains.

Flowers and vegetation.

The Lagoon.

So far we are loving this island. 

We had stop at a second viewpoint.  From this one we had good views of some of the high end resorts with lots of bungalows over the water. 

From the viewpoint, some of the group took a walk down to a World War II gun emplacement. 

The US military used Bora Bora as a provisioning/refueling stop during the war and there are still a few remnants from their time here.  Parts of the main road around the island were originally built during that period.

We also stopped at a craft shop where the ladies made colorful fabrics and jewelry from shells. 

They had a coconut crab in a barrel for us to see.  They are huge.

We also stopped by this stone wall.  It was built by early Polynesians, and it surrounds a sacred place.  One of the stones had a carving of a turtle.  Unfortunately, we didn’t actually get out of the vehicle to inspect the stone so there was no photo of the carving.

We eventually dropped off the others at the harbor and then were dropped off at the resort. 

Some photos at the resort.

A zebra dove hanging around the lunch terrace.

The waters at the resort don’t have a lot of natural reefs.  But they are working on building the reefs.  There are a number of these metal and concrete structures and platforms where coral are growing.  They had an information sign that said that they run a very low current through these structures.  The current seems to make it easier for the coral to grow. 

More Brown Noddies hanging out at the resort.

And some photos of fish and coral from our coffee table.

Another understated, but still magical, sunset.

This evening, we had a performance at the hotel.  Music and dancers.  Very enjoyable.

And a great first day in Bora Bora.