Bora Bora was our second stop. James Cook discovered it in 1769. It is the eroded cone of an extinct and extensive volcano. Set within a wide barrier reef for protection, in WWII the GIs made one entrance way through the reef and installed guns to protect it. Unfortunately, they have not been looked after but they're still there.
This mount is called Otemanu, which means Sea of Birds. We took a 4WD tour of the island, including a drive up to the highest vehicle-accessible point. The views took our breath away.
When we landed on the island (via ship's tender), there were a lot of preparations going on for the annual canoe race - island against island and they use those long, long canoes. These people were preparing palm fronds to form a wall around the huge tent, for their celebrations before and after the race.
On all the islands I was so impressed that there isn't now or ever would be anyone going hungry. This is a papaya tree (the guides make a joke that it's a mamaya tree because only the female tree grows the fruit). There are fields of pineapples, orchards of grapefruit (no sugar needed), mangoes, kiwi fruit, coconuts, etc. And there's nothing better than picking a fruit from a tree and eating it right away ... yum.
There are a few varities of bananas on the islands ... the small ones they call "French Bananas" and the larger ones are their island bananas. Michener wrote of Bora Bora: "Anyone who has ever been there wants to go back" .. and he's absolutely correct.
The missionaries, who arrived in 1820, did a great job of converting the islanders. There are churches everywhere - even on islands with a small population. I'll have more photos later on of other interesting churches and a cathedral.
This is a view from the highest vehicle-accessible point. You can see the coral atoll that protects the island and the different colors of the ocean. The weather for the most part was in the mid to upper 80s with humidity up there as well. But that didn't stop me from taking in the indescribable beauty of these islands and their people.
Bora Bora was our second stop. James Cook discovered it in 1769. It is the eroded cone of an extinct and extensive volcano. Set within a wide barrier reef for protection, in WWII the GIs made one entrance way through the reef and installed guns to protect it. Unfortunately, they have not been looked after but they're still there. 
This mount is called Otemanu, which means Sea of Birds. We took a 4WD tour of the island, including a drive up to the highest vehicle-accessible point. The views took our breath away.
When we landed on the island (via ship's tender), there were a lot of preparations going on for the annual canoe race - island against island and they use those long, long canoes. These people were preparing palm fronds to form a wall around the huge tent, for their celebrations before and after the race.
On all the islands I was so impressed that there isn't now or ever would be anyone going hungry. This is a papaya tree (the guides make a joke that it's a mamaya tree because only the female tree grows the fruit). There are fields of pineapples, orchards of grapefruit (no sugar needed), mangoes, kiwi fruit, coconuts, etc. And there's nothing better than picking a fruit from a tree and eating it right away ... yum.
There are a few varities of bananas on the islands ... the small ones they call "French Bananas" and the larger ones are their island bananas. Michener wrote of Bora Bora: "Anyone who has ever been there wants to go back" .. and he's absolutely correct. 
The missionaries, who arrived in 1820, did a great job of converting the islanders. There are churches everywhere - even on islands with a small population. I'll have more photos later on of other interesting churches and a cathedral.
This is a view from the highest vehicle-accessible point. You can see the coral atoll that protects the island and the different colors of the ocean. The weather for the most part was in the mid to upper 80s with humidity up there as well. But that didn't stop me from taking in the indescribable beauty of these islands and their people.
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