Bora Bora
Well for starters, the island should be called Pora Pora. There is no B in Tahitian. It has been mispronounced for so long, and the island so romanticized, that Bora Bora is now the accepted form.
Bora Bora is one of the older of the Society Islands. It has a very pronounced lagoon with a deep channel. The lagoon at Bora Bora is legendary for diving and snorkeling. Guess what we spent the morning doing. We snorkeled at the coral restoration laboratory run by Espace Blue and located at the Pearl Resort. Fascinating and very informative. In the afternoon, the Marine Biologist from Espace Blue presented a lecture on his current and future work.
November 7, 2007
At sea to Aitutaki
Lazy day, lots of wind so a little more motion than many people care for. This is a very small ship - only 330 passengers. ‘Course that’s why Fred and I like it. We've never been much for dinner with 2000+ of our closest friends.
There are many lectures and ship’s tours scheduled today. Volcanoes and Atolls, Magic of Coral Reefs, Whales in Crisis (National Geographic film), Ancient Tahiti at the time of Captain Cook’s voyages. We’ve heard some of these lectures before and read histories since. Now we have a whole passel of new questions for the discussions. This will be a super day.
Ia Orana
During WWII, the army established a presence on Bora Bora to protect the Los Angeles to Australia supply line and to serve as a fueling point. There is only one passage through the reef to Bora Bora and the shore batteries are on the high land above the entrance. Fuel tanks were placed on the central island, where there was a solid base, but not so far as to be outside pumping range from the deep channel.